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<\/figure>\nFor most SMBs, the key to generating more traffic, leads, and sales lies in outsmarting your competition.<\/p>\n
In digital marketing, especially, established brands make it incredibly difficult to compete. They not only can attract the best sales, marketing, and research talent but also possess the financial clout to quickly outmuscle you in a toe-to-toe contest. It means that if you\u2019re not smart, you\u2019ll forever feed on scraps.<\/p>\n
So, how do you get past this hurdle? How can your small business compete despite these obvious challenges? Simple \u2013 competitor analysis<\/a> \u2013 researching your competition! Competitor analysis allows you to;<\/p>\n This guide should help you plan and execute one of the most rewarding forms of competitor research in digital marketing \u2013 competitive keyword analysis.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not exactly easy. But, with dedication, you can do it even on your own. Let\u2019s start with a definition;<\/p>\n Competitive keyword analysis, also known as SEO competitor analysis or SEO keyword competition analysis, is just that \u2013 unraveling your competitor\u2019s keyword strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n By analyzing the competitor\u2019s keywords, you\u2019re able to gain insight into the interests of your shared audience and adjust your SEO campaign accordingly to improve your SERP performance.<\/p>\n There are three main reasons why you should prioritize competitor SEO analysis for your search engine optimization campaign;<\/p>\n Using SEO competitor research tools, you can find out the full list of keywords your primary competitors use, along with the number of clicks received for each keyword, and overall search volume. You can then sort out these terms to come up with a list of proven keywords to drive your campaign.<\/p>\n If you already do SEO, competitor SEO search can also be instrumental in finding out valuable keywords that you might have overlooked in the past. What\u2019s even better is that most competitor SEO analysis tools now let you compare your SEO keywords with the competitor\u2019s to uncover the keywords missing in your campaign.<\/p>\n Business is about outsmarting the opponent. It\u2019s about finding new ways to stay ahead of the pack. Competitive SEO analysis adds another weapon to your business intelligence arsenal. Once you know the keywords that are driving your competitor\u2019s success, you can find high-performance long-tail versions and even alternative keywords to outrank that competitor.<\/p>\n Tools like RankingGap<\/a>\u00a0will certainly play a huge role in helping you work out your keywords, what your competitors rank for, and how you fare against them. <\/p>\n It has 4 core features or keyword views that cover the necessary areas of a keyword gap analysis practice.<\/p>\n But of course, before you jump straight into the tool itself, maybe learn a bit more on how to perform competitive keyword analysis.<\/p>\n How to Perform Competitive Keyword Analysis in 3 Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n So, having learned about the above benefits, you\u2019re probably thinking \u2013 where do I start my competitor keyword analysis? Here\u2019s how to proceed;<\/p>\n Who are your competitors?<\/p>\n Unfortunately, there\u2019s no straightforward answer to this question. While it\u2019s easy to discover your local rivals by searching your primary keywords in Google, SERP results alone won\u2019t reveal all your global competitors.<\/p>\n For instance, for a local bakery trying to rank for the keyword \u201ctasty buns in Texas,\u201d the competition would be limited to bakeries in Texas. But, the moment the same bakery attempts to rank for a how-to article, it\u2019d be up against even national brands such as Taste of Home and the Food Network. Making it to the first page then becomes a lot more difficult than in the first scenario.<\/p>\n For purposes of competitive keyword analysis, therefore, we prefer to define a competitor as; \u201canyone who ranks in the first result page for your target keywords, whether or not these people are your local business competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n With the Competitor Discovery<\/a> feature in RankingGap, you can quickly identify your top competitors. You just need to paste your domain to RankingGap and wait for the results. RankingGap will show you your top competitors in a chart view.<\/p>\n When you click on a specific competitor, you can get information about your competitors, including the common keywords, the estimated volume of web traffic, and the percentage of keywords on the first page of SERP.<\/p>\n This part should be easy! Pick an opponent (one of your competitors) and use SEO analysis tools to discover the core keywords driving their campaign.<\/p>\n Begin by searching your target keyword in Google and see the results that come up. Then, pick brands\/companies behind those results and analyze their SEO strategies one by one.<\/p>\n There are multiple tools you can use to accomplish this process, including Google Analytics, SEMRush, and Moz. We, however, prefer (and recommend) BiQ Ranking Intelligence. With BiQ, all you need is the competitor\u2019s site URL. Once you enter the URL into BiQ, the dashboard fills up with all the intelligence data you need.