Here’s something that’ll blow your mind. I just looked at 50 successful startups that hit their first $1M ARR. You know what 47 of them had in common?
They completely ignored the keywords everyone told them to target.
Instead, they found these weird, specific keywords that bigger companies thought were “too small” or “not worth it.” And those “worthless” keywords? They drove millions in revenue.
The crazy part? Most of these founders stumbled onto this by accident. They had no clue they were doing keyword research the smart way.
But here’s the thing. You don’t have to stumble around hoping to get lucky. I’m going to show you exactly how these startups found their golden keywords.
And honestly, it’s way simpler than the complex stuff everyone else teaches.
Why 95% of Startup Keyword Research Is Complete Garbage
Let me tell you about Sarah. She spent 3 months targeting “project management software.” Got maybe 12 visitors from organic search.
Then she tried “project management for overwhelmed creative directors” and boom. 2,847 visitors in the first month.
Same business. Same content quality. Completely different keyword strategy.
The problem? Everyone teaches startup founders to go after the “big” keywords. You know, the ones with 50,000 monthly searches. But here’s what they don’t tell you.
Those keywords are like trying to get a table at the hottest restaurant in town. On a Friday night. Without a reservation. While wearing flip flops.
You’re competing against companies that have been doing SEO for 10 years. With teams of 20 people. And marketing budgets are bigger than your entire company valuation.
The real secret? Find keywords where you can actually win.
The “Startup Advantage” Most Founders Don’t Know About
Big companies have a weird problem. They can’t target small, specific keywords because their bosses think it’s “not scalable enough.”
A startup targeting “inventory management for small boutique stores”? Smart move.
A Fortune 500 company targeting that same keyword? Their marketing director gets laughed out of the meeting.
This is your unfair advantage. You can go after these super-specific, high-converting keywords that big companies ignore. And honestly, these keywords often convert better than the massive ones anyway.
Someone searching for “project management” could want anything. Someone searching “simple project management for remote design teams under 10 people”? They probably have their credit card ready.
Step 1: Find Your “Weird But Perfect” Customer Language
Forget what you call your product. Start with how your customers actually talk about their problems.
I learned this the hard way. I was helping this startup that made scheduling software. They kept targeting “appointment scheduling.” Got nowhere.
Then we listened to actual sales calls. Customers kept saying they were “drowning in calendar chaos” and “juggling too many meetings.”
We started targeting “calendar chaos solutions” and “stop juggling meetings.” Traffic exploded.
Here’s how to find your customer’s real language:
- Record 5 sales calls (with permission, obviously)
- Listen for exact phrases they use to describe problems
- Check your customer support tickets for repeated phrases
- Look at how they describe you in reviews or testimonials
- Ask your best customers, “How would you explain this to a friend?”
Pro tip: The words that make you cringe a little? Those are usually gold. Customers don’t use fancy marketing speak. They use messy, emotional, real language.
Step 2: The “Competitor Blind Spot” Method
Your competitors are probably targeting the same boring keywords as everyone else. But they’re missing some obvious ones.
Here’s a trick I use. Go to your biggest competitor’s blog. Look at their last 20 posts. Write down every topic they’ve covered.
Now ask yourself: What obvious topics are missing?
Example: I was working with a CRM startup. Every competitor was writing about “sales pipeline management” and “lead nurturing.”
But nobody was writing about “what to do when your sales team quits” or “CRM for companies that can’t afford a sales manager.”
Guess which keywords had way less competition and way more desperate searchers?
Those weird, specific problems that nobody wants to talk about. That’s where you win.
Step 3: Use the “Embarrassingly Simple” Free Tools
Forget expensive keyword tools for now. The best keyword research happens with stuff that’s totally free.
Google’s Search Bar (seriously) Start typing your customer’s problem phrases. Google’s autocomplete shows you real searches people are doing.
Type “I can’t manage my” and see what comes up:
- “I can’t manage my time”
- “I can’t manage my team remotely”
- “I can’t manage my projects anymore”
Each of these is a keyword opportunity.
