Are you certain that you are focusing on every keyword that has the potential to increase your website traffic?
If your answer is NO, then you are missing out on opportunities.
This is when Keyword Gap Analysis comes as a rescue…
This analysis helps you to find the search terms that your competitors are ranking for, but you don’t.
As a result, it provides you with the opportunity to close such gaps and improve your SEO approach.
So in this blog post, let’s dive in detail “How to do a Keyword Gap Analysis?”
What is Keyword Gap Analysis?
The process of finding the keywords that your competitors rank for but you don’t is known as keyword gap analysis.
This analysis targets high value and relevant keywords. Thus it helps you to find lost opportunities, enhance your content and strengthen your SEO approach.
Here is the quick overview of how it is beneficial for different businesses:
- For B2B, this analysis assists in identifying high-intent and niche-specific keywords that draw in corporate purchasers and decision-makers.
- For B2C, it finds seasonal patterns and more broader, high-volume keywords to reach a wider range of customers.
- For SaaS, it locates informational and transactional keywords to increase SaaS conversion rates and generate qualified prospects.
Thus in each scenario, Keyword gap analysis provides insightful information to improve SEO performance and maintain competitiveness.
How to do a Keyword Gap Analysis?
A crucial aspect of any successful SEO strategy is Keyword Gap Analysis.
As discussed before, it finds ways to increase traffic and improve your content.
Now, let’s dive into “How to do a Keyword Gap Analysis?”…
Step - 1: Identify your Competitors
Before analyzing the Keyword Gaps, the first and foremost step is identify who your competitors are.
There are two types of competitors to take into account.
Direct Competitors:
- Direct Competitors are the businesses who have the same target audience of yours.
- They offer similar products or services like yours.
Consider for example,
- You are an online clothing retailer.
- Your direct competitors are other retailers who target the same demographics or customer bases of yours.
Indirect Competitors:
- Indirect competitors are the websites who attract your target market.
- But they don’t offer the same services or products that you offer.
Bouncing back to the above example, your indirect competitors will be blogs or forums discussing fashion trends.
They indirectly compete for your target audience’s attention.
Naturally, the next thing to ask is “How to identify these Competitors?”
Fret not, we come up with some steps to identify them.
- Enter your primary keyword on Google Search. Now you can figure out the websites that show up in the top results. They are your Competitors.
- Next, take advantage of tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs or Similar Web. Input your website in these websites. You can find your competitors based on shared keyword rankings.
- In both the steps, focus on 3 to 5 competitors for an in-depth analysis.
Step - 2: Compile Keyword Data
Well, now you have identified your competitors. The next step is to collect keyword data for both your website and your identified competitors.
This step lays the groundwork for keyword gap analysis. Make use of a robust keyword analysis tool for this.
For your Website:
- Leverage tools like Google Search Console, SEMrush or Ahrefs.
- Export your website’s organic keywords, rankings and search volumes from these tools.
For Competitors:
- Use the same keyword research tools to harvest keyword data from your competitor’s domains.
- Make that metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty and ranking position are included in the export.
- Look for keywords with high search volume but moderate competition and intent based keywords.
- Retrieve information on,
1.Top Keywords – Keywords that score higher for them.
2.Organic Traffic – Which search terms bring the most visitors to their website.
3.Paid Keywords – If they are running PPC advertising, add these as well.
Step - 3: Compare your Keywords against Competitors
Now, it’s the time to identify the Keyword Gaps. This step highlights where your website is lacking and where your rivals are doing well.
For that, make the most from keyword gap or content gap features in the keyword research tools to analyze the data.
Types of Keywords to Identify:
1.Missing Keywords:
- Missing Keywords are those you don’t rank for. But your Competitors do.
- These represent unexplored opportunities.
- They have the potential to drive new traffic and these are the gaps you need to address.
2.Shared keywords:
- Shared Keywords refer to the keywords that overlap.
- This means, shared keywords are the keywords both you and your competitors rank for. But they rank higher.
- To capture more traffic, give top priority to raising your ranks for these terms.
- Investigate why the competitors rank higher for these terms.
3.Unique Keywords:
- Unique keywords are the special keywords that you rank for. But your competitors do not.
- Make use of these keywords to identify your existing advantage and strengthen it. This helps to maintain a competitive edge too.
You are likely thinking about this now. “How to analyze this data?”
