Competitor keyword analysis can put you ahead of your competitors on Google’s SERPs. Here’s why you should conduct one for your business.
Building your presence on search engines, particularly Google, is crucial to reach your ideal customers. However, many other businesses will also be vying for customer attention and Google’s summit, putting you into a fierce race to the top.
An SEO competitor analysis lets you dig deeper into your competitors, learn how they’ve grown their search presence, and devise or refine your SEO strategy based on these insights. It includes conducting a competitor keyword analysis, where you uncover the keywords your competitors are ranking for, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their top-performing pages, and identify ways to improve your search rankings.
Competitive keyword analysis can be one of your first steps toward a wider search presence and higher rankings for keywords used in your niche. Here’s why it plays a pivotal role in these goals.
First, competitor keyword research offers a glimpse into your target audience and their needs. It gives you the keywords needed to attract your ideal customer, making engaging easier while understanding their search intent and buying journey. This will improve your search rankings and deliver great content to your target audience.
Beyond a deeper look at your target audience, competitive keyword analysis points you to your biggest competitors. Regular analyses help you devise or refine the most effective SEO strategies for higher search rankings (and a greater online presence!).
While a quick Google search may tell you who your most challenging competitors are, it’s better to learn more about them through keyword tools or data analytics platforms. These tools provide you with comprehensive information to outrank your competitors.
Conducting competitive keyword analysis also allows you to identify new opportunities and useful strategies for your SEO initiatives. As a result, you can keep competing for top positions on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Competitor keyword analysis could direct you to popular, untargeted keywords or those that your competitors rank for but you have yet to target. You could also browse their top-performing pages to gain helpful insights when aiming for a place above SERPs. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of these pages, you learn how to outrank your competitors.
Competitive keyword analysis also means a better keyword research strategy. Specifically, it’ll help you find more useful long-tail keywords to target, like “how to install a crate engine on a car” or “how to improve sleep quality.” Using these keywords can lead you to outperform your toughest competitors and reach more of your ideal customers.
Finally, competitor keyword analysis shows you the right keywords to target.
Let’s say you see a specific keyword for pay-per-click (PPC) search ads with relatively high bids from your competitors — think “Japanese restaurant near me” or “best email marketing automation tools.” In this case, that keyword is considered valuable to your industry.
A competitor keyword analysis consists of the following steps:
Screenshot from Google
To find competitor keywords, start by knowing your competitors.
Sometimes, your analyses will include your direct competitors, defined as businesses offering the same products or services to your target customers. Examining these companies is a great way to assess your industry’s general search landscape or get ideas for your SEO strategy.
There are also situations where you vie for rankings with firms or websites in other niches or related industries. For example, a keyword such as “accounting software for SMBs” may have you and other websites with technology or business-focused content competing alongside SaaS (Software as a Service) companies.
When identifying your competitors, it’s good to create a complete and accurate list based on their size and nature. You could compete head-to-head with your niche’s biggest names or target small to mid-size businesses and choose between direct or indirect competitors. Going after direct competitors is recommended for the latter since businesses with a different product or service could give you diverse prospects.
Screenshot from Ahrefs
Multiple keyword tools are available to help you identify competitor keywords, with most letting you search a particular domain name or URL. In turn, you obtain a list of the top keywords your competitors are ranking for.
You can get organic or paid keywords from these tools:
After listing competitor keywords, you’ll need to choose the best ones to target. Start by evaluating each keyword based on search volume, keyword difficulty, and relevance.
A keyword’s search volume is the average number of users searching for it monthly, while its difficulty indicates whether it’s competitive or otherwise. Ideally, ranking for keywords with high search volumes increases your website’s impressions and organic traffic, but they’re also tougher to rank for. The key is to find keywords with relatively high search volumes and a lower difficulty.
Lastly, exclude irrelevant keywords, as creating content with them can lead to low rankings. Consider the people searching the keywords you’ve discovered and their search intent. It’s best to target a given keyword if the searcher’s profile matches your target audience and their search intent applies to your business; otherwise, it may not be worth targeting.
Besides assessing search volume, relevance, and other factors when determining high-value keywords, you can also identify high-value competitor keywords.
For instance, if you’re after high-value paid keywords, try checking your competitors’ paid search results. You could obtain a list of these keywords through your preferred keyword research tool or enter keywords into Google and check the top SERPs for PPC ads. Paid search results mean your competitors value their chosen keywords.
Alternatively, you could look for content assets published by your competitors. So much resources are invested into these types of content, and if your competitors have done so for a given keyword or topic, that term is regarded as high-value.
Screenshot from Semrush
Keyword research tools offer a keyword gap feature that’s helpful for competitive keyword analyses. They list competitor keywords you haven’t ranked for yet.
In your preferred keyword tool, enter your domain and your competitor’s domain. It’ll then compare your keywords and present any gaps, helping you rank for those missing keywords.
After choosing your target keywords, enter them into Google and examine their SERPs.
Explore the top-ranking pages and analyze their strengths and weaknesses to know how to beat them. SEO knowledge often proves useful for this step, but you can also assess web pages using your own process.
Here are some important questions to ask when evaluating top-ranking pages:
As your business fights for the top spot on Google, competitive keyword analysis is an excellent way to achieve higher rankings. It shows you who you’re up against and helps you outperform them with an effective SEO strategy.
Furthermore, competitor keyword analysis is essential to delivering valuable content. This process allows you to find relevant keywords and use them to attract and gain customers through engaging content.
If you’re looking to boost your search rankings, get helpful insights from the Growth Rocket blog, or contact our team today.
Google favors websites with good backlinks. Find out how to earn these links here.
Businesses investing in SEO face multiple challenges. We dive deep into these common roadblocks and how to overcome them.
Google is adding two more search updates to its list of 2022 algorithm updates. Our newest blog post looks into the company’s helpful content and product review updates.
Video media has evolved over the years, going beyond the TV screen and making its way into the Internet. Visit any website, and you’re bound to see video ads, interactive clips, and promotional videos from new and established brands.
Dig deep into video’s rise in marketing and ads. Subscribe to the Rocket Fuel blog and get our free guide to video marketing.