I was reviewing a client's analytics last month. Their highest-converting page had zero search volume according to every SEO tool we checked. Traffic matters. It looks great in board meetings, it shows growth, it proves SEO is working. I get it. But traffic isn't the only metric that matters. This page with "zero potential" was producing more qualified leads than articles with 10,000 monthly visitors.
The keyword came from a phrase their CEO kept hearing on sales calls. Not from keyword research. Not from competitor analysis. From listening.
TL;DR
- Zero-volume keywords often convert best because they capture exact-match buyer intent that SEO tools can't measure
- Talk to founders and sales teams to discover what prospects actually ask. This matters more than any tool.
- You still need volume keywords for foundation and authority. Without them, ranking for niche terms gets harder.
- AI search amplifies this: ChatGPT and Perplexity run fan-out queries that match these exact niche phrases
- Balance is everything: authority keywords for visibility, niche keywords for conversion
The Page That Changed My Perspective
Here's what the metrics looked like:
Every SEO instinct says kill that page. But this page was producing more qualified leads than articles with 10,000 monthly visitors.
The keyword? Hyper-specific to their niche. Something their exact target buyer would type at 2am when they're fed up with their current solution and ready to switch.
SEO tools become less reliable as search volume drops. Below 100 monthly searches, the data gets noisy. Below 50, take it with a grain of salt. A "zero volume" keyword isn't zero searches. It's searches the tools struggle to measure accurately.
Where Converting Keywords Actually Come From
Here's where it gets interesting. SEO tools show you what's measurable. But some of the best keyword opportunities sit in places tools can't reach: sales calls, support tickets, founder conversations.
Most SEO work happens on the screen. But the real goldmine is a 30-minute call with someone who talks to customers every day. Your clients know things the tools don't. They hear exact phrases on sales calls. They read industry reports that signal where a category is heading. They get market intelligence from investors. They know what their prospects actually search for when they're ready to buy.
You don't realize how much SEO value sits in these conversations until you start mining them.
Talk to Founders and Sales
Ask what phrases prospects use in calls. Not what analytics say. What customers actually told them.
Listen to Call Recordings
Transcribe them. Look for specific language. "We need a way to..." is gold.
Ask About Reports and Market Intel
Gartner reports, VC insights, industry trends. Clients often know about emerging categories before SEO tools do.
Mine Support Tickets
If someone asks "can you integrate with X?" in support, people are searching that too.
I spoke with the CPO of a security company. He told me about a keyword he started hearing more often among CTOs and people they meet on sales calls. I checked it on SEO tools:
Zero volume. And also no competition. We created a dedicated page and a blog article, and within two weeks the client dominated search and LLM results around it. This zero-volume article gave them more leads in one quarter than their highest-volume informative article, which gets thousands of visitors each month.
Validating Before You Build
Sales calls can surface internal jargon that customers say on the phone but never type into Google. Before building a page, do a quick validation:
- Type the phrase into Google. If autocomplete suggests it, real people search for it.
- Check "People Also Ask." Related questions mean you've hit a real query cluster.
- Search in quotes. Any results at all means the exact phrase exists in the wild.
This takes 60 seconds. It bridges human insight and data without relying on volume estimates that don't work at this scale.
Why You Still Need Volume Keywords
I'm not saying ignore volume entirely. You need high-volume keywords for critical reasons:
- Authority signals. Ranking for competitive terms tells Google and AI systems you're a legitimate player.
- Domain strength. Traffic is an indicator for search engines and probably LLMs too. Sites with solid traffic foundations rank more easily for everything.
- Link acquisition. Nobody links to a niche page about SOC2 compliance for fintech. They link to comprehensive guides.
- Protection against competitors. Without authority, you'll get outranked for niche keywords the moment a stronger competitor sees the opportunity.
The shift: stop treating high-volume keywords as your conversion engine. They're your authority engine. Your conversion engine runs on niche. But without the authority engine running, the conversion engine stalls.