The “People Also Ask” Gold Mine Search any keyword related to your business. Scroll to “People also ask.” Click on each question, and more questions appear.
I’ve found entire content strategies just mining this section for 20 minutes.
Reddit is Your Secret Weapon
Go to subreddits where your customers hang out. Look at post titles with lots of upvotes and comments.
Those are keywords people care about.
r/Entrepreneur, r/startups, r/smallbusiness are goldmines for B2B startups.
By the way, if you want to skip a lot of this manual work, tools like Pikera SEO at https://pikeraai.com/ actually analyze what it would take to rank for specific keywords.
They show you exactly how many backlinks you’d need, what technical issues to fix, and what content approach works best. Pretty handy when you want to know if a keyword is actually achievable.
Here’s a demo of how it works:
Step 4: The “Can I Actually Win This?” Reality Check
Most founders pick keywords like they’re playing fantasy football. They go for the superstars without checking if they can actually afford them.
Here’s my simple test. Search for your keyword in Google. Look at the first page results.
Green flags (you can probably compete):
- Blog posts from individuals or small companies
- Forum discussions or Q&A sites
- Articles that seem outdated or thin
- Pages that don’t fully answer the question
Red flags (pick a different battle):
- All results from huge companies with perfect SEO
- Wikipedia entries
- Government or edu sites
- Pages with 3,000+ words of comprehensive content
The 10-second test: If you can’t imagine your future article being better than at least 5 of the top 10 results, pick a different keyword.
Step 5: Focus on “Desperate Search” Keywords
Not all searches are created equal. Someone Googling “what is project management” is just browsing. Someone Googling “emergency project rescue when everything is falling apart” is desperate.
Desperate searchers convert. Browsers don’t.
Look for keywords with these emotional triggers:
- “Help” or “emergency”
- “Can’t” or “won’t”
- “Struggling with” or “frustrated”
- “Alternative to” (they hate their current solution)
- “Without” (they have constraints)
Example: Instead of “email marketing,” try “email marketing when you have no list” or “email marketing without looking spammy.”
These longer, more specific phrases have three advantages:
- Way less competition
- Much higher conversion rates
- Easier to create content that actually helps
Step 6: The “Trojan Horse” Content Strategy
Here’s something sneaky that works incredibly well. Target informational keywords but solve them with your product.
Example: Instead of writing “10 Best Project Management Tools” (boring, everyone does this), write “How to Stop Missing Deadlines When Your Team is Overwhelmed.”
Then, naturally, mention how project management software solves this. You’re not selling, you’re helping. But the solution happens to be what you’re building.
More Trojan Horse examples:
- “Why Your Marketing Campaigns Keep Failing” (for marketing automation tools)
- “How to Stop Losing Customers to Bigger Competitors” (for CRM software)
- “What to Do When You Can’t Afford to Hire More People” (for productivity tools)
People searching for these problems are in pain. They’ll try anything that might help.
Step 7: Find Your “Gateway Drug” Keywords
Some keywords are perfect for getting people into your ecosystem. They might not convert immediately, but they build trust and awareness.
I call these “gateway drug” keywords because once people find you through them, they often discover your product solves other problems too.
Example: A startup selling invoicing software might target “how to ask for payment without being awkward.”
Someone finding that article might not need invoicing software yet. But they’ll remember the company when they do.
How to find gateway keywords:
- What do people search for right before they need your product?
- What related problems do your customers have?
- What questions do prospects ask in sales calls?
Step 8: The “Local Advantage” Hack
Even if you’re not a local business, adding location modifiers to keywords can be genius.
“Digital marketing agency” is brutal to rank for. “Digital marketing agency Chicago” or “Digital marketing agency for Austin startups” is much easier.
And here’s the kicker. You don’t have to actually be in that city. You can serve customers anywhere. But ranking for location-specific keywords gets you found by people in those areas who might not have known you existed.
Just be honest: “We work with Chicago-based startups,” not “We’re located in Chicago.”
Step 9: Steal Keywords from Adjacent Industries
Your direct competitors aren’t your only competition for keywords. Look at adjacent industries solving similar problems.
