How to Check Competitor Keywords: A Complete Guide for Boosting Your SEO Strategy

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial element for success. One of the most effective ways to improve your website SEO performance is by analyzing and leveraging competitor keywords. By understanding what keywords your competitors are ranking for, you can uncover opportunities to outrank them, drive more organic traffic, and increase your visibility in search engine results.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the process of checking competitor keywords and explain how to use this information to develop a stronger SEO strategy.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced marketer, these strategies will help you get a competitive edge.

1. Why Competitor Keyword Research is Important

Competitor keyword research is a vital component of any effective SEO strategy. It allows you to discover the specific search terms and phrases your competitors are ranking for, giving you insights into their content strategy, audience targeting, and search engine performance.

By understanding what works for your competitors, you can refine your own strategy, identify keyword opportunities, and create content that resonates with your target audience.

Key benefits of competitor keyword research include:

• Finding new keyword opportunities that you may have overlooked.
• Identifying content gaps where your competitors are ranking, but you are not.
• Understanding search intent behind the keywords your competitors are targeting.
• Improving your rankings by focusing on the right keywords and optimizing your content accordingly.

2. How Competitor Keyword Research Boosts SEO

By analyzing competitor keywords, you gain valuable data that helps you refine your SEO strategy. This data-driven approach enables you to:

• Increase organic traffic: By targeting the same high-performing keywords that your competitors rank for, you can drive more traffic to your website.
• Improve content relevance: Understanding the keywords that attract users to your competitor site allows you to tailor your content to meet similar search intents.
• Outperform competitors: By finding keyword gaps or identifying under-optimized content, you can create better content that outranks competitors.
• Enhance backlink strategies: Competitor research often reveals keywords that generate backlinks. Targeting these keywords can help you earn high-quality backlinks.

3. Types of Competitor Keywords

There are different categories of competitor keywords that you should be aware of:

• Branded Keywords: Keywords that contain your competitor brand name, product name, or specific company-related terms.
• Non-Branded Keywords: Keywords that are not related to a specific brand but are relevant to your industry, such as “best SEO tools” or “content marketing strategies.”
• Short-Tail Keywords: Highly competitive, broad terms that typically consist of one or two words (e.g., “SEO tools”).
• Long-Tail Keywords: More specific phrases that are often less competitive but highly targeted (e.g., “best free SEO tools for beginners”).
• Transactional Keywords: Keywords that indicate a strong intent to make a purchase, such as “buy SEO software.”
• Informational Keywords: Keywords used by people looking for information or solutions (e.g., “how to improve SEO rankings”).

4. Steps to Identify Competitors for Keyword Research

Before you can begin analyzing competitor keywords, you need to identify who your true competitors are. These are the websites that compete for the same keywords and audience. Here are the steps to identify competitors:

1. Search Google for Your Target Keywords: Start by typing in some of your primary target keywords into Google. The websites that consistently appear at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) are your main competitors.
2. Analyze Industry Leaders: Look for websites within your industry that consistently rank well and have a strong online presence. These may include industry blogs, eCommerce stores, or authoritative informational sites.
3. Use SEO Tools: Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz can help you find competitors by entering your domain. They will provide a list of websites that compete with you in terms of keyword rankings.
4. Check Google Ads Competitors: Often, the sites that run ads for the same keywords you’re targeting are also your competitors in organic search.

5. Top Tools for Competitor Keyword Research

There are many tools available to help you conduct competitor keyword research. Each tool offers unique features that can give you insights into your competitors SEO strategy. Here are the top tools for the job:

a. SEMrush

SEMrush is one of the most popular SEO tools for competitor analysis. It allows you to view the exact keywords your competitors rank for, their positions, and estimated traffic for each keyword. SEMrush also provides keyword difficulty scores, backlink analysis, and more.

b. Ahrefs

Ahrefs offers a powerful suite of tools for SEO research, including its Site Explorer feature, which gives detailed insights into competitor keywords, traffic, and backlink profiles. The Organic Keywords report is particularly useful for tracking keyword performance.

c. Moz Keyword Explorer

Moz Keyword Explorer helps you analyze competitor keywords and gives metrics like search volume, difficulty, and opportunity. It’s an excellent tool for discovering new keyword opportunities and analyzing SERP competition.

d. SpyFu

SpyFu focuses heavily on competitor keyword research and paid search analysis. It allows you to see the keywords your competitors are bidding on in Google Ads, as well as their organic keyword rankings.

e. Google Keyword Planner

While mainly designed for PPC campaigns, Google Keyword Planner also provides valuable insights into search volumes and keyword ideas. You can use it to find keywords that your competitors may be targeting.

