Wanna Outsmart Big Sellers? Use the Words They Ignore

Most sellers chase after keywords like they're the last donut in the breakroom...
But me? I go after the stale ones nobody wants—and I make ‘em sweet.

Let me show you how selling to no one can be your biggest money move yet.

📖 From Zero to Sold-Out: A Real-Life Underdog Keyword Win

A few years ago, I was working with a seller who had a dog grooming glove. Not exactly earth-shattering. The main keywords were dog grooming glove, pet deshedding glove, and dog brush mitt—all super competitive and all overrun with big brands dumping serious cash into ads.

Now, here’s where the magic happened…

While digging around in Helium 10, I found a search term that got zero exact match searches monthly.

That’s right—ZERO. Nada. Goose egg.

The keyword?
“Cat hair removal glove couch”

Now, any normal seller would’ve skipped it. But I’m not normal. 😎

We tested that long-tail keyword in a PPC campaign—$5/day budget, exact match.

And guess what?

Within two weeks, the ACoS was under 18%, with a few conversions every single day. That might sound small, but here's the kicker:

🟢 Those clicks were cheap
🟢 The glove had killer reviews
🟢 There was zero competition for that term
🟢 We converted better than on main keywords

And just like that, we had a low-cost customer acquisition machine.

No bidding war. No stress. Just profit.

🔢 The “Zero-Search” Strategy in 4 Simple Steps

Here’s how you can find and profit from these ignored gems:

1. Mine the Crumbs

   • Use Helium 10, Data Dive, or Amazon’s own brand analytics to find long-tail phrases.

   • Look for keywords with 0–20 searches/month.

   • Target “how” or “where” phrases. (Ex: “how to remove pet hair from velvet”)

2. Don’t Skip the Zeros

   • Most sellers only target keywords with 500+ searches.

   • That means YOU can sneak in the side door with $0.25–$0.50 bids and grab high-converting buyers who are searching in their own weird way.

3. Test Cheap, Scale Smart

   • Run low-budget, exact match ads.

   • Track ACoS and click-through. You’ll often find gold nuggets that no tool predicted.

4. Optimize Listings with “Hidden Gold”

   • Sprinkle these terms into your bullet points, backend search terms, even product Q&A if you can.

   • Over time, you’ll organically rank for these and build up a moat your competitors don’t even see.

🎯 The Big Takeaway

Most sellers want the sexy keywords.

But sexy comes with a price—competition, ad burn, and a bruised ego when your ACoS spikes.

The smart money? It’s in the weird, unsexy, low-hanging fruit.

Those zero-search keywords?

They’re your secret stash of profit. 💰

💬 Say It with Me: “Where There’s No Search, There’s No Competition”

Put that on a Post-it and stick it to your monitor.

Because if you keep chasing the herd, you’ll get trampled. But if you learn to love the overlooked, you’ll build a business with less stress and more margin.

🙋‍♂️ Wanna win without spending like the big dogs?

I say: Let them fight for the #1 keyword.

You? You’ll quietly take home the profits from keywords nobody’s even watching. 😉

Until next time—
Stay scrappy,

Andy Splichal
Founder & Managing Partner of True Online Presence & Author of the Make Each Click Count Book Series

P.S. If you're tired of wasting money on ads that don’t convert — and you're ready to take your Amazon PPC from “meh” to money machine — let’s chat. I offer done-for-you ad management that actually works (no fluff, just ROI).
📅 Click here to book a call with me — let’s scale this thing 🚀

P.S. Want a fast way to increase your Amazon sales? Take a look at my new software, Persona Factor, that uses your product reviews to optimize your product titles and descriptions.

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