Keyword research has always been a fundamental part of SEO to find the right phrases that drive traffic and conversions. But how do we conduct keyword research in an AI world and uncover those hidden gems and long-tail keyword opportunities that will drive incremental growth?

With the market flooded with many tools, some that have been around for a long time like Ahrefs and SEMrush, there are also newcomers that help you find opportunities quickly and easily with a few clicks.

Before diving into the tools, it's important to clarify that keywords, topics, or whatever you want to call them still matter. Ranking for keywords or topics is crucial because if users search for something and your site or client’s site appears in an AI overview or a blue link, it can drive incremental traffic and revenue for your website.

Keywords and topics are used throughout both pillar and cluster content to optimize for search engines and ensure the content is discoverable by users searching for related information.

By organizing content into pillars/clusters and strategically using keywords, SEOs and digital marketers can create a well-structured content strategy that drives incremental value and provides useful, helpful information to your target audience.

What Are the Easiest Ways to Uncover Keyword Gems and Opportunities?

One of the easiest ways to find keyword gems and good opportunities is to look at trends. One of the best tools for trend and future trend data is Exploding Topics.

Exploding Topics

Exploding Topics is an AI-driven keyword research tool that helps SEOs and digital marketers discover trending topics, emerging industries, and rising keywords before they become popular. Looking at trend data can help you uncover golden keywords.

Some features I love about Exploding Topics include:

By using Exploding Topics, SEOs and digital marketers can take their keyword research strategy to the next level by staying ahead of trends and creating content that resonates with their target audience.

Also Asked

With Google’s AI overviews now part of the SERPs, it’s crucial for SEOs and digital marketers to implement a Questions and Answers-based strategy, which is a way to rank in these AI overviews.

One tool that I love and use to find long-tail questions is “Also Asked.” This keyword research tool uses Google’s “People Also Ask” data to understand what questions people are asking based on their intent, enabling you to generate content around those topics. Also Asked provides insights into user behavior and search, making it an invaluable tool for content creators and digital marketers.

Also Asked organizes “People Also Ask” queries hierarchically, helping digital marketers and SEOs understand topic relationships. Pro users can access the API, which integrates with ChatGPT and other applications. You can also download results to see the URLs from which the questions and answers are sourced.

Drawbacks of Also Asked

One drawback is that Also Asked doesn’t provide search volume data. To find out if any questions have search volume:

Other AI Keyword Research Tools

Beyond the tools I regularly use, there are plenty of other AI keyword research tools that can uncover hidden gems, such as:

Wrapping Up

AI-driven keyword research tools are changing the SEO landscape by helping SEO and digital marketing professionals uncover hidden gems and long-tail opportunities faster and more efficiently. As the digital marketing industry continues to evolve, embracing AI-driven keyword research can give you a competitive edge, making you more efficient and finding better opportunities to optimize your content. Always prioritize people-first content over search engines, ensuring your content is relevant, useful, and original.