If you are new to SEO, well, then you are not alone. There are millions like you, whether you are a digital marketer or a small business looking for ways to use SEO and digital marketing in your favor.

Every situation is the same and stops at one point, where to start. If you are juggling the same dilemma, then allow us to give you a head start. If you are new to SEO, then you should start with keyword competition analysis.

It is an age–old practice that has now gained momentum with new tools and concepts. In this article, we will discuss all these concepts in detail.

What Is Keyword Competition Analysis?

As you can understand from the name itself, keyword competition analysis is about your competitors and keywords. And that is very much correct. If you are wondering where to start in SEO, then you should be looking up to your competitors. They are established long before you and have a good audience base.

Throughout their journey, they have improved their marketing strategy and adapted with time. They are way more experienced in the field than you. Hence, when you look up to them, you can learn various new things from their experience. You can learn from their mistakes and shall not repeat them.

Talking particularly about keyword competition analysis can be useful for your SEO. Through this analysis, you will get to know what keywords your competitors are using and ranking for. On what keywords are they getting the most organic traffic, and how are they presenting their content? Here's a quick stat for you,

Ranking in the top position on the first page of Google translates to a 39.8% organic click–through rate.

So you can see how important it is for you to get the top position in search engines. This makes the analysis of your competitor's keywords essential.

You will get to know a lot about your competitors' marketing strategies just through this. Thus, through keyword competition analysis, you can use your competitors in your favor.

Why Should You Do It?

At first, you may wonder why pay attention to others when you are not so established yourself. Well, to begin with, that's the whole point. To understand this, let's take an example. Suppose you are a new fashion and apparel business and want to build an audience base that can be converted into customers. Now, you will probably be thinking of employing digital marketing and using SEO for your business. But when you go deep, you will realize that they are a lot more than you have thought and even overwhelming. On the other hand, there are your competitors who have already dealt with the situation you are facing now.

They have a brand image and a loyal customer base and know how to grab the attention of the audience. So, when you study them, you can learn a lot from them. You can learn how to attract an audience and how to convert them into customers. Also, they can run a keyword competition analysis to know what popular keywords they are using. And what keywords are they ranking on search engines?

Now, when you do that, half of your work is done because your competitors belong to the same industry as you. So their audience is your audience, and their marketing strategy can be relevant to you as well.

This one analysis can fetch some really incredible benefits for you. Some of them are,

• When you know the SEO strategy of your business competitors, you can optimize your online business or website's visibility.

• You can attract organic traffic using high-ranking keywords and SEO tactics that your competitors are using already. This is especially beneficial if you want to reduce your paid traffic cost and want customers for the long run.

• Ultimately, by using your rival's SEO strategy, you can outperform them and improve your SERP ranking.

How to Perform Keyword Competition Analysis?

Impressed by the advantages of keyword competition analysis? Well, you should be. Now, what you need is the right step–by–step guide to perform the analysis.

1. Identify Your Competitors

First of all, start with your competitors and identify them. This seems easy and simple; however, it's not. Identifying your rivals means that you have to do thorough research online and find your competitors in your niche.

And that's not it; if you are willing to expand your business in offline mode, then you have to know your local competitors, too. There are chances that your tough local competitors are not even available online yet and have a strong offline presence.

You have to identify your potential competitors offline and online. Another important thing is that you have to determine the different circles of audience base and competition.

For example, let's take the first example once again. Suppose you have a fashion and apparel business. Now, your competitors will be determined when you go deep down, such as whether your target audience is women, men, or kids.

Now, your competitors in women will be different from men and vice versa. The same goes for kids. Hence, you have to determine your target audience in the beginning and then find your competitors.

2. Identify Your Competitors' Keyword

Now that you know who your competitors are, it is time to take a peek at their SEO strategy and the keywords they are using. This means finding the keywords for which your competitors are ranking but you are not.

For this, you can use any of the tools available out there. They will let you know what keywords your rivals are using and how much search volume they are getting for them. Also, they will tell you what ranking keywords your competitors are using for their high ranking.

This gap between the keywords used by your competitors and yours is known as the keyword gap. After this, you will know where and how to optimize your content.

3. Create a Spreadsheet

Now, you have the keywords that your rivals are using, but you are not. Also, you will get to know what keywords you are using, getting lower traffic than your competitors.

So, it's time to export them and create a spreadsheet with valuable information. In the spreadsheet, you can note the keywords and their search volumes. Also, you can note down lower-ranking and higher-ranking keywords.

