Competitor keywords are keywords that your competitors are targeting in an effort to improve rankings in the search engines, drive traffic, and increase conversions. It can be useful to know what keywords your competitors rank for as this reveals key opportunities for your own website.
Key Takeaways
- A competitor keyword gap analysis identifies keywords your competitors rank for that you don’t, revealing optimisation opportunities for your site.
- This is beneficial to your online presence because it can help you improve your content and appear in more Google search results.
- Utilising SEMrush’s keyword gap tool can speed up the process.
Keep reading to find out more about competitor keyword gap analysis and how you can complete one to make informed content decisions for your campaign going forward.
What is a Competitor Keyword Gap Analysis & How Do You Complete One?
A competitor keyword gap analysis is a method used in SEO to identify keywords your competitors are ranking for that you aren’t. These keyword gaps represent opportunities for optimisations on your website. Keywords are important in SEO because they help Google understand the purpose of pages on your website and rank them accordingly in search results.
Keep reading to find out more about how to complete a competitor keyword gap analysis.
Identify Your Competitors
The first step in completing a competitor keyword gap analysis is to identify your competitors. It is important to choose competitors relevant to your industry otherwise you won’t find any overlap with keyword opportunities. Typically, you would already be aware of your competitors. If not, you need to look for businesses that offer the same products or services as you in the same market. However, in some cases, you may think you already know your competitors when the reality is that different competitors are ranking for your products or services.
The simplest tip for double-checking who your competitors are is to do a Google Search for keywords relating to your products or services. For example, if you run an Accountancy Practice in Sheffield, you could search for terms like ‘Accounting Services Sheffield’. The top-ranking websites would be the competitors that are currently performing better than you for the relevant keyword.
To explore more about competitor research and what insights it can bring, take a read at our recent blog: What is Competitor Research and How to Do It
Review Their Keyword Rankings
Now that you have identified your main competitors the next step is to review their keyword rankings. Using tools such as SEMRush, Ahrefs, or MOZ you can simply input your competitors’ URL and it will bring up all of their organic ranking keywords. See below for a good example.
Pinpoint Any Keyword Gaps
The next step is to identify which of your competitor’s keywords you don’t rank for. Identifying these keyword gaps can be a manual process by downloading the keyword data and comparing it to your own. Alternatively, you can utilise SEMrush’s Keyword Gap Tool which speeds up the process.
You simply input your website URL alongside the competitors you are comparing against and it will generate an informative table comparing your rankings. You can also filter the data so it shows you all the keywords you are not ranking for by clicking the ‘missing’ tab.
Utilising this data you will be able to see how well you are performing against competitors for keywords you both use as well as identifying keyword gaps. Both of which are useful pieces of information for improving your online performance.
Assess How They Target Those Keywords
Now that you have identified what keywords you are missing out on compared to your competitors, it is a good opportunity to assess how they are targeting these keywords. Simply go to the page they are targeting the keyword on assess for the following factors:
- What is the page type? For example a blog or a landing page.
- How often do they use the keyword?
- How much content is on the page?
- Are there any free resources?
- How are the keywords used within title tags & h1s?
- What internal and external links are on the page?
- Are there any trust signals?
To find out more about how to audit content on a page and assess keywords, read our blog: What to Include in a Content Audit.
Map the New Keywords to Your Website
After assessing how competitors are ranking for keywords, you should have a good idea about the intent of those pages. Intent is an important ranking factor because it determines whether your page will rank successfully.
For example, if a keyword used by your competitors is targeted on blog pages, that shows users are looking for information or guides. As a result, you would also want to create a blog-style page. Alternatively, if a keyword is ranking on a product page for your competitor, you would know that the user intent when searching for that keyword is to make a purchase.
This is when you need to start thinking about mapping the newly identified keywords to your website pages. Ensure to consider the intent and the purpose of the keyword. Keyword mapping is a fairly simple process that involves planning which keyword will be used on which page, ready for you to go ahead and optimise those pages.
If you are interested in learning more about keyword intent so that your keyword mapping is done properly, read our recent blog: Is Search Intent a Ranking Factor?
We have also created a helpful video that shows you exactly how to use the SEMrush keyword mapping tool below.
Benefits of a Keyword Gap Analysis
Completing a competitor keyword gap analysis provides a range of benefits for you and your online presence. The benefits are too good to miss out on. Read below to discover why this method is so good for your online presence.
Identifies Keyword Opportunities
Competitor keyword gap analysis helps you identify keyword opportunities that you have not yet. There may be higher-volume keywords that could help you reach a wider audience. There also may be less competitive keywords that are more achievable for your website.
Saves You Time
Another benefit is that this method can speed up the process of identifying keyword opportunities. Rather than going through competitor websites and looking for keywords they are targeting, a keyword gap analysis drags all the data into one place for you. Making comparisons much easier and much quicker.
Informs Your Content Plan
A gap analysis can also help you to make justified and informed decisions for your content plan moving forward. Having the data to back up your decisions means your content plan should be more effective.
Improve Online Presence
A further benefit of competitor keyword gap analysis is that it can help you identify ways of optimising your content to improve your online presence. Having well-optimised content with relevant keywords can draw in more traffic which ultimately shows Google you are an authority in your industry.
Increases Chances for Conversions
A final benefit of keyword gap analysis is that it can eventually lead to you improving your chances of conversions. Utilising keywords properly on your site and delivering quality content to users, draws more users which widens the pool of people who consider using your products or services.
What is the Difference Between Keyword Gap Analysis and Competitor Analysis?
Whilst related in parts, there is a difference between a competitor keyword gap analysis and competitor analysis. Whilst both involve looking at competitors, a normal competitor analysis looks at all aspects of a website including:
- Domain authority
- Keywords
- Content
- Branding
- Conversion rate optimisation
- Target market
- Social media
- Email marketing
Whereas, a competitor keyword gap analysis just focuses on the keywords you have not optimised for yet. Both can be used in conjunction with each other to identify ways of improving your online presence.
Competitor Keyword Gap Analysis with Wildcat Digital
Wildcat Digital has a fantastic team of experienced SEO Account Managers who are actively looking for new ways to improve clients’ website performance and online presence. Competitor keyword Gap Analysis is a common method used within our SEO service. Get in touch with us today if you need support with improving your online presence to outrank competitors.
Molly Sturgeon
Senior SEO Account Manager
