Competitor keyword analysis allows you to use your competitors’ ranking keywords to your advantage.
In this article, we describe how to do competitor keyword analysis for SEO. We also discuss how to identify valuable keywords and how to do a keyword gap analysis.
Let’s get into it.
Contents:
- What is competitor keyword analysis?
- How to do a keyword gap analysis
- How to identify valuable keywords
- How to beat the competition
- Outsource your SEO
What is competitor keyword analysis?
Competitor keyword analysis is a form of keyword research. Sometimes referred to as ‘keyword gap analysis’ competitor keyword analysis is a process that involves identifying, and then analysing, the keywords that your competitors rank for.
Remember, when it comes to organic search the #1 ranked result in Google’s results pages earns a Click Through Rate of 39.8%! The number 2 and 3 spots earn a CTR of 18.7% and 10.2% respectively.
By researching your competitors’ keywords, you can identify their most valuable keywords and begin taking steps to beat them to those valuable positions in the search engine results pages.
How to do a keyword gap analysis
Keyword gap analysis is about identifying the keywords that represent areas of opportunity for your business. Any keywords that your competitors target but you don’t represent opportunities for creating new content.
Keywords that you have a comparatively low ranking for represent existing content that you should improve.
The problem is that your competitors likely rank for hundreds or even thousands of keywords. Manually researching thousands of your competitors’ keywords is not the way.
Work smart with a keyword gap analysis tool.
An essential part of the SEO toolbox, a keyword gap analysis tool allows you to view the keywords that your competitors are targeting. See our guide to competitor analysis for more details on keyword gap analysis tools.
Identify your online competition
Once you’ve subscribed to a competitor analysis tool the first step is identifying your online competition.
Many businesses claim to have an understanding of who their competitors are and what they’re up to in the market. In many cases, however, it’s plain assumptions. Competitor keyword analysis allows you to see exactly who your competitors are from an SEO perspective.
Your competitor analysis tool will identify thousands of ‘SEO competitors’, based on shared keywords or industry. However, not all of your SEO competitors are direct business competitors. Your direct business competitors are those brands that;
- sell a similar product/service to you, and;
- target the same or comparable audience as you.
Take a strategic approach to competing online
Before zeroing in on how to identify valuable keywords, a reminder on the importance of SEO ranking factors and the need to take a strategic approach to your online competitors.
As well as focusing on your direct competitors, it’s also wise to be realistic when choosing which online competitors you compete with for SEO rankings.
When it comes to SEO, authority is a powerful ranking factor. Search engines give websites and webpages an authority score. You’ll notice that your competitor analysis tool can filter competitors based on their authority.
Now here’s the dose of reality. It’s not an exact science but, generally speaking, a website with lower authority is unlikely to outrank a website with higher authority.
Whilst working to improve your website’s authority (see Building a Backlinks Profile below) take a strategic approach to your SEO competition. Identify and aim to outrank those competitors with a similar level of authority, first.
How to identify valuable keywords
Driving new visitors to your website is the goal, but driving high-intent visitors who are likely to engage is the ideal outcome. When identifying valuable keywords don’t just look for search volume alone, consider each of the following points.
Relevance
The keywords you target must be relevant to your business. Does the keyword directly relate to your product range or service offering?
Expertise
Is the keyword related to a topic that you can create authoritative content on? Do you or your colleagues have the ability to create high-quality content that signals your business’s expertise to search engines and potential customers?
Search intent
Search or user intent refers to the goal of the searcher. You can use search intent to assess whether a keyword is likely to convert. For example, a keyword that includes the word “buy” indicates the user is ready to purchase.
Monthly search volume
Keywords with higher monthly volume represent good opportunities for driving traffic. But keep in mind that long-tail keywords that have a lower monthly volume can have high search intent and low competition.
Low competition
Most keyword research tools will give keywords a difficulty score based on the level of competition; the lower the difficulty score, the easier it will be to rank highly for.
By analysing keywords based on each of the above points, you can begin to organise your list of competitor keywords by the most valuable, you can focus your efforts on keywords that offer a greater return on investment.
How to beat the competition
Look at your competitor keywords list one by one to understand what page each keyword links to on your competitors’ websites.
