Keyword Research for Affiliate Marketing Beginners: The High-Search, Low-Competition Playbook (Step 4)

You could create the best affiliate content on the internet and still make zero dollars if nobody is searching for it. That is the part most beginners skip. They pick a product they like, write a review, hit publish, and then wonder why traffic never shows up. The missing piece is keyword research, and once you understand how it works, you stop guessing and start building content that people are already looking for right now.

This is Step 4 in the affiliate marketing for beginners series. In Step 3 we covered traffic and where to publish your content. Here we go deeper: what keywords actually are, why they matter, how the buying funnel shapes every search a person makes, and exactly how to find high-search, low-competition keywords using both free tools and one well-timed paid tool. The examples Alston walks through use a Sony Alpha 7R4 camera, but the same framework applies to any niche you are in.

What You’ll Walk Out With

A clear definition of keywords and why they are the foundation of any affiliate marketing strategy
How the inverted pyramid (buyer’s funnel) maps every search a person makes from problem-aware to purchase-ready
The five types of buyer-intent keywords and where each one sits in the funnel
Four free Google-based methods you can use today to build a keyword list without spending a dollar
How to use Answer the Public correctly (and the mistake that kills beginners who rely on it too heavily)
How to reverse-engineer competitors’ traffic using Ahrefs Site Explorer to steal low-competition keywords they are already ranking for
The content mix strategy Alston recommends: start at the bottom of the funnel and work up
Not sure which niche or product to build your affiliate site around? finder.platformproof.com matches your existing skills to a specific online income path

What Keywords Actually Are

Keywords are simply the words, phrases, or sentences that your target audience types into a search engine because they have a problem they want to solve. That is the whole definition. If someone wants to buy a mirrorless camera for YouTube, they might type “best mirrorless camera for YouTubers.” If someone already bought one and needs help with settings, they type “Sony Alpha 7R4 setup tutorial.” Both are keywords. Both represent real people with real intent.

Your job as an affiliate marketer is to create content that answers those searches. When your content answers the question, Google and YouTube surface it, people land on your page, and some percentage of them click your affiliate link and buy. Keywords are the bridge between their problem and your commission. Get the keyword right and everything else gets easier. Get it wrong and you are writing for an audience that does not exist or competing against sites with years of authority you cannot outrank yet.

The Inverted Pyramid: How Every Buyer Searches

The most important concept in this video is the inverted pyramid, also called the buyer’s funnel. Picture a funnel with the wide opening at the top and money at the very bottom. Everyone who eventually buys a product enters at the top and works their way down. At different stages they ask completely different questions, and understanding those stages tells you exactly what content to create and how competitive each topic will be.

To make this concrete, Alston uses the Sony Alpha 7R4 throughout the lesson. But he also uses a weight-loss example to show this is universal. Someone whose doctor just told them they need to lose 50 pounds starts at the top asking general questions. They get more specific as they learn more. By the time they are comparing supplement A versus supplement B, they are one step from pulling out a credit card. Same psychology. Different niche. Same funnel.

The Five Keyword Types by Funnel Level

Level 1: Bottom of the Funnel (Closest to the Money)

At the very bottom of the funnel the person already knows the product. They have either purchased it or they are ready to buy and just want reassurance. The keywords here include: review, unboxing, setup, tutorial. Someone typing “Sony Alpha 7R4 review” or “Sony Alpha 7R4 setup tutorial” is not browsing. They are in decision mode. This makes these keywords extremely valuable for affiliate commissions and also extremely competitive, because every affiliate in your niche knows this too.

These are also the keywords that convert fastest because the visitor is already bought in on the product category. Your content just needs to validate the specific purchase and include your affiliate link. Alston recommends starting your keyword strategy here, but he is equally clear that you cannot build an entire site on only review content.

Level 2: Alternatives and Recommendations

One step up from reviews, the person knows they have a problem and broadly understands the solution, but they are not locked into one product yet. They are searching for things like “Sony Alpha 7R4 full frame alternative” or “best full frame camera recommendations for videographers.” They want to make sure they are making the right call. Content here still converts well because these searchers are close to a decision, they just have not committed yet.

This tier is often less competitive than direct reviews because fewer affiliates think to create alternative and recommendation content. A guide titled “5 Sony Alpha 7R4 alternatives under $2,000” can rank faster than a straight review while targeting people who are just as ready to buy.

Level 3: Versus Keywords (Alston’s Favorite)

Versus keywords are one of the highest-value formats in affiliate marketing. The search pattern looks like “Sony Alpha 7R4 vs Canon EOS R5” or “Sony Alpha 7R3 vs Sony Alpha 7R4 specs.” The person is running side-by-side comparisons before making a final call. The conversion rate on these pages is excellent because the visitor has already done most of their own research and just wants someone to help them make the final decision.

