One of the easiest ways to waste time with SEO is targeting keywords that are either too competitive, too broad or unlikely to attract the right people to your website.
I’ve worked in SEO for more than 20 years, and keyword research is still one of the first things I look at when a website isn’t getting enough organic traffic or qualified leads.
But I’m not simply looking for the keyword with the biggest search volume.
I’m looking for searches that make sense for the business.
That’s where long-tail keyword research can be extremely useful.
Long-tail searches can reveal exactly what someone needs, the problem they’re trying to solve, where they’re located or how close they may be to making a decision.
And you don’t necessarily need an expensive SEO tool to find them.
In this guide, I’ll show you nine free methods I use to uncover long-tail keyword opportunities—and how I decide which ones are actually worth targeting.
Quick Answer: How Do You Find Long-Tail Keywords for Free?
You can find long-tail keywords for free using:
- Google Autocomplete
- Google’s related searches
- People Also Ask
- Google Search Console
- Google Keyword Planner
- Questions your customers actually ask
- Competitor search results
- Forums and online communities
- Free keyword research tools
The important part isn’t finding the longest keyword possible.
It’s finding specific searches that reveal what your audience actually wants.
What Is a Long-Tail Keyword?
Long-tail keywords are specific, less frequently searched queries compared with broader, more popular searches.
They’re often longer phrases, but word count isn’t what makes a keyword long-tail.
For example:
Broad: SEO
More specific: SEO company
Long-tail/local: SEO company for small businesses in San Diego
The last query gives us considerably more information about the searcher.
We know they’re interested in an SEO company.
We know they’re connected to a small business.
And we know San Diego matters to the search.
That specificity is what makes long-tail keyword research useful.
If you want a deeper explanation of the terminology, including why long-tail doesn’t simply mean “three or more words,” read my guide to short-tail vs. long-tail keywords.
For this article, we’re going to concentrate on actually finding them.
Start With Search Intent
Before collecting hundreds of keywords, think about what the person performing the search is trying to accomplish.
A keyword might be:
Informational — the person wants to learn something.
Commercial — the person is comparing products, services or providers.
Transactional — the person may be preparing to buy, book, call or hire.
Navigational — the person wants to find a particular business, website or page.
For example:
What is SEO?
and:
SEO company for small businesses in San Diego
are both relevant to SEO.
But they represent very different intentions.
This is why I don’t automatically prioritize a long-tail keyword simply because it’s specific or because a keyword tool says it’s easy to rank for.
I first want to know:
What is this person actually trying to accomplish?
You can learn more about this process in my guide to search intent in SEO.
Now let’s find some keywords.
1. Use Google Autocomplete
Google Autocomplete is one of the easiest places to start.
Go to Google and begin typing a broad topic related to your business.
For example:
SEO company San Diego…
As you type, Google may suggest additional searches based on what people search for and other factors.
Experiment with modifiers such as:
best
for
near me
cost
how
why
vs.
reviews
services
You can also try adding different words or letters after the original phrase to see how the suggestions change.
The goal isn’t to copy every suggestion into a spreadsheet.
I’m looking for patterns.
Do people repeatedly mention a particular service?
Problem?
Location?
Type of customer?
Price concern?
Feature?
Those patterns can reveal useful long-tail opportunities.
Don’t Create a Page for Every Autocomplete Suggestion
This is important.
Just because Google suggests a phrase doesn’t mean it deserves its own URL.
First determine whether the query is relevant and whether its search intent is different from a page you already have.
We’ll come back to this later.
2. Check Google’s Related Searches
Search for one of your important topics and look at the related searches Google provides when they’re available.
These can show how people refine or expand a topic.
For example, I might start with:
local SEO
and notice searches involving:
Small businesses
Pricing
Google Maps
Google Business Profile
Specific cities
SEO companies
or particular problems.
Again, I’m looking for patterns.
Are people repeatedly adding:
A city?
A price?
A specific service?
A problem?
A comparison?
A type of customer?
Those modifiers can lead to more specific keyword opportunities.
They can also help you understand what information people need around a broader topic.
3. Look at People Also Ask
Google’s search results sometimes include related questions people ask around a topic.