The AI Amplifier Effect
Everything I've described gets amplified by AI search. When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity a specific question, the model runs "fan-out queries." A single user question spawns multiple search variations.
"What's the best CRM for my marketing agency?" becomes searches like "best CRM for marketing agencies 2025" and "marketing agency CRM with project management." The AI synthesizes results across all these queries.
A niche page targeting the specific use case has a massive advantage: it matches multiple fan-out variations with high relevance. Generic "Best CRM Software" guides only partially match.
Generic guides compete against thousands of similar pages. But a page specifically about "CRM for marketing agencies with client portal features"? You might be the only authoritative source. Specificity creates scarcity. Scarcity creates citation dominance.
Building Pages That Convert
These aren't blog posts. They're solution pages, use case pages, industry pages. Built for one job: help the person who typed that exact phrase find what they need.
Yes, it's for SEO and GEO. But the main thing is the target audience. Give them value. The rankings follow.
Think about what people actually type. "DSPM solution" has volume, and you should have a page for it. But people also search for much more specific things, especially on LLMs: "data security for healthcare startup before SOC2 audit" or "DSPM that integrates with AWS and doesn't require a dedicated security team." Real constraints. Real context.
The page should match that specificity. Clean. Minimal. Easy to scan. State the problem, explain how you solve it, add proof, answer the obvious follow-up questions. Can be 500 words. Can be 1,500. Length doesn't matter. Clarity does.
The FAQs are underrated. Done right, they cover specific scenarios within the niche ("What if we're not HIPAA compliant yet?"), link to related pages ("See our guide to HIPAA compliance for startups"), and give LLMs more citable content. They also help the person reading the page feel like you understand their exact situation.
The Cannibalization Question
"If I create 'CRM for marketing agencies' and 'CRM for PR agencies' and 'CRM for digital agencies,' won't they cannibalize each other?"
Cannibalization is real and you should avoid it. But these pages don't cannibalize because the micro-targeting creates genuine distinction.
Someone searching for HIPAA-compliant project management has fundamentally different needs than someone searching for SOC2-compliant project management. Different compliance requirements. Different industries. Different buying criteria. The pages serve different people solving different problems.
The small nuances matter. A page about "CRM for agencies managing retainer clients" is distinct from "CRM for agencies running project-based work." These micro-differences are what let both pages rank. Same category, different intent.
Traditional search sometimes makes mistakes here. Google might show overlap between similar pages, or rank the wrong one for a query. It happens. But AI Overviews and LLM-powered search understand these distinctions better. They read the full context, recognize the specific use case, and cite the page that actually matches the query. The more micro-targeted your page, the more advantage you have in AI search.
Keep these pages in a dedicated section (/solutions/ or /use-cases/), distinct from your main feature pages. Link them to your parent authority page. Let authority content earn backlinks that flow equity down to your conversion pages.
SEO isn't about getting more traffic. It's about converting readers into users. The gap between what SEO tools measure and what actually drives revenue can only be closed by looking outside the screen. Talk to founders. Listen to sales calls. Understand what your target audience actually searches when they're ready to buy.
That work produces pages that convert better than any informational content we've ever written. Balance it with authority content to build the foundation. Run both engines.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do keywords with 0 volume still get traffic?
Yes. SEO tools measure volume through clickstream sampling, which misses queries searched fewer than ~100 times monthly. Google Search Console shows real impressions and clicks that tools can't see.
How do I find keywords that SEO tools miss?
Three sources: sales call recordings, support tickets, and Google Search Console. Filter GSC for queries with impressions but zero volume in your SEO tools. Google Autosuggest also validates phrases the tools miss.
Should I target low-volume keywords?
Yes, but balanced with authority content. Use high-volume keywords for domain strength and backlinks. Use low/zero-volume keywords for conversion. You need both engines running.
Yuval Halevi
Yuval, an expert in SEO with over a decade of experience, helps startups simplify their digital marketing strategies. With a focus on practical solutions and a track record of success as a digital nomad and successful company builder, he drives growth through effective SEO, growth hacking, and creative marketing.