6. How to Check Competitor Keywords Using SEO Tools

Once you’ve chosen your SEO tool, the next step is to start analyzing your competitor keywords. Here is how to use three popular tools to check competitor keywords:

a. Finding Competitor Keywords in SEMrush

1. Log into SEMrush and enter the domain of your competitor in the search bar.
2. Navigate to the Organic Research section to view a list of keywords your competitor ranks for.
3. Sort the results by traffic, position, or keyword difficulty to identify high-value keywords.
4. You can also view keyword trends over time and filter by specific regions.

b. Checking Competitor Keywords with Ahrefs

1. Enter your competitor domain into the Site Explorer tool in Ahrefs.
2. Go to the Organic Keywords tab to see all the keywords your competitor ranks for.
3. Sort by position to see which keywords they rank highest for.
4. Use Ahrefs’ Keyword Gap tool to compare your site keywords with your competitor and find gaps you can target.

c. Using SpyFu for Competitor Keyword Analysis

1. Enter your competitor domain into SpyFu search bar.
2. You’ll see a list of organic keywords, their rankings, and the estimated monthly traffic each keyword brings.
3. Use SpyFu keyword overlap feature to compare how much of your keyword strategy overlaps with your competitor.

7. Manual Methods to Find Competitor Keywords

While SEO tools are the most efficient way to find competitor keywords, there are also manual methods you can use for a deeper understanding:

• Analyze Competitor Content: Visit your competitor website and explore their content. Look at the titles, headings, and URLs for clues about the keywords they’re targeting.
• Review Page Metadata: Right-click on a competitor web page and select “View Page Source.” Search for meta tags like title, description, and keywords to uncover potential target keywords.
• Use Google Search Suggestions: Start typing your competitor brand or product name into Google and see what suggestions come up. These suggestions often include popular search terms that users associate with your competitor.

8. How to Analyze Competitor Keywords

Once you have a list of competitor keywords, the next step is to analyze them to determine which keywords you should target. Here are some key areas to focus on:

a. Identifying Keyword Gaps

Keyword gaps are search terms that your competitors rank for, but your website does not. Identifying these gaps can uncover opportunities to rank for high-value keywords that you may have missed.

b. Targeting Low-Hanging Fruits

Low-hanging fruit keywords are search terms that are relatively easy to rank for, usually because they have lower competition. By focusing on these keywords, you can quickly gain traction in search results.

c. Prioritizing Keywords by Search Intent

Not all keywords are created equal. You should prioritize keywords based on the search intent behind them. For example, transactional keywords may lead directly to sales, while informational keywords can bring in users who are in the research phase.

9. Using Competitor Keywords to Improve Your Content

Competitor keywords can serve as a foundation for improving your content. Here is how:

• Create better content: Once you’ve identified high-ranking keywords, create content that is more in-depth, engaging, and valuable than your competitors.
• Optimize existing content: Update your current content to include keywords that your competitors are ranking for. Ensure your content addresses the user search intent.
• Focus on long-tail keywords: If your competitors dominate the short-tail keywords, focus on targeting long-tail variations that have less competition but more specific intent.

10. Monitoring Competitor Keyword Performance Over Time

Keyword rankings change over time, so it’s essential to continuously monitor how your competitors are performing. Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs allow you to track keyword rankings over weeks or months. By doing so, you can spot new opportunities and adjust your strategy accordingly.

11. How to Find Untapped Keyword Opportunities

In addition to tracking your competitors, it’s important to find keywords they haven’t targeted yet. These are known as untapped keyword opportunities. You can find these by using tools like Ahrefs’ Content Gap or SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool to identify keywords that are relevant to your industry but not widely used by competitors.

12. Best Practices for Incorporating Competitor Keywords

To get the most out of competitor keyword research, follow these best practices:

• Diversify your keyword strategy: Don’t just copy your competitor keywords. Use them as inspiration and find related keywords to build a well-rounded strategy.
• Focus on user intent: Ensure that your content aligns with the search intent behind the keyword.
• Update your content regularly: Keep your content fresh and relevant to stay ahead of competitors who may also be targeting the same keywords.
• Track and adjust: Regularly monitor the performance of your keywords and adjust your strategy based on what’s working.

13. Common Mistakes to Avoid in Competitor Keyword Research

• Overlooking long-tail keywords: Long-tail keywords may have lower search volumes, but they often convert better due to their specificity.
• Ignoring search intent: Targeting keywords without understanding the user intent can lead to high bounce rates and lower rankings.
• Not updating keyword research: SEO is constantly evolving. Regularly update your keyword research to keep up with changes in the competitive landscape.

14. Case Studies: Successful Competitor Keyword Strategies

Many successful websites have leveraged competitor keyword research to drive significant results. For example:

• Backlinko: Brian Dean of Backlinko uses competitor keyword analysis to identify content gaps and create in-depth guides that outperform competitors.
• HubSpot: By analyzing competitor keywords and focusing on long-tail keywords, HubSpot has built a strong library of high-ranking content across multiple topics.

15. Conclusion: Elevating Your SEO Game with Competitor Keyword Research

Competitor keyword research is a powerful way to improve your SEO strategy, discover new keyword opportunities, and outperform your competitors. By using the right tools, analyzing keyword gaps, and optimizing your content accordingly, you can drive more traffic, increase rankings, and boost your online presence.

Start by identifying your competitors, use SEO tools to find their keywords, and apply those insights to create superior content. With continuous monitoring and adjustment, you’ll stay ahead of the competition and achieve long-term SEO success.