These can be extremely useful because they’re not just keyword ideas.
They’re questions.
For example, someone researching SEO might ask:
How long does SEO take?
How much does SEO cost?
Is SEO worth it for a small business?
Can I do SEO myself?
Those questions tell me what potential customers may be trying to understand before making a decision.
When I find a good question, I then decide where it belongs.
Maybe it’s:
An FAQ on an existing page.
A new section within a service page.
An addition to an existing article.
Or occasionally, a standalone article.
I don’t automatically turn every question into a new blog post.
The question needs to earn its place on the website.
4. Use Google Search Console
This is one of my favorite methods because you’re using data from your own website.
Your site may already be telling you which long-tail searches deserve attention.
Open Google Search Console and look at the queries generating impressions for important pages.
I pay particular attention to searches where:
The page is receiving impressions but few clicks.
The query is highly relevant to the business.
The page is ranking reasonably close to stronger visibility.
The query reveals a service or customer need.
The existing page only partially answers the search.
You may discover that a page already receives impressions for dozens or hundreds of keyword variations you never explicitly targeted.
That’s valuable information.
Look for Striking-Distance Opportunities
Suppose a relevant long-tail query is sitting around positions 8–20.
Before creating another article, I want to inspect the page that’s already ranking.
Could I improve it?
Could I answer the query more clearly?
Is an important section missing?
Could the title be improved?
Does the page need better internal links?
Is the correct URL ranking?
Sometimes you don’t need another page.
You need to make the page Google is already showing better.
Your existing article makes this same point: Search Console can reveal relevant queries receiving impressions around positions 8–20, and improving the existing page may be better than creating another one. Pasted text
5. Use Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner can also help you discover related searches and variations.
Start with a service, product or topic important to your business and review the keyword ideas.
I use the data to help understand:
Search demand
Related terminology
Geographic variations
Commercial phrases
Service variations
and topics I may not have considered.
But I don’t choose a keyword solely because Keyword Planner shows a large number next to it.
Search volume is only one part of the decision.
I still want to evaluate:
Search intent
Business relevance
Competition
Conversion potential
The actual Google results
and whether my website already has an appropriate page.
6. Write Down the Questions Your Customers Actually Ask
Some of the best long-tail keyword ideas don’t come from an SEO tool.
They come directly from customers.
Pay attention to questions people ask:
On phone calls
In emails
During consultations
Through contact forms
During sales conversations
In reviews
In social media comments
If potential customers repeatedly ask you the same specific question, that’s worth paying attention to.
Maybe it belongs in an FAQ.
Maybe it should be addressed on your service page.
Maybe it’s a topic your competitors have completely overlooked.
Or maybe it deserves its own article.
I particularly like this approach because customers don’t always use the terminology people in an industry use.
They describe the problem in their own words.
Your original article captures this nicely: real customer language tells you how your audience describes the problem rather than how industry insiders describe it. Pasted text
That’s incredibly useful for keyword and content research.
7. Study Your Search Competitors
Search your important topics and see which websites actually appear.
These aren’t always the competitors you expect.
Your offline competitor and your Google competitor can be two different businesses.
Look at the pages currently ranking.
What topics do they cover?
What questions do they answer?
What service variations appear?
What types of pages rank?
Which locations do they mention?
What’s missing?
I’m not looking to copy their content.
I’m looking for gaps.
If every ranking page gives the same generic explanation, there may be an opportunity to create something more useful using your own expertise, examples and experience.
Also pay attention to page type.
If you’re considering writing a blog post but Google overwhelmingly ranks service pages for the query, that’s important information.
The keyword might be good.
Your proposed page type might be wrong.
8. Look at Forums and Online Communities
Forums and communities can reveal how real people describe their problems.
Depending on the industry, I might look at:
Industry forums
Facebook groups
Quora
Professional communities
Again, I’m not suggesting copying someone’s question and turning it into a thin SEO article.
I’m looking for recurring themes.
What do people struggle with?
What confuses them?
What terminology do they use?
What do they ask before buying?
What problems aren’t being answered clearly?
If the same issue appears repeatedly, that can be useful audience research.