It doesn't matter what tool you are using; you can always export keywords into your spreadsheet. You just need to click on the 'Export' tab and then choose Excel. Now, within a few seconds, your keywords will be exported to a spreadsheet for use in the future.

4. Evaluate Your Competitors' Content

Here, you need to understand that only getting the keywords your rivals are using is not sufficient if you want to outperform them and take an edge over them.

For that, you have to evaluate their content, like reading their content and observing how they are doing it. How are they presenting their content, and what infographics are they using? Or what is their backlink structure?

When you know all these, then only you can work in a better way and truly stand apart from them. So, research your competitors as much as possible.

5. Create a Comprehensive SEO Strategy

Now, when you have got everything you need, it's time to get started. However, before that, it is necessary to make an SEO strategy.

When you know the keywords, content, and other things your rivals are using, you have to put that in a unique way. Whatever you have, your competitors have already used and ranked for that.

So, if you want to get a higher ranking than them, then you have to present more engaging and binding content. You have to provide your audience with something better than your rivals. Now, how you do that will be your choice, and that will bring something fresh and new.

4 Tools For Competitor Keyword Analysis

In the above section, we discussed that there are various tools that you can use for competitor keyword analysis. Here, we will be glancing upon some prominent tools for the same.

1. Google Keyword Planner

 If you want a comprehensive report on your competitor's SEO, Google Keyword Planner is the ideal pick for you. It is a robust tool that comes with reports on your competitor's keywords with versatile sorting and filtering features.

You can sort out the keywords based on monthly search volumes or three three-month or by-year changes. Also, you can select the column you want to export in your spreadsheet report.

2. Ahrefs Site Explorer

Another tool that you can use for competitor keyword analysis is Ahrefs site explorer. This is not a free tool, and first, you have to choose a subscription.

Now that you have created your account and chosen a subscription, you just need to enter your rival's URL. In the results, you will get all the details you want to know about your competitors.

Ahrefs Site Explorer is a premium tool that comes with premium features. It will fetch you full access to your competitor's keyword profile and offer various other features.

3. Spyfu

If you want a tool with more holistic competitive research, then this shall be your pick. Spyfu is an amazing tool for your competitor's keyword research.

You can choose its free plan if you are a beginner, which also offers pretty good features. You can get the top keywords used by your competitors, top pages, and inbound links.

4. Semrush

If you want to get a pretty good amount of information on your competitor's keyword, then this is best for you. What's more exciting is that you can use Semrush for free just after you create your account.

It is an impressive tool that gives you full access to your rivals' keyword profiles, such as top competitors. Also, it will let you know the top changes and position changes with keyword gap analysis.

FAQs

How can I analyze my key competitors?

To analyze your key competitors, first, you have to identify them both online and offline. Then, you have to understand their product policy, such as their product features or prices. You also have to learn their marketing strategy and outperform them.

Can I get my competitor's keywords for free?

Yes, you can get your competitors' keywords for free. There are numerous tools available out there that let you get your competitor's full keyword profile.

How to check keyword competition?

You can easily check the keyword competition. To get started, you have to type a keyword on a search engine like Google. Then, you have to see the first ten results; by doing this, you will get to the keyword competition and your rivals for the same keyword.

What is keyword tracking?

Keyword tracking is the process of tracking your keywords in SEO. With this, you will get to monitor the position of your online business or website for a particular keyword.

How to get low-competition keywords?

Getting low-competition keywords is simple. You have to aim for long-tail keywords. They are specific and easy to rank for. Also, as they are long, they can't be used randomly, which means they have low competition.

Conclusion

Thus, in this article, we have seen how you can use your competitor's keywords to your advantage. Well, it is one legitimate and ethical way that you can use to know about your competitors. When you are in an industry like digital marketing, SEO and online businesses and your rivals are necessary for you. This becomes even more important when you are new to the niche.

As you are new, you have no experience and probably no one guiding you throughout your journey. At this point, you can learn a lot from your competitors who are already well-established in the field.

When you dive into details, you can even know what keywords they are using and their search volumes. Through this competitor keyword analysis, you will get to know what keywords you should aim for. However, this doesn't mean that you have to copy and paste your competitor's work.

Instead, after knowing what your competitors are using and where they are lacking, you can curate a marketing strategy. This marketing strategy will be personalized to your business along with your competitors. Hence, it will be efficient and productive, yielding the results you want. What you have to remember here is that you have to create better content than your competitors if you want to stand out.