Here is why Alston specifically calls these out: when you write a versus post you can be an affiliate for both products. If the visitor decides Product A is right for them, your Product A link gets the commission. If they land on Product B, your Product B link gets it. You win either way. That is not true of a review post that covers only one product.

Level 4: Best-For and Best-Under Keywords

Higher up in the funnel, people are still narrowing down a category. They are not searching for a specific product model yet but they are actively researching. Keywords here follow patterns like “best mirrorless camera for YouTubers” or “best mirrorless camera under $1,500.” These terms get significant search volume and can drive affiliate commissions, but they attract more competition because popular tech and affiliate sites publish these roundups aggressively.

For a brand-new affiliate site, jumping straight into “best mirrorless camera for YouTubers” means competing against established publications with years of backlinks. The smarter play is to build authority at the bottom first, then move up into these broader keywords as your domain gains trust.

Level 5: Top of the Funnel (Informational Keywords)

At the very top, people are asking general questions. They have a problem but have not named the solution yet. Queries here look like “how to make better YouTube videos,” “why should I invest in a better camera,” or “how to start photography for beginners.” These keywords get enormous search volume, but most of the audience is nowhere near buying. Big-name channels dominate this space because they have been creating content here for years.

Top-of-funnel content has a place in a mature affiliate site because it builds brand awareness and email subscribers, but Alston is direct: do not start here. The competition is intense and the conversion-to-traffic ratio is low. Earn your authority at the bottom, then grow upward.

What Happens After Every Search

Alston makes a point that most keyword guides skip: every time someone runs a search, exactly one of three things happens. They ask another question and keep searching. They make a purchase and exit the funnel. Or they leave entirely. This happens at every level of the funnel without exception. Near the top, most people ask another question or leave. Near the bottom, most people either buy or leave. There is very little lingering.

What this means for your content strategy: your job is not just to rank. Your job is to answer the question so completely that the visitor does not need to go back to Google. If your review answers every question they have, they will click your affiliate link. If it leaves gaps, they leave, find a better resource, and someone else earns the commission. Depth matters more than length for its own sake.

Not sure which affiliate niche fits you best?

Take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com to find your best online income path based on the skills you already have.

Four Free Ways to Find Keywords Using Google

You do not need to spend a dollar on tools to build a solid keyword list. Google itself gives you multiple research angles if you know where to look.

Method 1: Google Autocomplete

Type your product name into the Google search bar and pause before hitting enter. Google will display a dropdown of the most common searches that start with those words. Those suggestions are real searches from real people. They are free keyword ideas. Write them down, create content around the best ones, and you have an instant research list without any tool subscription.

Method 2: People Also Ask

Run any search and scroll down to the “People also ask” box. These are additional questions Google surfaces because users frequently search them together. The useful part Alston points out: every time you expand one of those dropdown answers, Google adds more questions to the box. It keeps cycling. You can expand ten or twenty questions in a single session and come away with dozens of blog post or video ideas, all directly tied to what your audience is already asking.

Method 3: Related Searches

Scroll to the very bottom of a Google results page and find the “Related searches” section. These are lateral keyword ideas, searches that are not identical to what you typed but are clearly connected. People looking at the Sony Alpha 7R4 will find related searches about other camera models, accessories, and use cases. Each related search is a potential piece of content and a window into what else your audience cares about.

Method 4: The Alphabet Soup Method

This one takes more time but it is thorough. Type your product or topic followed by each letter of the alphabet and note every autocomplete suggestion that appears. “Sony Alpha 7R4 a…” reveals one set of suggestions. “Sony Alpha 7R4 b…” reveals another. “Sony Alpha 7R4 vs Canon EOS R5” showed up when Alston ran through this exercise live in the video. Tedious, yes. But it surfaces niche questions that faster methods miss, and niche questions are often the least competitive content to rank for.

Answer the Public: Use It Right or It Hurts You

Answer the Public is a free keyword research tool that generates questions and phrases around any topic you type in. You enter your product name and it returns a visual map of questions: who, what, when, where, why, how, versus, and so on. For the Sony Alpha 7R4 it returned suggestions like “Sony Alpha 7R4 manual PDF” and dozens of others.

Here is the trap. Answer the Public has been around for years and every affiliate marketing course mentions it. That means every marketer using it sees the same suggestions. “Sony Alpha 7R4 manual PDF” has already been covered by dozens of sites. If you just take its suggestions at face value and create content on the obvious ones, you are walking into a competitive graveyard.

