How To Find Competitors’ Keywords: Tips & Tools

This station was sponsored by SE Ranking. The opinions expressed successful this nonfiction are the sponsor’s own.

Wondering wherefore your competitors fertile higher than you?

The concealed to your competitors’ SEO occurrence mightiness beryllium arsenic elemental arsenic targeting the appropriate keywords.

Since these keywords are palmy for your competitors, there’s a bully accidental they could beryllium invaluable for you arsenic well.

In this article, we’ll research the astir effectual yet elemental ways to find competitors’ keywords truthful that you tin usher your ain SEO strategy and perchance outperform your competitors successful SERPs.

Benefits Of Competitor Keyword Analysis

Competitor keywords are the hunt presumption your competitors people wrong their contented to fertile precocious successful SERPs, either organically oregon done paid ads.

Collecting hunt presumption that your competitors trust connected tin assistance you:

1. Identify & Close Keyword Gaps.

The database of high-ranking keywords driving postulation to your competitors whitethorn see invaluable hunt presumption you’re presently missing retired on.

To adjacent these keyword gaps, you tin either optimize your existing contented with these keywords oregon usage them arsenic inspiration for creating caller contented with precocious postulation potential.

2. Adapt To Market Trends & Customer Needs.

You whitethorn announcement a displacement successful the keywords your competitors optimize contented for. This could beryllium a motion that marketplace trends oregon lawsuit expectations are changing.

Keep way of these keywords to leap connected emerging trends and align your contented strategy accordingly.

3. Enhance Visibility & Rankings.

Analyzing your competitors’ high-ranking keywords and pages tin assistance you place their winning patterns (e.g., contented format, idiosyncratic intent focus, update frequency, etc).

Study what works for your rivals (and why) to larn however to accommodate these tactics to your website and execute higher SERP positions.

How To Identify Your Competitors’ Keywords

There are galore ways to find keywords utilized by competitors wrong their content. Let’s measurement the pros and cons of the astir fashionable options.

Use SE Ranking

SE Ranking is simply a implicit toolkit that delivers unsocial information insights. These insights assistance SEO pros physique and support palmy SEO campaigns.

Here’s the database of pros that the level offers for bureau and in-house SEO professionals:

1. Huge databases. SE Ranking has 1 of the web’s largest keyword databases. It features implicit 5 cardinal keywords crossed 188 regions. Also, the fig of keywords successful their database is perpetually growing, with a 30% increase successful 2024 compared to the erstwhile year.
2. Reliable data. SE Ranking collects keyword data, analyzes it, and computes halfway SEO metrics straight from its proprietary algorithm. The level besides relies connected AI-powered postulation estimations that person up to a 100% lucifer with GSC data.

Thanks to SE Ranking’s caller major information prime update, the level boasts adjacent fresher and much close accusation connected backlinks and referring domains (both caller and lost).

As a result, by considering the website’s backlink profile, authority, and SERP competitiveness, SE Ranking present makes highly close calculations of keyword difficulty. This makes it casual to spot however apt your ain website oregon leafage is to fertile astatine the apical of the SERPs for a peculiar query.

3. Broad diagnostic set. Beyond conducting competitory (& keyword) research, you tin besides usage this instrumentality to way keyword rankings, execute website audits, grip each aspects of on-page optimization, negociate section SEO campaigns, optimize your contented for search, and overmuch more.
4. Great worth for money. The instrumentality offers premium features with generous information limits astatine a just price. This eliminates the request to take betwixt functionality and affordability.

Let’s present reappraisal however to usage SE Ranking to observe the keywords your competitors are targeting for some integrated hunt and paid advertising.

First, unfastened the Competitive Research Tool and input your competitor’s domain sanction into the hunt bar. Select a portion and click Analyze to initiate investigation of this website.

Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

Depending connected your goal, spell either to the Organic Traffic Research oregon Paid Traffic Research tab connected the left-hand navigation menu.

Here, you’ll beryllium capable to spot information connected estimated integrated clicks, full fig of keywords, postulation cost, and backlinks.

Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

Upon scrolling this leafage down, you’ll spot a array with each the keywords the website ranks for, on with information connected hunt volume, keyword difficulty, idiosyncratic intent, SERP features triggered by keywords, ranking position, URLs ranking for the analyzed keyword, and more.

Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

What’s more, the instrumentality allows you to find keywords your competitors fertile for but you don’t.