You can then investigate whether people also search for it.
9. Use Free Long-Tail Keyword Generators and Tools
There are also tools that can speed up the process.
Some provide free access, limited searches or free keyword data.
Options include:
Google Keyword Planner
Useful for keyword ideas and estimated search demand.
Google Trends
Useful for comparing search interest and understanding how demand changes over time.
AnswerThePublic
Useful for discovering question-based and related searches around a topic.
Ubersuggest
Can provide keyword ideas and limited keyword data depending on its current free-access limits.
But here’s something important:
You don’t need a traditional keyword generator to find good long-tail searches.
Some of my favorite free research sources are:
Google itself.
Google Search Console.
And actual customer conversations.
A tool can give you a list.
It still takes judgment to determine whether anything on that list is worth targeting.
How to Find Long-Tail Keywords for Local SEO
For a local business, long-tail research often becomes more useful when you combine the service with real customer context.
That might include:
Service + city
Service + neighborhood
Service + customer type
Service + specific problem
Service + urgency
For example:
SEO
→ SEO San Diego
→ SEO company San Diego
→ SEO company for small businesses in San Diego
Or:
personal trainer
→ personal trainer San Diego
→ personal trainer for beginners San Diego
But don’t create hundreds of artificial combinations simply because you can.
The service needs to be real.
The location needs to make sense.
And the keyword needs to represent something useful to the searcher.
For a more complete local process, read my guide to local keyword research.
How I Decide Which Long-Tail Keywords Are Worth Targeting
Finding keyword ideas is relatively easy.
Choosing the right ones is where strategy matters.
When I’m evaluating a long-tail keyword, I ask:
Is it relevant to what the business actually sells?
What does the person appear to want?
Could this visitor realistically become a customer?
What currently ranks for the search?
Can this website realistically compete?
Does an existing page already address the intent?
Would this be better as a service page, article, FAQ or section of another page?
Is the topic important enough to the business to justify the work?
I don’t want traffic just so I can say traffic increased.
I want visibility that supports the business.
Don’t Automatically Ignore Low-Volume Keywords
A keyword with low reported search volume isn’t automatically worthless.
Keyword tools provide estimates, and highly specific searches can be difficult to measure individually.
More importantly, business value isn’t the same thing as search volume.
Imagine a specialized attorney discovers a search that only occurs a small number of times per month.
If one qualified visitor becomes a valuable case, that query could still matter.
The same principle can apply to:
High-ticket medical services
Financial services
B2B companies
Specialized contractors
Professional services
and other high-value businesses.
Look at the potential value of the visitor, not just the volume beside the keyword.
If you want to take that analysis further, read my guide to finding money keywords.
Does Every Long-Tail Keyword Need Its Own Page?
No.
This is where established websites can get themselves into trouble.
Suppose you discover:
SEO company San Diego
San Diego SEO company
SEO companies in San Diego
best SEO company San Diego
You probably don’t need four pages.
Those searches may have substantially the same underlying intent.
One strong page may be able to address the broader keyword group naturally.
Before creating another URL, ask:
Do I already have a page that should rank for this?
If you do, strengthening that page may be a much better SEO decision.
Create a separate page when the query represents a meaningfully different:
Service
Problem
Audience
Location
or search intent.
My keyword mapping guide explains how I organize those decisions.
Use Long-Tail Keywords to Improve Existing Content
You don’t always need another blog post.
In fact, this is one of my favorite uses of long-tail keyword research on an established website.
Go into Google Search Console and examine the queries for an existing page.
You may discover relevant long-tail searches that the page is already beginning to rank for.
If the query genuinely fits the page, you might:
Add a missing section.
Answer a related question.
Clarify the opening.
Improve the title.
Add a firsthand example.
Improve internal links.
Update outdated information.
Or make the page more useful overall.
That’s often better than publishing another article covering almost the same subject.
Don’t Let Long-Tail Keyword Research Create Cannibalization
Long-tail research can become dangerous when every variation starts looking like another content idea.
Over time, a website can end up with:
Five articles answering essentially the same question.
Three service pages targeting nearly identical searches.
Old articles competing with newer articles.
Multiple pages that Google could reasonably choose for the same intent.