The correct way to use Answer the Public is as a starting point, not a final answer. Use its suggestions to confirm demand exists and to generate angles you might not have thought of. Then cross-reference with a paid tool to check actual search volume and competition before committing to content creation. Use it to spark ideas, not to decide strategy.

Competitor Analysis: Borrow What Already Works

One of the faster ways to find keyword ideas is to study competitors who are already ranking. On YouTube, find a channel in your niche and look at which of their videos has the most views. If a video about the Sony Alpha 7R4 is getting thousands of views, that topic has proven demand. Watch that video, take notes, and create your own version that covers the points the original creator missed. You are not copying their content; you are improving on what the market has already shown it wants.

On the blog side, you can grab a competitor’s URL and paste it into a paid keyword research tool to see exactly which keywords that specific page ranks for. Alston demonstrated this live using imagingresource.com. Taking one specific page URL and dropping it into Ahrefs Site Explorer returned 218 keywords. The match terms view showed that the same product was generating 6,500 monthly views across 379 keywords from a single page. That is a lot of content opportunity hidden inside one competitor URL.

Expanding that search from a single URL to the entire domain reveals even more: which low-competition keywords the site ranks for across all of its content, how much organic traffic those rankings drive, and where the gaps are. Those gaps are your opportunity. You can create content for keywords that established sites technically rank for but have not fully optimized, and beat them with more focused, more helpful content.

The Case for Ahrefs: One Month Is Enough

Ahrefs is the paid keyword tool Alston uses in the video. When he types “Sony Alpha 7R4” directly into Ahrefs, the data shows almost 2,000 monthly searches for that exact keyword and 112 related keyword variations. More importantly, it surfaces comparison keywords like “Sony Alpha 7R3 vs Sony Alpha 7R4 specs” with clean search volume data that free tools cannot match.

The cost is a monthly subscription, but Alston offers a practical workaround for beginners with a tight budget: buy one month. Do all your keyword research up front, build a content calendar with 30 to 60 keyword targets, and then cancel. You have paid for one month and walked away with months of content direction. When you need another round of research later, subscribe again. You do not have to pay for it every month when your budget is limited.

This approach treats the tool as a research sprint rather than a permanent overhead cost. One month of focused Ahrefs research will give you more usable keyword data than a year of guessing with free tools alone.

The Content Mix Strategy: Start at the Bottom

Alston’s recommendation for where to start is clear and backed by logic: start at the bottom of the funnel. Review content, unboxing content, setup guides. These keywords have the clearest buyer intent, they convert the best, and while they are competitive, they are also the most direct path from content to commission for a new affiliate site.

But do not make everything a review or an unboxing. Build a content mix. Cover some alternatives content. Write a few versus posts so you can capture affiliate commissions from multiple products in the same comparison. Do some “best for” roundups once you have a handful of published posts building your credibility. The mix keeps your site from looking one-dimensional and it lets you capture traffic at multiple points in the funnel simultaneously.

The strategic advantage of the versus format deserves repeating: you can join the affiliate programs for both competing products. If your comparison page gets 1,000 visitors and half choose Product A while half choose Product B, you get commissions from both groups. That is a structural advantage most single-product review posts do not have.

Honest Drawbacks

Alston does not sugarcoat this: creating content is not easy. Writing thorough blog posts takes hours. Getting comfortable on camera for YouTube takes practice. Creating for TikTok consistently is its own skill set. The keyword research framework is simple in the sense that anyone can understand it and apply it. But simple is not the same as easy. The people who succeed are the ones who commit to the simple process long enough for results to compound.

The alphabet soup method specifically is straightforward but time-consuming. Going through every letter of the alphabet for a single product takes a meaningful block of time, and you have to do it repeatedly as you add products to your affiliate portfolio. Free tools are free in dollars but expensive in hours. When your business starts generating income, reinvesting some of it into a month of Ahrefs pays back quickly in research time saved.

Finally: keyword research is not a one-time exercise. Search trends shift, new products launch, competitors enter and exit the market. Your keyword list from six months ago may include terms that have grown more competitive or opportunities that did not exist yet. Build keyword research into your content process, not just your launch process.