- A lot of SEO tools offer built-in comparison tools. This will show the unique, shared and missing keywords.
- For Instance, SEMrush’s Keyword Gap Tool and Ahrefs Content Gap Tool helps to automate this process.
- Export the data from these tools into a spreadsheet. So that it can be filtered and analyzed more precisely.
Step - 4: Analyze Search Intent and Prioritize Keywords
Well, now you have identified a list of keywords. But not all keywords are worth targeting.
Give top priority to those that will best support your company’s objectives and Return On Investment (ROI).
Follow the below steps to filter the high-value keyword of yours:
1.Search Intent
As a first step, identify the purpose behind the search. This means whether the intent is informational, transactional, navigational, commercial or local.
For Instance, Informational Intent Keywords indicate users are seeking information. These keywords are great for blog posts or guides.
Example – “How to use Project Management Tools?”
Transactional Intent Keywords are the Buyer-Intent Keywords. It signals purchase intent. The users are ready to make a purchase.
Example – “Buy project Management Software”
2.Search Volume
The next step is to look for a search volume. Select the search term with enough demand.
- Pay attention to high-volume and low-competition keywords. Because these keywords are easier to rank for and attract significant traffic.
- On the other side the low volume keywords with specific intent offer a higher conversion rate.
- Look for keywords with high intent. Because these are more likely to result in conversion.
3.Keyword Difficulty
For quick wins, aim for keywords with a modest level of competition.
Many SEO tools provide you with the Keyword Difficulty score. It helps to better comprehend the amount of work needed to rank for a term.
4.Relevance
Double-check that the keyword aligns with your business goals. This means the search term should fit both your offerings and target market.
As a final step, segment the filtered keywords based on themes and user intent. This makes the implementation easier.
Consider the keyword “Best Eco-friendly Backpacks” as an Example.
For this keyword,
- Search Volume – High
- Keyword Difficulty – Moderate
- Intent – Transactional Intent
- Relevance – If you sell eco-friendly backpacks, it fits perfectly.
Step - 5: Create an Action Plan
Now, you have the prioritized list of target keywords with you. The next step is to put your findings into action.
This means integrating them into your SEO, Content and Paid Marketing strategies.
The steps for implementation here are:
1.Target Missing keywords
- Address missing keywords by creating new content. It can be blog posts, landing pages, guides or product descriptions around these keywords.
- Create blog posts addressing long tail keywords and optimize the landing pages for transactional intent.
- Consider for example, the competitor is ranking for the search term “best CRM for small businesses”. Now you can create a comparison guide targeting this search term.
2.Optimize Existing Content
- You have also figured out the high-potential keywords from the shared keywords category. So update the existing pages with these keywords. This improves the relevance and ranking.
- For better keyword alignment, revamp the components of on-page SEO like meta title, meta description and headers.
- Followed by, include related keywords and enrich the content to match the user intent.
3.Build Topic Clusters
- Group the related keywords into topic clusters.
- Then create pillar pages with supportive content.
4.Integrate into Paid Campaigns
- Now you are working on improving organic rankings. In addition, run PPC ads for competitive and high-value keywords with commercial intent. This generates immediate traffic.
5.Track Performance
- Finally, it’s time to monitor the impact of your keyword optimization.
- Make use of tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track the performance.
- Set up Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor the success of your updated content and campaigns.
Step - 6: Monitor and Repeat Regularly
Keyword Gap Analysis is not a One-Time task. The competitor strategies and keyword trends evolve over time.
- Every three to six months, repeat the keyword gap analysis.
- Adjust your strategy to new opportunities and changes in the market shift.
- Adapt to changes in Google Search algorithms, competitor strategies and keyword search volumes and trends.
- This helps to stay competitive and find new opportunities.
Best Tools for Keyword Gap Analysis
Well, now you get the picture of how to do a keyword gap analysis. Next let’s get into the best tools for keyword gap analysis.
Let’s break down the best ones to get you ahead….
1.Ahrefs
- Ahrefs offers detailed insights of rankings, search volumes and traffic potential of the competitors.
- Ahrefs is an excellent tool for deep keyword research with robust metrics and backlink integration.
- Its key features are keyword gap visualization, ranking data and organic keyword comparison.
- This tool is slightly complex for beginners, especially with advanced filters.
2.Google Search Console
- Google Search Console is a free tool. It is used to track your website’s SEO progress. It identifies keywords for improvement.
