Related terms

In this report, we show keyword ideas that are related to your seed keywords or phrases.

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Since this report shows queries that may not contain your seed keyword, it's useful for uncovering less obvious keywords.

Below are some actionable ways to use this report.


TIP

The trick to getting relevant results from this report is to use relatively specific queries as your seed. For example, use “how to plant flowers” instead of “gardening.” Or “best coffee beans” instead of “coffee."


See keywords that the top-ranking pages also rank for

According to our study of three million search queries, the average #1 ranking page will also rank in the top 10 for nearly 1,000 other relevant keywords.

These keywords could be good sub-topics to cover in your own content or potential target keywords themselves.

You can find these keywords by simply turning the toggle to “Also rank for.”

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You can view keywords based on the top 10 or top 100 search results.

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See keywords that the top-ranking pages also talk about

Turn the toggle to “Also talk about” to see the keywords and phrases the top-ranking pages for your target keyword frequently mention.

These keywords could be good sub-topics or sub-points to cover in your own content.

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You can view keywords for the top 10 or top 100 ranking pages.

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Find high-volume, low-competition keyword ideas

Set the search volume filter to a minimum value of 500 and the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to a maximum of 20.

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Here are some potential weight loss-related keywords that may be worth targeting.

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NOTE

The numbers suggested for the search volume and KD filters will vary based on the breadth of your niche. Feel free to play around with the filters until you get a list of keywords you’re satisfied with.


Find low-competition keywords where non-authoritative sites rank in the SERPs

Let’s go with the same example from above: “how to lose weight”. Only this time, set a Lowest DR filter with a DR value of 30 and SERPs ranking in the Top 5.

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This will show us keywords where a website with a DR of 30 is ranking in the top 5. Keywords that have varying keyword difficulty scores.

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And if we expand one of the SERPs, you’ll notice there is a website there with a DR value below 30.

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NOTE

This doesn’t mean you can’t be the first result to penetrate the top 5 or top 10 search results, if there are no low DR websites in the SERPs whatsoever.


Find keywords for which your site doesn’t rank for

Type in your seed keyword. Then set the Target filter to show only keywords where your target doesn’t rank in top 10.

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This setting will show you two types of keywords:

  • Keywords for which you don’t rank at all and

  • Keywords for which you rank in low positions

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For the first type, you’d typically create new content. For the second type, you can improve existing content.

To prioritize which pages to improve, export the keywords and sort them using the “Position” column.

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You can also use the Target filter where your target website doesn’t rank in the top 100, to avoid topics that you’ve already covered.

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Find keywords with SERP features

SERP features are anything in the search engine results pages that are not traditional search results. They provide additional and related information on the search query.

Depending on your goals, you can filter for different types of SERP features. For example, you can filter for featured snippets, knowledge panels, people also ask boxes, and so on.

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Find informational keywords

Informational queries are those that searchers use to gain more knowledge on a topic. Typically, they have modifiers like:

  • how

  • what

  • who

  • where

  • why

  • guide

  • tutorial

  • resource

  • ideas

  • tips

  • learn

  • examples

Enter these modifiers in the “Include” box. Select “Any word.”

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Click “Apply”, then “Show results” to see queries that include one or more of the modifiers in your list.

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Find transactional keywords

Transactional keywords are queries where searchers likely have purchase intent (i.e., they're looking to buy something). Typically, they have modifiers like:

  • buy

  • coupon

  • order

  • purchase

  • cheap

  • price

  • pricing

Enter these words in the Include box. Select “Any word.”

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Click “Apply", then hit “Show results”.

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Cluster keyword ideas by parent topic

Let’s say you own a camping website and want to find topic ideas for a blog post.

Enter a few seed keywords like: “camping”, backpacking”, “hiking”. Then click on “Cluster by Parent Topic”.

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Parent Topic determines if you can rank for your target keyword while targeting a more general topic instead. To identify the Parent Topic, we take the #1 ranking page for the keyword and find the query responsible for sending the most search traffic to that page.

You can now see keyword ideas listed by these Parent topics in a treemap format. The larger the rectangle, the larger the search volume for the parent topic.

If we scroll down and look at the cluster topic metrics, a few related topic worth considering could be “campground near me”.

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Clicking it shows us a cluster of 131 long-tail queries with the same Parent Topic, which could be used as subtopics for our blog post.

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TIP

Our advice here isn't to sprinkle relevant keywords throughout your post but rather to cover relevant subtopics to increase its comprehensiveness and relevance.

Learn how to create a great piece of content in this video.


Cluster keyword ideas by terms

Looking for keyword ideas with particular modifiers or terms? You can find them easily in the “Terms” column.

Click on the modifier that best fits what you’re looking for.

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If we take a closer look at the cluster table, it looks like “campgrounds”,”camp”, and “reservations” might be lucrative modifiers.

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See SEO metrics for the top-ranking pages

Click the “SERP” button beside any keyword to see the SERP Overview.

This shows the first page of search results for your keyword along with important SEO metrics.

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Analyze these metrics to assess the ranking difficulty of your target keyword.

About this course

How to use Ahrefs

64 lessons
3h 24m
Learn practical ways to use Ahrefs' SEO tools and reports to improve SEO.

What you’ll learn

  • How to analyze yours and your competitors’ websites with Site Explorer

  • How to master keyword research with Keywords Explorer

  • How to improve your on-page and technical SEO with Site Audit

  • How to track and improve your Google rankings with Rank Tracker

  • How to discover untapped keyword and link building opportunities with Content Explorer

  • How to get keyword and link building opportunities on autopilot with Alerts

Course by

Andrei ȚițAndrei Țiț is a product marketer at Ahrefs. He develops content to help you make the most out of Ahrefs.
Sam OhSam Oh is VP of Marketing at Ahrefs. He incorporates his commitment to education and love for entrepreneurship into actionable and easy-to-digest tutorials.