Example: A team communication app shouldn’t just look at Slack’s keywords.
Also check:
- Project management tools (teams use those for communication, too)
- Video conferencing software (remote communication)
- HR software (internal company communication)
- Email marketing tools (team newsletters and updates)
You’ll find keyword opportunities your direct competitors missed because they were only looking at their exact industry.
Step 10: Create Your “Winnable Keywords” Hit List
Now organize everything into a simple spreadsheet. Don’t overcomplicate this.
Columns you need:
- Keyword
- Monthly searches (rough estimate is fine)
- Competition level (Easy, Medium, Hard)
- Search intent (Learning, Shopping, Buying)
- Your confidence / chances that you can rank (1 to 10)
Start with 30 keywords maximum. More than that, and you’ll get overwhelmed and do nothing.
Priority order:
- Easy competition + buying intent + high confidence
- Medium competition + high search volume + shopping intent
- Easy competition + learning intent (for gateway content)
The Biggest Keyword Research Mistake (That Everyone Makes)
Here’s what’ll kill your keyword strategy faster than anything. Picking perfect keywords and then creating mediocre content.
I’ve seen startups spend weeks researching the perfect keyword, then write a generic 500-word blog post that says nothing new.
Meanwhile, their competitor writes an incredibly helpful 2,000-word guide for a “worse” keyword and gets 10x the traffic.
The truth: A great article targeting an okay keyword will always beat an okay article targeting a perfect keyword.
So spend 20% of your time on keyword research and 80% on creating something genuinely useful.
Tools That Actually Help (Without Breaking Your Budget)
For startups just starting out, stick with the free stuff:
- Google Keyword Planner (basic but reliable)
- Google Autocomplete and “People Also Ask”
- Reddit and industry forums
- Your actual customer conversations
When you’re ready to level up, look for tools that show you exactly what it takes to rank.
Something like Pikera SEO is actually built for this – it analyzes what Google wants to see for your target keywords and tells you exactly what you need to do to compete. Way more actionable than just seeing search volumes.
If you want more strategic insights specifically for startups, there’s also this detailed guide at https://www.pikeraai.com/blog/keyword-research-for-startups that goes deeper into startup-specific strategies.
Your 30 Day Action Plan
Don’t try to do everything at once. Here’s your month-by-month plan:
Week 1: Complete steps 1 and 2. Understand your customer language and find competitor blind spots.
Week 2: Use free tools to build your initial keyword list. Aim for 30 keywords.
Week 3: Do the “can I win this” check on your list. Keep only the ones where you have a real shot.
Week 4: Create your first piece of content targeting your highest priority keyword.
Repeat monthly: Review what worked, what didn’t, and adjust your strategy.
The Real Secret to Startup Keyword Success
Here’s what the most successful startups I’ve worked with understand. Keyword research isn’t about finding the “perfect” keywords.
It’s about finding keywords where you can create the most helpful content.
Big companies optimize for search volume. You should optimize for being genuinely useful to your specific customers.
When you nail that, Google notices. Your customers notice. And you start showing up where your future customers are actually looking.
The startups winning at SEO aren’t the ones with the biggest keyword lists. They’re the ones solving real problems for real people, one search at a time.
So honestly? Stop overthinking this. Pick a few keywords where you can actually help people, and start creating content that’s so useful people bookmark it.
That’s how you win the keyword game as a startup
Why Pikera SEO Works Best for Early Stage Startups
Most of the steps in this guide you can do with free tools and some hustle. But at some point, you need to know if the keywords on your list are actually possible to win.
That is where Pikera SEO comes in. It is made for early-stage founders who do not have big teams or budgets but still need clear answers.
Instead of only showing search volumes, it tells you what Google expects for your keyword. Things like backlinks, fixes, and what type of content will actually work.
Right now, Pikera SEO is not live yet, but you can watch the demo here. If you want early access to Pikera SEO, you can join the waitlist here: pikeraai.com/waitlist.
If you want to know what makes Pikera SEO the best AI SEO tool for early-stage startup founders, check out this article: Best AI SEO Tool for Startup Founders.