- Its key features is to display your site’s current search engine rankings and performance.
- But it lacks direct competitor keyword comparison features.
3.SEMrush
- SEMrush is a user-friendly interface. It is perfect for both beginners and advanced SEO experts.
- It offers comprehensive keyword metrics.
- It provides easy-to-understand reports and ideal for both holistic organic and paid campaigns
- Its key features are keyword gap tool, detailed comparison reports and organic keyword analysis.
- It has limited competitor inputs when compared to ahrefs.
4.Ubersuggest
- Uber suggest is affordable. It offers quick keyword insights for smaller projects.
- Its key features are competitor keyword tracking and suggestions for keyword optimization.
- When compared to SEMrush and Ahrefs, it has limited advanced features and depth.
5.Moz
- Moz offers easy-to-digest reports. This helps to find out low-hanging fruit in SEO opportunities.
- Its key features are competitive keyword research and ranking difficulty scores.
- It lacks advanced competitor analysis and visualization features.
Now, let me walk you through the workflow of SEMrush that shows exactly how to do a keyword analysis..
1.Login to your SEMrush account.
2.Under the competitive research section, navigate to the keyword gap tool.
3.Input your domain in the “Domain 1” field
4.Add up to 4 competitors in the other fields.
For example, if you are running an online learning platform, compare your site against coursera, edX and Udemy.
5.Next, select the type of keywords you want to analyze: organic keywords or paid keywords or PLA (Product Listing Ads) Keywords.
6.Then, run the analysis. Now SEMrush will generate a detailed report showing shared keywords, missing keywords and weak keywords.
7.As a next step, filter the results by metrics like search volume, competition level and keyword difficulty.
8.Export the report for further segmentation. Based on your goals like boosting traffic or improving conversions, prioritize keywords.
9.As a final step, integrate these keywords into your SEO strategy. Also track the performance using SEMrush’s position tracking feature.
12 Mistakes to avoid in Keyword Gap Analysis:
Think you are doing everything right but still not seeing results…??
Most likely, a few common mistakes are preventing you from moving forward.
Here is a detailed list of common mistakes that you should avoid in keyword gap analysis.
- Prioritize the intent of the search behind the keyword. Don’t focus solely on search volume or competition.
- Double-check whether you are comparing you with the right competitor. Avoid analyzing keywords of businesses that don’t compete for the same target audience or goals of yours.
- Avoid treating all the keywords as equally important. Prioritize the keywords based on ROI potential. Segment the keywords by priority.
- Don’t focus only on the strengths of the competitors. If so, you will lose opportunities to take advantage of their weaknesses.
- Don’t ignore the growing importance of mobile and voice search in keyword selection.
- Never chase the high-volume keywords without considering their relevance to your business.
- In international SEO strategies, never ignore regional or language specific keywords.
- Don’t treat Keyword Gap analysis as a one time activity. Monitor and update the keyword performance regularly.
- After performing keyword gap analysis, don’t fail to implement the findings effectively on your website.
- Never blindly trust the keyword research tools without human oversight. Always verify the data once.
- Don’t focus solely on organic keywords. During the analysis, emphasize paid keyword opportunities also.
- Don’t just focus only on short tail and high volume keywords since they appear to be more competitive and valuable. Pay attention to the long tail keywords also.
Conclusion
Developing expertise in how to do a keyword gap analysis is not just figuring out the missing keywords.
It helps to connect with the audience on a deeper level and offers ways to stand out in the competition.
Therefore leverage the right tool, avoid the common mistakes and dwell on intent-driven keywords. Togetherly, create an action plan that generates significant traffic and quantifiable outcomes.
Taking action is where the keyword gap analysis really shines. The competitors are refining their strategies consistently.
So, are you ready to do the same..?
You have an opportunity in the gap. Will you let it flourish or will you close it?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Keyword Gap Analysis is crucial because it,
- Reveals unexplored keyword opportunities.
- Aids to target high-value keywords
- Provides insights on content strategies of rivals.
- Figures out the shortcomings in the SEO strategy.
The best option are the direct competitors in your niche or market segment.
However, choose competitors who
- Rank for related terms
- Target the same industry or audience
- Possess slightly better or comparable domain authority and traffic.
Yes. But it will be more time consuming. Manual competitor research and free tools like Google Search Console offer insights.
However paid tools offer effective and more thorough analysis.
