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ian_silas
ian_silas

Posted on Originally published at Medium

How I Built a Chrome Extension to Find Low-Competition "Blue Ocean" SEO Keywords

#seo #webdev #showdev #productivity

As an indie hacker, doing SEO for side projects can be frustrating. Most high-volume keywords in 2026 are already heavily guarded by authority domains, and enterprise SEO suites cost $100+ per month—way too expensive for validating a small product.

To solve this, I focused on a different approach: Reverse-engineering direct competitors to uncover "Blue Ocean" keywords (search queries with high commercial intent and minimal keyword difficulty).

Instead of doing manual spreadsheet lookups, I built a lightweight Chrome extension called Competitor Keyword Finder.

Why Blue Ocean Keywords Matter for Builders

A typical mistake when launching a project is targeting broad, high-volume terms. For indie creators, the sweet spot is queries where:

  • Keyword Difficulty (KD) is low (< 35): Minimal backlink profile required to get indexed and ranked.
  • Search Intent is commercial/informational: Visitors are actively looking for tools or specific workflows.
  • Competitors have gaps: Legacy pages that rank but offer outdated UX or sparse answers.

How the Opportunity Algorithm Works

Rather than just showing raw numbers, the tool calculates an automated Blue Ocean Score (0–100) by evaluating:

  1. Search Volume vs. KD ratio
  2. Cost-per-Click (CPC) indicating advertiser demand
  3. Actionable Tier Classification:
    • Tier S & Tier A: Prime low-competition keywords ready for immediate content or product landing pages.
    • Tier B: Ideal for long-tail FAQ sections and documentation.
    • Tier C: High-competition terms to skip.

The extension also supports localized data across 9 global regions (US, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, France, Spain, South Korea, Brazil, Saudi Arabia) and allows 1-click CSV export.

Tech Stack & Workflow

  • Frontend: Manifest V3 Chrome Extension, Tailwind CSS
  • Backend: Cloudflare Workers (edge compute) & Serverless data pipelines
  • Pricing Model: No locked-in subscriptions. 5 free searches upon install, followed by a pay-as-you-go top-up starting at $5.

If you're building a niche site, SaaS, or blog, feel free to give it a spin:

👉 Install Competitor Keyword Finder on Chrome Web Store

Any feedback on the UI or feature suggestions is warmly welcomed!

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