How to Find Low-Competition Keywords Without Paying for Ahrefs

Everyone says "do keyword research." Then they recommend Ahrefs ($99/mo), SEMrush ($129/mo), or Moz ($99/mo). For a side project or new blog making zero revenue, that's a non-starter. Here's the thing: you don't need premium tools to find keywords worth targeting. I've grown three blogs to 10K+ monthly visitors each using only free methods. The paid tools are convenient, but the underlying research process works with free data too. Let me show you how. What Makes a Keyword "Good" Before we dig into methods, let's define what we're looking for: Search volume : People actually search for this (at least 100 searches/month) Low competition : The first page isn't dominated by massive authority sites Clear intent : You can tell what the searcher wants and can deliver it Relevance : It connects to your product, service, or content The sweet spot for new sites: keywords with 100-1,000 monthly searches and low to medium competition. These are too small for big players to target but big enough t