[Landwich Blog]
Keyword gap analysis is to identify the keywords your competitors are ranking for and the ones you’re missing out on. By closing this gap, you can improve your rankings and attract more visitors to your website.
Here's a step-by-step guide to help you do just that:
In a nutshell:
You are probably aware of who you are competing against.
However, with different companies and products coming up in the market all the time, it's worth checking your new, smaller competitors as well as big players in your industry.
On search engines like Google and Bing, type the main keywords related to your business. Who consistently shows up on the first page?
Once you have a list of high-ranking competitor posts, it's time to analyze them:
✔️ Content Format: Is it a blog post, listicle, infographic, etc.?
✔️ Content Depth: How in-depth is the content? Does it cover the topic comprehensively or leave room for more information?
✔️ Keywords*: Find the keywords they (likely have) targeted in those contents. Brainstorm, and don't forget long-tail keywords.
*While you can't see their exact keywords, look for the general themes and terms they use throughout the content.
Check out our step-by-step guide below.
👉 How to identify competitors' keywords
Look at the keywords you identified in Step 2. Are there relevant keywords they're using that you're missing? These are potential keyword gaps!
Now the question is, which keywords should you target (first)?
When picking and prioritizing the keywords to target, consider:
Search Volume: How many people are searching for this keyword? (Free tools like Google Keyword Planner can help with this).
Competition: How competitive (difficult)* is it to rank for this keyword?
Relevance: Does this keyword fit your target audience and content strategy?
*Keyword Difficulty Scores:
The more people search for a keyword, the more likely your competitors are going to want to rank for it. Hence, it becomes more "difficult."
Tools like Semrush provide keyword difficulty scores.
Now that you've dug deep into your competitors' top-ranking content and chosen new keywords to target, let's design the content based on these keywords.
👉 How to create content based on chosen keywords
Of course, creating SEO-focused content is not a simple process (for more detailed guide, read the article I linked above), but:
Put simply,
Choose the format: landing page or blog? Maybe something else like a listicle or video-focused webpage?
Create content that targets these new keywords while maintaining the depth and format that worked for your competitors' top posts.
Add your own unique perspective and insights, like a new and improved version of the competitor's top-ranking content that can better answer the queries of search engine users.
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