In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, staying ahead of your competition is crucial. By taking a prominent position online – ranking highly on Google’s search results – you increase your visibility, traffic and – as a result – conversions. One particularly effective way of taking the lead over your rivals is by carrying out regular analyses of your competitor’s keywords to check what they are ranking for and whether you can capitalise on these terms.
That is a very simplified summary of what the concept means, but it is important that we establish a detailed understanding of it before explaining why you might decide to run one.
What is a Competitive Analysis of Keywords?
A competitive analysis of keywords is the process of examining what words and phrases your competitors are currently ranking for, allowing you to build a picture of their search engine performance and identify the all-important opportunities that you can capitalise on.
The logic behind a competitive analysis is that the higher a page appears in the search results in relation to a specific keyword, the higher the volume of traffic it will receive. For example, let’s say you search for a keyword like ‘vegan bakery Shoreditch’. If that term has a search volume of 500, the top result might receive 300 clicks from the 500 searches, whereas the result in second place is unlikely to get more than 50. Now let’s imagine you run that bakery, if you consistently appear in the runner-up position on Google, you will want to change that by analysing what your competition is doing well (through competitor keyword analysis) and doing it even better.
To carry out competitive analyses of keywords, you will need to have an idea about some overlapping keyword groups – terms and phrases that you know apply to both your organisation and that of your competitor/s – and have access to specialist (but easy to use) tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner. It is also a good idea to log your findings in a dedicated document to which you can refer back at a later date – for example when you are planning new blog content or page optimisation projects.
Gaining strategic insights
Taking a look at your analysis can often highlight where most of your competitor’s marketing efforts are focused. For example, if you and your rival both run a sports clothing company, through a competitive analysis of keywords you might be able to see that they are ranking very highly for terms related to trainers. This can suggest a wider strategy upon which you might like to capitalise – by either targeting the same keywords or exploring alternative niches.
Spotting underperforming areas
As previously highlighted, a competitive analysis of keywords can illustrate the keywords and phrases that similar businesses are focusing on. But it can also be very effective at revealing areas of weakness that they are currently overlooking.
As digital marketers, we are always looking for keywords that are high in search volume but low in competition – the holy grail. If your competitor is ranking highly for one such term but in an incidental way (they don’t appear to have any pages or posts tailored to the term), you can fill that gap and secure the missed traffic opportunity for yourself.
Identifying market trends
According to Google Trends – which scores a subject for searcher interest (100 being the highest) – the term ‘social media’ scored just 2 back in 2004. Today, that score has jumped to 99, making it one of the most popular subjects when categorising a user’s enquiry. Likewise, a similar upward trend can be seen for Taylor Swift – who peaked at 100 in February 2024, compared with her previous highs of 53 in 2012 and 59 in 2014 (coinciding with her album launches of Red and 1969 respectively).
What that data should tell you – aside from the fact that we think Taylor Swift is great (the editor would like to dispute this claim as a general Gooey opinion)- is that search terms change, the intent of your audience will change over time, the keywords that they use will also change, and your content should change in order to meet their queries. Let’s take another example: the trend of “sustainable” search terms. These were far less frequent 10 years ago than they are today. If you undertake competitive analyses of keywords, you might be able to spot a trend and adapt your strategy accordingly.
Allocating your resources
Without keyword data relating to what your competitors are ranking for, there is a temptation to do lots of different things in the hope that you hit upon something relevant and rewarding. At best, this method is likely to be ineffective; at worst, it will prove financially exhausting.
Equipped with a list of keywords that your competitors are successfully ranking for, you can target your resources by discounting unrealistic keywords (such as those with extremely low search volume or a high competitive score) and target only keywords on which your content can make an impact. This targeted approach maximises the efficiency of your marketing budget, ensuring that you’re investing in initiatives with the highest potential for return on investment.
If you undertake a successful competitive analysis of keywords, you might think that all you’ll end up with is a random list of words and phrases. Instead, what you will have in your hands (or on your screen) is a multi-dimensional story that tells you lots of different things; it might be highlighting a potential marketing opportunity here, a trend towards a particular product there, or a subject that you can stop focusing your energy on because it won’t prove fruitful. By taking a deep dive into the rankings of your competition, you can stop blindly trying to do everything all at once and, instead, focus your efforts on a data-driven strategy that will work.