Find Untapped Keywords in Ahrefs: 5-Step Workflow
How to Find Untapped Keywords in Ahrefs (That Your Competitors Miss)
Ahrefs shows you search volume, difficulty, and click data for keywords—but "untapped" keywords require a different approach. Most people search Ahrefs the same way, which means they find the same opportunities. Here's what actually works.
1. Search for Keywords Your Competitors Rank For—But Don't Monetize
Pull your top three competitors into Ahrefs. Go to "Organic Keywords" and sort by traffic. Now look for keywords where they rank in positions 5–15 with almost no backlinks pointing to that specific page. These are keywords they're accidentally ranking for, not intentionally targeting. If the page has weak internal linking and no calls-to-action, you can outrank them by actually optimizing for it.
The untapped part: they're getting traffic they don't want, which means they won't fight hard to keep it.
2. Look for High-Volume Keywords With Zero SERP Features
In Ahrefs, search a broad keyword in your niche. Filter results by search volume (500+ monthly searches). Now look at the SERP features column. If a keyword has high volume but no featured snippet, no People Also Ask box, and no ads—that's unusual. It usually means either the keyword is genuinely underserved, or it's too new for Google to have built features around it yet.
New keywords in growing niches (AI tools, remote work, subscription software) often sit here for 2–6 months before competition hardens.
3. Use the Keyword Difficulty Filter Backwards
Most people filter for low difficulty first, then check volume. Flip it: search for keywords with 200–500 monthly searches and KD under 10. These exist in every niche. They're too small for enterprise tools to chase, but large enough to deliver real traffic over time. Ahrefs' filter makes them invisible because users naturally sort by volume descending.
4. Mine Question Keywords From Competitor Content
Go to a competitor's highest-traffic article. In Ahrefs, use "Site Explorer" on that URL, then go to "Organic Keywords" and filter for questions (keywords starting with who, what, when, where, why, how). Now check whether those questions appear in the article. Most don't. The competitor ranks for the question accidentally because their article answered it in passing.
Write a full page answering that question properly, and you'll own it.
5. Look for Keywords at Intent Boundaries
Ahrefs shows search volume, but not intent shift. Search "best CRM for small business" in Ahrefs. Now search "CRM for accountants" and "CRM for nonprofits." These subsets often have 50–200 monthly searches each, but they cluster around intent that's more specific than the parent keyword. A competitor writing one "best CRM" post won't capture them. You can.
6. Check Keywords That Drop in Volume Seasonally
In Ahrefs, pull a keyword and look at the traffic trend over 12 months. Some keywords spike in one season and vanish in another. If you find one that's currently low but was high last year, you can see which month to start optimizing so your page ranks when demand returns. This timing advantage is invisible in a single snapshot.
What Ahrefs Won't Show You
Ahrefs is accurate for volume and difficulty, but it can't tell you whether a keyword will actually convert, whether your audience is searching it in your specific region, or whether the intent match is real. A 300-volume keyword might be worthless if 250 of those searches are from the wrong country or the wrong buyer stage. Test with actual traffic before scaling.
If you've identified dead keywords that used to drive traffic or sales but have lost momentum—keywords with real past performance that are now underranked—there's a direct path: Dead Keyword Resurrector rebuilds pages around those keywords with updated content, proper internal linking, and technical fixes, turning dormant search equity back into traffic. You provide the keyword history; the service handles the resurrection work. No guessing whether it's worth the effort—it's only worth doing if the keyword already proved it could sell.