I’ve seen this happen plenty of times on established websites.
Years of publishing can create a lot of unnecessary overlap.
I’d rather have one excellent resource with a clear purpose than five mediocre pages fighting over the same topic.
That’s another reason I check existing content before creating something new.
Do Long-Tail Keywords Still Matter With AI Search?
Yes, but I wouldn’t obsess over exact wording.
People increasingly search using natural, conversational questions.
Someone might type into Google:
SEO company San Diego
and ask an AI system:
Who is a good SEO expert for a small business in San Diego?
The wording is different, but both searches reveal a specific need.
That’s why I focus on the underlying:
Topic
Question
Service
Location
and intent.
You don’t need a separate page for every conversational variation.
You need useful content that clearly addresses the underlying need.
Long-Tail Keywords Aren’t an SEO Shortcut
Finding a low-volume or low-competition keyword doesn’t guarantee a #1 ranking.
You still need a website and page capable of competing.
Long-tail research simply helps you become more strategic about which searches are worth pursuing.
And sometimes the best outcome of your research isn’t:
“I found another blog post to write.”
It’s:
“I found an existing page I can make better.”
For established websites, that can be one of the most valuable conclusions keyword research gives you.
My Advice If You’re Just Starting
Don’t try to find 500 keywords.
Start with one important service or topic.
Then look at:
Google Autocomplete
Related searches
People Also Ask
Google Search Console
Keyword Planner
and real customer questions.
Find a search that:
Is genuinely relevant to your business.
Has understandable intent.
Represents something your audience needs.
Isn’t already sufficiently covered by another page.
And is something you can answer exceptionally well.
Then decide what type of page should address it.
That’s a much better starting point than blindly chasing search volume.
Frequently Asked Questions About Finding Long-Tail Keywords
How do I find long-tail keywords for free?
Use Google Autocomplete, related searches, People Also Ask, Google Search Console, Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, customer questions, competitor research, online communities and free versions of keyword research tools.
What is the best free tool for finding long-tail keywords?
There isn’t one tool I consider universally “best.” Google Search Console is particularly valuable for established websites because it shows queries Google already associates with your pages. Google Autocomplete, Keyword Planner, Trends and customer questions can reveal different types of opportunities.
Are long-tail keywords easier to rank for?
Sometimes. Specific, lower-demand queries can have less competition, but commercially valuable long-tail keywords can still be highly competitive. Check the actual search results before assuming a keyword is easy.
How many words are in a long-tail keyword?
There is no required word count. Long-tail keywords are better understood as more specific, less frequently searched queries rather than simply phrases containing three or more words.
Should I target keywords with zero search volume?
Possibly. Keyword tools provide estimates and don’t capture every query. A low-volume search can still be useful when it’s highly relevant to an important service or qualified customer.
Should every long-tail keyword get its own page?
No. Closely related queries with substantially the same intent can often be addressed by one strong page. Creating a separate URL for every variation can cause unnecessary overlap.
Where can I find long-tail keywords in Google Search Console?
Open the Performance report and examine the queries associated with relevant pages. Look for specific searches receiving impressions, especially commercially relevant queries and opportunities where an existing page is already approaching stronger visibility.
Are long-tail keywords useful for Local SEO?
Yes. Local long-tail searches can reveal combinations of services, locations, customer types and specific needs. Just make sure the geographic targeting makes sense for the actual business.
Do long-tail keywords still matter for AI search?
Yes. Conversational searches often express very specific needs. Focus on understanding and answering the underlying question or intent rather than trying to optimize a separate page for every possible wording.
Need Help Finding the Right Keywords for Your Business?
Keyword research isn’t about building the biggest spreadsheet.
It’s about finding the searches that deserve your attention.
I’ve worked in SEO for more than 20 years, helping businesses identify valuable search opportunities, strengthen existing pages and build SEO strategies around the searches most likely to support real business goals.
If you’re looking for help with keyword research or SEO strategy, learn more about working directly with my San Diego SEO company or request a free SEO analysis.
Get found. Get trusted. Get chosen.
— Jen Ruhman
SEO Expert & Founder, Jen Ruhman SEO