Does the keyword link to:
- A homepage?
- A product/service page?
- An ecommerce page?
- A blog article?
Then take a look at your own website. Do you already have any pages or posts that you could improve in order to outrank the competition? You might find that you need to create new pages or posts to compete effectively.
Improve your content
SEO, especially technical aspects can be complex, but most SEO is not as complicated as you may be led to believe! Remember that search engines want to serve users a result that satisfies their search intent.
Creating high-quality content that is relevant to the keyword(s) you’re targeting is the most important step you can take to improve your SEO. Furthermore, you don’t need to be experienced in technical SEO to improve your content.
Practical ways to start improving your content
Start by taking up to three keywords that your existing page could rank higher for, then look at your competitors’ pages that are ranking higher for the same keywords.
Whilst assessing your competitors’ pages, there are 3 aspects you should look for in particular.
1. Content length
Although content length is not a ranking factor in the eyes of search engines, longer-form content may answer users’ questions more effectively and keep them on the page for longer.
2. Page structure
A good page structure improves readability and user experience. Headings (H1, H2s & H3s) should follow a logical hierarchy that helps readers navigate the page easily or find specific information quickly.
3. Keyword placement
You should include your target keywords throughout the text in a natural way. However, aim to include your primary keyword in the following areas;
- Meta title & meta description
- URL (if you change a URL make sure to re-direct traffic from the old URL!)
- H1 header
- A sub-header
- As close as possible to the start of the first paragraph of the main body content and naturally throughout the text
- As one of your image ALT tags (provided the image is relevant, not just for aesthetics)
When it comes to including keywords, following the best practices is key but remember to always write for humans first, not robots!
Improving website authority and SEO
SEO is a gradual process that involves optimising both on-page and technical SEO.
For a detailed breakdown of the practical steps, you can take to improve your website’s authority and SEO, check out our full website audit and SEO checklist for 2023.
To increase your chances of outranking your competitors, apply this quick checklist to your existing and new content.
Content
Continually revisit your content to ensure it is up to date. Pay special attention to the use of keywords in meta titles, descriptions and the H1 heading as well as the accuracy of statistics and relevance/quality of content you link to.
Do your pages target valuable keywords? Remember, keywords shouldn’t be shoehorned in; write for the reader, not search engines. However, keywords should be included in:
- Meta titles
- Meta descriptions
- The URL
- The H1 heading
- The opening paragraph
- An H2 or H3 heading
- Image alt attributes
- Throughout the content.
Be honest, is your content still offering valuable information to the user? How does your content compare to similar competitors?
Internal & Outbound Links
Internally linking between the pages on your website provides users with more value and keeps them on your site for longer. If your page refers to another topic or service on your website, include an internal link to the relevant page. Where possible, use the target page’s primary keyword as the anchor text.
If you use a fact or want to give the user additional context, include an outbound link to the external website/source. The authority of the website you link to is important. Authority falls on a scale of 0 to 100 so always aim to link to authoritative websites with a website authority score that’s above 60.
Ensure the link opens in a new window so the user stays on your site.
Building a backlinks profile
Earning more high-quality links to your website from around the web will increase your website’s authority and the overall ranking potential of your pages.
Reach out to websites that may be interested in linking to your content. A quick way to identify relevant sites that are likely to agree to a backlink is to use your keyword tool to see what backlinks your competitors’ pages have. Another option is to contact local newspapers, journalists or business groups to discuss if they’d be interested in linking to your site.
PageSpeed
PageSpeed is another ranking factor that you can improve. Use Google PageSpeed Insights and tools like GTmetrix to find out how to improve the load speed of your pages.
You can also perform a website audit using the likes of SEMRush to find other errors such as broken links.
Outsource your SEO
Improving your SEO is a big commitment, not just in terms of the time needed to learn and implement techniques, but also the cost of subscribing to the tools you need.
At Web Hummel, we combine pro SEO tools with proven experience to help our clients drive relevant organic traffic. By partnering with an SEO agency you gain a foot-up in an increasingly competitive online climate.
As always, give us a ‘buzz’ if you have questions on the topics covered in this article.
From introductory website audits and SEO checklists to advice on keyword gap analysis tools, we optimise SEO strategies.
