Michael Epps Utley {kind=image/jpg}
Don’t think it’s worth the time and effort to track the keywords your competitors rank for in search?
Think again!
This exercise could present an excellent opportunity to outrank competitors on Google and potentially acquire more online traffic and sales opportunities
This guide explains what a competitor keyword analysis is, the value it provides, and how to leverage the information it provides to win the search engine optimization (SEO) game.
What Is Competitor Keyword Analysis?
Competitor keyword analysis is the process of figuring out what keywords your competitors rank for. The value in doing so is to provide the information you need to develop content that outranks theirs in search results.
Put simply, it's reverse engineering your competitors’ successful SEO strategies, looking for gaps and opportunities, and enhancing your SEO efforts using those insights. You can use competitor keyword analysis to identify opportunities to outrank a competitor for a particular keyword.
How to Find Competitors’ Keywords
WordStream is a free keyword research tool that performs as well as many paid ones. Here’s how to research competitor keywords on WordStream:
1. Navigate to www.wordstream.com/keywords.
2. Input a competitor’s website URL.
3. Click on “Find My Keywords.”
4. Confirm the URL, choose an industry (optional), and then enter a location.
5. Click “Download My Keywords” to download a CSV file with the keywords.
Other keyword analysis tools include:
Once you have a list of competitor keywords, you can begin your analysis.
Conducting a Competitor Keyword Analysis
Here are the steps to conduct a complete and thorough analysis.
1. Use a Competitive Keyword Analysis Template
Search online for a competitive keyword analysis template before you start the process. It will help you stay organized when dealing with countless keyword data points. It also makes it easier to share your findings with teammates so you can discuss and act on them.
2. Create a List of SERP Competitors
Document a list of your top search engine results page (SERP) competitors. Identifying your main online rivals is key to developing a more effective SEO strategy.
Your SERP competitors are the brands that appear when you search for your target keywords on Google. It’s likely the list won’t be the same as your product or service competitors. Always use search results to identify your search competitors.
You can also use tools like SpyFu and Semrush to find your SERP competition.
3. Find and Identify Your Competitors’ Keywords.
Next, create a list of keywords for which your SERP competitors rank (and outrank you). Use the WordStream instructions outlined earlier in this article or one of the paid tools.
Your competitive keyword analyses should be independent of each other. To this end, add individual tabs for each competitor to your competitive analysis template.
4. Identify Keyword and Content Gaps
Once you have a list of competitor keywords, you can start to figure out how to earn a better spot for those keywords on SERPs and beat the competition.
Start by identifying the keywords your SERP competitors rank for that you don’t and which pages rank for those terms. Tools like SpyFu, Ahrefs, Semrush, and SE Ranking provide this information.
5. Compare Audiences and Identify Meaningful Opportunities
Because your SERP competitors aren’t necessarily your business competitors, it’s a good idea to learn about their offerings, strategies, and target audiences and compare them with yours.
Leverage your buyer personas to kick-start this work. It will help you recall who you are targeting and see how they compare to the people your SERP competitors are trying to reach. It will also help you find ways to outrank SERP competitors that your prospective buyers will find meaningful and engaging. In short, you don’t want to battle for a keyword your audience doesn’t care about.
Review the search term gaps you’ve identified and develop a final list of keyword opportunities you can benefit from that your prospects will find meaningful.
6. Develop Audience-Appropriate SEO-Optimized Content to Fill Gaps
Once you know your keyword opportunities, come up with ideas for new content your audience will engage with that could outrank your SERP competitors. It could include:
Blog posts
Landing pages
Product and service pages
Videos
Ebooks
Testimonials
Case studies
Register your content ideas in your analysis template to share with your team. Once approved, transfer them to your editorial calendar and the other tools you use to manage your content development.
7. Continue to Track Competitor Performance
Competitor keyword analysis isn’t once-and-done. Staying on top of competitors’ monthly search volume, emerging keywords, and new content is critical to ensure you continue to win in the SERPs.
Competitor Keyword Analysis: The Bottom Line
Competitor keyword analysis provides a fresh way to approach search engine optimization and the content development process. Instead of focusing inward, you look to your competitors for new insights and ideas. It’s a novel way to win in local SEO while serving up new content ideas the people you’re targeting will engage with.
Want to improve your SEO even more? Our quick and easy audit can help.
