Competitor Keyword Research: How to Find the Keywords Rivals Rank For

What is competitor keyword research?

Competitor keyword research is the work of finding the search terms that competing websites rank for in Google, then comparing that list with your own. The output is a set of keywords you do not rank for yet, sorted by how relevant they are and how hard they would be to win.

People call it competitor keyword analysis, keyword gap analysis, or competitive keyword research. The names mean the same thing. The method has two halves. First you find the right competitors. Then you pull their keywords and decide what to do with them.

The second half is where most people rush. A list of 8,000 competitor keywords is not a plan. The value is in the filtering, which is why this guide spends more time on choosing than on collecting.

Find your real search competitors first

Your business competitors and your search competitors are often different companies. A local accounting firm competes with other firms for clients. In Google, it competes with Intuit, NerdWallet, and a dozen blogs for "small business tax deductions". Research the sites that actually rank, or you will copy the wrong list.

Here is a quick way to find them. Take your 10 most important keywords. Search each one in a private browser window, or run them through our free SERP checker to see results from a chosen country. Write down every domain in the top 10. The domains that show up for 4 or more of your keywords are your search competitors.

Sort them into three groups. Direct rivals sell what you sell. Content sites write about your topic and sell ads or leads. Marketplaces and directories list many businesses at once. Study direct rivals for commercial keywords, and content sites for informational ones. Skip marketplaces, because you cannot copy their model.

How to find competitor keywords step by step

This is the process we run for a new client. It takes an afternoon and ends with a prioritized list of 30 to 100 keywords.

1. 1

   Pick 3 to 5 competitors

   Use the method above to find sites that rank for at least 4 of your top 10 keywords. Choose a mix of direct rivals and content sites. Write down each domain and the reason you chose it. That note keeps you honest later.

2. 2

   Pull the keywords each one ranks for

   Enter each domain into a keyword tool that shows organic rankings by domain. Export every keyword in positions 1 to 20 with its volume, difficulty, and ranking URL. If you have no paid tool, start with the free methods later in this guide and build the list by hand.

3. 3

   Remove brand and junk terms

   Delete keywords that contain the competitor's brand name, product names you do not sell, and terms like "login" or "careers". These often make up a third of the list. What remains is the part you can learn from.

4. 4

   Add your own rankings

   Export your keywords from Google Search Console or your keyword tool. Merge the two lists on the keyword column. Now every row shows the competitor's position and yours, or a blank where you do not rank at all.

5. 5

   Run the keyword gap

   Filter to rows where a competitor ranks in the top 10 and you rank below 20 or not at all. This is your gap list. Sort it by volume for a first look, then by relevance, which matters more.

6. 6

   Check intent and relevance

   Read each keyword and ask whether the person typing it could become your customer. Mark the intent: buying, comparing, or learning. Cut anything you would not want to rank for even if it were free.

7. 7

   Check difficulty and the SERP

   Look at the difficulty score and the pages that rank today. If the top 10 is full of sites much stronger than yours, park the keyword for later. Our guide to low competition keywords shows how to spot the ones you can win now.

8. 8

   Score, pick, and assign pages

   Give each keyword a simple score for relevance, volume, and difficulty. Pick the top 20 to 30. For each one, decide whether it needs a new page or a better version of a page you already have. Then add the competitors to your rank tracker so you can watch the gap close.

How to read a keyword gap analysis

A keyword gap analysis compares your rankings with a competitor's, keyword by keyword. Every keyword lands in one of four buckets. Each bucket asks for a different action.

Run the gap against each competitor one at a time, then against all of them together. A keyword that three competitors rank for and you do not is a stronger signal than one that a single rival ranks for. It usually means the topic is core to the market.

Notice the shape of that funnel. Each filter cut the list by more than half. That is normal. If your gap list is still in the hundreds after filtering, your relevance filter is too loose.

Examples of competitor keywords worth taking

Not every competitor keyword is worth the same. These are the patterns that pay off most often when we run competitor keyword analysis.

• Alternatives and comparisons. "Asana alternatives", "Trello vs Monday". Searchers are actively shopping. If a rival ranks for a comparison that includes you, write a better one.
• Problem terms. "how to share a project timeline with clients". The searcher has a pain your product solves. These often have low difficulty.
• Feature terms. "gantt chart software", "time tracking with invoicing". They map to product pages you may already have.
• Template and example terms. "project charter template". High volume and easy to win, but the traffic converts slowly. Take a few, not all.
• Pricing and cost terms. "how much does project management software cost". Ideal for a pricing page or a short guide with a clear answer.

The long, specific terms in a competitor's list are often the easiest to win. Our guide on how to find long tail keywords shows how to expand a few of them into dozens.

Free ways to see competitor keywords

You can see competitor keywords without a paid competitor research tool. It takes longer and you get less data. The methods below still work.

• Read their site map and titles. Open the competitor's sitemap.xml or their blog index. Each page title is a keyword they chose on purpose. Paste those titles into our free keyword planner to get volume and difficulty.
• Use the site: operator. Search site:competitor.com topic in Google. You see every page they have on that topic and how they phrase it.
• Mine Google autocomplete. Type a competitor's main topic into our Google Suggest tool to see the phrases people add. These are the long variations rivals rank for by accident.
• Compare Search Console periods. Your own Search Console shows queries where you gained or lost impressions. A sudden loss on a topic often means a competitor published something better.
• Check their ads. If a competitor runs Google Ads, their ad copy and landing pages tell you which keywords they pay for. Paid keywords convert, or they would stop paying.

Free methods show you what competitors target. They cannot show you where those pages rank or how much traffic they get. That is the gap a paid tool fills. For a small site with two or three rivals, the free route is enough to build a first list of 30 keywords in an afternoon.

What to do with the list

The list is the start. The work is turning it into pages that beat the ones ranking today. Here is how to avoid the common traps.

Plan the pages before you write them. Our SEO content strategy guide shows how to turn a keyword list into a publishing calendar with topic clusters.

Track competitor keywords after you publish

Competitor keyword research is a snapshot. Rankings move every week, and the competitors you studied are studying you back. Add your 3 to 5 competitors to your rank tracker on the same keywords you target.

This gives you two things. First, you see the gap close or widen per keyword, which tells you which pages worked. Second, when your rankings drop, you can check whether competitors dropped too. If everyone fell on the same day, it was a Google update. If only you fell, look at your page.

Repeat the full research every quarter. New competitors appear, old ones publish new pages, and your own rankings change the gap list. A quarterly check takes an hour once the setup exists, and it keeps your content plan pointed at keywords that still matter.