Step-by-Step: Your First Keyword Research Session

Write down your affiliate product name and its top three to five competitors
Open Google and type your product name into the search bar; note all autocomplete suggestions before pressing enter
Run the search and expand every “People also ask” question until you have at least ten questions written down
Scroll to the bottom and copy the related searches section into your notes
Run the alphabet soup method for your product name and note every suggestion that matches a buyer-intent keyword type
Go to Answer the Public and search your product; use the results to confirm demand and generate angles, not to finalize your keyword list
Find two or three competitor YouTube channels or blogs in your niche; identify their highest-performing pieces of content
If you have access to Ahrefs, paste competitor URLs into Site Explorer and export their top low-competition keywords
Sort your keyword list by funnel level: bottom (reviews, setups, versus), middle (alternatives, best-for), top (how-to, general guides)
Choose your first five pieces of content from the bottom of the funnel and build your content calendar from there

Find Your X

Keyword research only works if you are in the right niche for you. Picking a niche you cannot sustain writing about for six to twelve months is a recipe for quitting before results arrive. The clearest path to finding your right niche is matching it to what you already know, already do, or already spend money on. If you already know the product category from the inside, creating content for it feels like sharing knowledge rather than manufacturing it.

The free quiz at finder.platformproof.com walks you through a short series of questions about your existing skills and interests and returns a specific online income path built around what you already have. Use it to confirm your niche before you invest time in keyword research, or to find a better-fitting direction if your current niche is not clicking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a paid keyword tool to get started with affiliate marketing?

No. The four free Google methods Alston covers in this video, autocomplete, People also ask, related searches, and the alphabet soup method, can get you started without spending anything. Free tools require more manual work and give you less precise data on search volume and competition, but they are functional. Once your affiliate commissions justify a tool investment, one month of Ahrefs will speed up your research significantly.

What is buyer intent and why does it matter for keyword selection?

Buyer intent describes how close a searcher is to making a purchase. High-intent keywords like “Sony Alpha 7R4 review” signal that the person is nearly ready to buy. Low-intent keywords like “what is a mirrorless camera” signal curiosity with no specific buying pressure. Affiliate commissions come from people who buy, so prioritizing high-intent keywords means your content has a better chance of generating income per visitor even if total traffic is lower than a general informational post.

How competitive are bottom-of-funnel keywords?

They vary significantly by niche and product popularity. A review of a niche camera accessory will face far less competition than a review of an iPhone case. The right approach is to check competition before committing. In Ahrefs you can see a keyword difficulty score alongside search volume. A keyword with 500 monthly searches and low difficulty is often more valuable to a new affiliate site than a keyword with 5,000 monthly searches and high difficulty. Volume alone does not tell you whether you can actually rank.

Can I use keywords from Answer the Public as my content plan?

Use them as idea generators, not as a complete plan. Because Answer the Public is widely referenced in affiliate marketing education, the obvious keywords it surfaces have been hit repeatedly by other creators. The value is in using those suggestions to spark your own angle, or to confirm that demand exists for a topic you already had in mind. Always validate search volume and competition in a separate tool before you commit time to writing.

Why are versus keywords especially valuable for affiliate marketers?

Because you can participate in the affiliate programs of both products you are comparing. If someone lands on your “Sony Alpha 7R4 vs Canon EOS R5” post and buys either camera through your links, you earn a commission. That doubles your earning potential per piece of content compared to a review that covers only one product. Versus posts also convert well because visitors are in active decision mode, which is exactly where affiliate content performs best.

How do I find low-competition keywords using a competitor’s website?

In Ahrefs Site Explorer, paste a competitor’s specific page URL to see all the keywords that single page ranks for. Look for keywords that have meaningful monthly search volume but low keyword difficulty scores. Those are topics where the competitor is ranking but has not created the definitive resource. You can then create more focused, higher-quality content on those keywords and rank above them. For broader research, paste the entire domain URL to see the competitor’s full keyword footprint.

Should my affiliate content target both YouTube and Google, or just one?

The same keyword research framework applies to both platforms, but the execution differs. On Google, written blog posts and guides rank. On YouTube, video content ranks. The funnel psychology is identical on both: review content converts, versus content converts, informational content builds awareness. Alston recommends choosing one platform to master first rather than splitting your attention. Once you have a working content system on one platform, you can repurpose that research for the other.

How often should I do keyword research?

At a minimum, build a keyword calendar for 30 to 60 pieces of content before you start creating anything. That runway means you never stall waiting for your next topic. Then revisit your keyword strategy every two to three months to check for new products, new competitors, and shifts in search trends. If you subscribe to Ahrefs for one month to do your initial research, that same one-month subscription can cover a quarterly refresh when you re-subscribe. You do not need perpetual access to stay well-informed.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “How To Start Affiliate Marketing For Beginners With No Money Or Experience | Step 4,” YouTube, alstongodbolt.com
Ahrefs Site Explorer: keyword research and competitor analysis tool referenced in the video
Answer the Public: free keyword question-generation tool referenced in the video
Google Search autocomplete, People also ask, and related searches: free native keyword research methods demonstrated in the video
imagingresource.com: example competitor domain used in the Ahrefs Site Explorer demonstration

Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.