<\/p>\n Even better, BiQ allows you to select from five SEO intelligence parameters, i.e., keyword, content, link, rank, and site intelligence. You only pay for the selected parameter(s).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In this case, you\u2019d select keyword intelligence. Under this parameter, BiQ will help you;<\/p>\n The \u201creal SEO value\u201d in this case refers to metrics such as search volume, average CPC, and the average competition for that keyword.<\/p>\n Here is how you can find out your competitors\u2019 keywords with RankingGap.<\/p>\n In order to know what keywords both you and your competitors share, you need to first create a project by inserting your domain and your competitors\u2019, Then, you pick your location and language setting.<\/p>\n When you set everything up, you can generate your project. When the results are out, go to the \u201cCommon\u201d keyword view, which you are already on by default.\u00a0<\/p>\n You\u2019ll see a list of keywords with your competitors\u2019 ranking positions as compared to yours.<\/p>\n What\u2019s displayed here are the keywords that you, including all your competitors, have. You can see the ranking and the rank movement on each column. Other data like CPC, Volume, Competition, and SERP Features are also shown.<\/p>\n If your ranking is lower than your competitors, then it is where you should do your optimization.<\/p>\n In addition, the \u201cGap\u201d keyword view lets you tap into the keywords you don\u2019t have and keywords that some of your competitors are missing as well. The \u201cMissing\u201d view will show the keywords that all of your competitors are ranking for except you. Finally, the \u201cUnique\u201d view is the keywords that you rank for but not your competitors.<\/p>\n With that amount of information, you can do your competitor keyword analysis and start planning your content strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not all keywords are equal \u2013 some promise more traffic and leads than others. Additionally, some keywords are extremely competitive. Getting an article to the first page for the term \u201ccontent marketing,\u201d for example, isn\u2019t easy because it\u2019s one of the most competitive keywords at the moment. You need to pick keywords that justify your efforts.<\/p>\n For the above reasons, sometimes, you may need to assess every keyword on your list to pick out the right ones. It\u2019s what makes this part a little more challenging. To shorten the process, we recommend that you focus on finding;<\/p>\n #1. Keywords your competitor ranks for that you don\u2019t<\/strong><\/p>\n Are you leaving a few vital keywords out of your SEO strategy? Could your competitor be ranking higher in SERPs because they use these keywords you\u2019ve often overlooked? If so, you need to start using the keywords more often.<\/p>\n #2. High-ranking competitor content that doesn\u2019t match search queries well<\/strong><\/p>\n Is your competitor benefiting from a lack of quality content for a particular keyword? Do they have rather poor content at the top of SERPs because there are no quality alternatives? You can take advantage of this situation by creating high-quality articles around these keywords.<\/p>\n #3. Keywords your competitor is paying for that you can rank for naturally<\/strong><\/p>\n If your competitor is paying for these keywords, it follows that they\u2019re valuable keywords in your industry. So, what do you do? Try to see if you can rank organically for these words. Create quality articles around the keywords and submit them to Google for indexing.<\/p>\n Finally, competitive keyword analysis isn\u2019t complete without keyword gap analysis. A gap analysis entails comparing two domains (such as your site and a competitor\u2019s site) to identify disparities in keyword use and performance.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve already talked about finding keywords that your competitor ranks for, but you don\u2019t. A keyword gap analysis will help you reveal such keywords.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not everything. A gap analysis will also help you discover long-tail keywords you might have overlooked as well as terms you perhaps need to use more frequently.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
What is Competitive Keyword Analysis?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Benefits of SEO Competitor <\/strong>Keyword Analysis<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Step #1: Define Your Competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"RankingGap](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/lMTmaXfBNACN0TCAlCK1KfjrpPYHi1RXe0rjb5g6VdnU1zDI-SAXh-9kOeXsD5tz1hcbHPD5sVesO5prRqVeH17m3kn2BPo7Cqw84IT1BZlRDMFDETkL6vkSIXeJttxrjGzxwK9K\")
Step #2: Find Out Your Competitor(s) Keywords<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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![\"RankingGap](\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/v1Xq2gBkay9rJ0hyhnve-dGnc7vV7PyRPjXaV9KDkfR3l_8k3C4RoXQm9QvTeuraUjE_2fyOOUP-saqWIhfIjfeLJpl9BighMEDpBP-STNAziRiMpVIIzMX611XPAc3XLLUMnUsc\")
Step #3: Pick the Best Competitive Keywords<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Invest in Keyword Gap Analysis<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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