Keyword Gap Analysis – Methods and Tools

• What is a keyword gap analysis?
• How can finding keyword gaps help your business?
• How to Conduct a Keyword Gap Analysis?
• What are the best keyword gap analysis tools?

When it comes to keyword research, we have a lot of keyword research tools to help us. However, what really matters is what techniques you use to research the best keywords for your business.

Keyword gap analysis is one such technique that is useful for:

1. Bloggers and e-commerce store owners
2. Marketing, e-commerce and digital marketing manager
3. Agencies and SEO Consultants

This technique is literally the holy grail of finding new keywords. In this guide, I’ll teach you everything about keyword gap analysis and best practices.

here we go…

What is a keyword gap analysis?

A keyword gap analysis compares two or more competing domains to identify keywords for which your competitors are ranking but you are not.

The key here is to pick 1-2 competitors or top websites in your niche, use any of the competitor keyword gap analysis tools mentioned below, and find those keywords that drive traffic to your competitor’s website.

Thanks to modern keyword gap analysis tools that make this process easy, you can find new opportunities to create content for your or your client’s website with just a few hours of practice.

Competitor keyword gap analysis has many benefits, such as:

1. The fastest way to find new opportunities
2. Find questions readers ask
3. Discover keywords that fit your existing website
4. Find valuable and high-traffic keywords in one minute

How to Conduct a Competitive Keyword Gap Analysis?

To start the process, you will need the following:

1. Tools for performing competitive keyword gap analysis (mentioned at the top and below)
2. List of your competitors
3. 1-2 hours of focused time
4. Excel spreadsheet or method of organizing keywords

The Best Tools for Keyword Gap Analysis

Today, all popular keyword research tools offer keyword gap analysis capabilities. The most popular keyword gap analysis tools currently include:

1. Semrush
2. serpstat
3. Ahrefs

Most of these tools have similar features, so it’s up to you to choose which one you want. I personally use Semrush because it has much more features than the other tools.

If you’ve never tried this amazing tool before, you can read my review of Semrush and use this Semrush trial link to get a 14-day free trial.

How to Find a List of Competing Domains for Competitor Keyword Gap Analysis

Now you need a list of domains that compete with yours in the SERPs. You can find this using any of the tools listed above.

Here are some of the things you can do on Semrush:

• Log in to Semrush dashboard
• Enter your domain name and click Organic Research

Look for “Top Organic Competitors” on the page, where you will find a list of organic competitors for the domain you provided.

You can click on “View All” to see the complete list of competitors. You can list 3-4 domains that are relevant to your business. These domains will serve as seed domains for analysis.

It is a good idea to keep these domains on an Excel sheet so that in the future you do not have to repeat the process of finding competing domains.

For new sites:

If you are starting a new blog or website, you can choose the top website in your niche and use it to perform a competitive gap analysis.

continue……

How to Conduct a Keyword Gap Analysis

Now that you have identified the domains for your competitive keyword analysis, let’s get into the fun part.

The idea here is to compare your domain to other domains and see which keywords they are ranking for that you are not.

I usually repeat this process by comparing

1. My domain vs. a single competing domain
2. My domain has multiple competing domains

Both steps are equally important, and the more time you spend on this stage, the better it will help you uncover profitable, high-value keyword opportunities.

For the purposes of this tutorial, we will compare one domain name to multiple domain names.

Click on the Keyword Gap Tool and enter your domain name and your competitor’s domain name.

Now you need to click on the intersection type to compare your domain with other target domains:

Semrush provides 4 different options for intersection types:

• All Keywords – See every keyword that the entered domain ranks for in the top 100 on Google.
• Keywords unique to the first domain - Look for keywords that the first domain ranks for but the second domain does not.
• Common Keywords – See all the keywords that both domains rank for in the top 100 results on Google.
• Unique Keywords – View keywords that are unique to each domain and not shared by any other website.

You can also use filters to further refine your keywords. For example, find keywords with search volume > 100

You can create a list of keywords that fit your business needs. You can also export these keywords using Semrush’s export feature (top right) and then import them into your keyword management tool.

Tip: Filtering at this stage is crucial, and you should also check search intent to ensure the keyword has value today.

Perform a keyword gap analysis on Semrush

Ahrefs Keyword Gap Analysis

Ahrefs is another popular SEO tool that offers a keyword gap analysis feature that’s perfect for beginners.

Ahrefs’ interface is very beginner-friendly, and even a novice can easily get started. By the way, you can learn more about Ahrefs in my detailed Ahrefs review .

Perform a keyword gap analysis on Ahrefs

Content Gap Analysis 🤔

Many SEOs and tools often use the terms “keyword gap analysis” and “content gap analysis” interchangeably.

I believe that in the days ahead, content gap analysis should simply mean comparing two pieces of content and finding the gap between them.

Until then, enjoy this tutorial on keyword gap analysis. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Keyword Gap Analysis FAQs

Is keyword research a part of content gap analysis? Yes, keyword research is an integral part of content gap analysis. Keyword research helps in finding the right words or phrases that people use when searching for your content, thus helping in identifying the gap between what you have written and what people find in search engines.

Why is content gap analysis important in SEO? Content gap analysis is crucial in SEO because it helps you identify missing opportunities that can be filled by creating targeted, valuable content that meets your readers' needs. Closing this content gap can improve your website's ranking and attract more visitors.

What is the difference between a keyword gap and a content gap? A keyword gap analysis is about finding keywords that competing domains rank for but your website does not. A content gap analysis, on the other hand, is about identifying topics, subtopics, or information that is missing or not addressed in your website’s content.

In the meantime, check out these popular articles in the SEO category:

• 43 Simple SEO Tips to Help You Rank Higher
• On-Page SEO Guide to Rank on Page 1
• SEO Keyword Research – The Ultimate Guide for Beginners

Disclosure: Some of the links in this article contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you click through to visit us, at no extra cost to you. See how SidelinePlay is funded, why it’s important, and how you can support us.