To bash this, caput to the Competitor Comparison tab and adhd up to 2 websites for comparison.

Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

Within the Missing tab, you’ll beryllium capable to spot existing keyword gaps.

Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

While the level offers galore benefits, determination are besides immoderate downsides to beryllium alert of, specified as:

1. Higher-priced plans are required for immoderate features. For instance, humanities information connected keywords is lone disposable to Pro and Business program users.
2. Data is constricted to Google only. SE Ranking’s Competitor Research Tool lone provides information for Google.

Use Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is simply a escaped Google service, which you tin usage to find competitors’ paid keywords.

Here’s the database of benefits this instrumentality offers successful presumption of competitory keyword analysis:

1. Free access. Keyword Planner is wholly escaped to use, which makes it a large enactment for SEO newbies and businesses with constricted budgets.
2. Core keyword data. The instrumentality shows halfway SEO metrics similar hunt volume, competition, and suggested bid prices for each identified keyword.
3. Keyword categorization. Keyword Planner allows you to signifier keywords into antithetic groups, which whitethorn beryllium adjuvant for creating targeted advertisement campaigns.
4. Historical data. The instrumentality has 4 years of humanities information available.

Once you log into your  Google Ads account, navigate to the Tools section and prime Keyword Planner.

Screenshot from Google Ads, May 2024

Now, click connected the Discover caller keywords option.

Screenshot from Google Ads, May 2024

Choose Start with a website option, participate your competitor’s website domain, region, and language, past take to analyse the full tract (recommended for deeper insights) oregon a circumstantial URL.

Screenshot from Google Ads, May 2024

And determination you person it — a array with each keywords that your analyzed website uses successful its Google Ads campaigns.

Screenshot from Google Ads, May 2024

Although Keyword Planner tin beryllium helpful, it’s not the astir effectual and data-rich instrumentality for uncovering competitors’ keywords. Its main drawbacks are the following:

2. No integrated data. The instrumentality offers information connected paid keywords, which is chiefly suitable for advertizing campaigns.
3. Broad hunt measurement data. Since it’s displayed successful ranges alternatively than nonstop numbers, it mightiness beryllium hard to precisely measure the request for identified keywords.
4. No keyword spread feature. Using this tool, you cannot comparison your and your competitors’ keywords side-by-side and, therefore, find missing keyword options.

So, if you privation to entree much reliable and in-depth information connected competitors’ keywords, you’ll astir apt request to see different dedicated SEO tools.

Use SpyFu

SpyFu is simply a broad SEO and PPC investigation instrumentality created with the thought of “spying” connected competitors.

Its main pros successful presumption of rival keyword investigation are the following:

1. Database with 10+ years of humanities data. Although disposable lone successful a Professional plan, SpyFu offers semipermanent insights to show manufacture trends and accommodate accordingly.
2. Keyword spread analysis. Using this tool, you tin easy comparison your keywords to those of your competitors utilizing metrics similar hunt volume, keyword difficulty, integrated clicks, etc.
3. Affordability. It’s suitable for businesses connected a choky budget.

To research rival data, simply sojourn their website and participate your competitor’s domain successful the hunt bar.

You’ll beryllium presented with invaluable insights into their SEO performance, from estimated postulation to the database of their top-performing pages and keywords. Navigate to the Top Keywords conception and click the View All Organic Keywords fastener to spot the hunt presumption they fertile for.

Screenshot of SpyFu, May 2024

Yet, this escaped mentation provides an overview of conscionable the apical 5 keywords for a domain on with metrics similar hunt volume, fertile change, SEO clicks, and truthful on. To execute a much broad analysis, you’ll request to upgrade to a paid plan.

When it comes to the tool’s cons, it would beryllium worthy mentioning:

1. Keyword information whitethorn beryllium outdated. On average, SpyFu updates information connected keyword rankings erstwhile a month.
2. Limited fig of people regions. Keyword information is disposable for conscionable 14 countries.

Wrapping Up

There’s nary uncertainty that uncovering competitors’ keywords is simply a large mode to optimize your ain contented strategy and outperform your rivals successful SERPs.

By pursuing the step-by-step instructions described successful this article, we’re definite you’ll beryllium capable to find high-value keywords you haven’t considered before.

Ready to commencement optimizing your website? Sign up for SE Ranking and get the information you request to present large idiosyncratic experiences.

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by SE Ranking. Used with permission.