Step-by-Step Guide: How to Discover Competitors Keywords and Outshine the Competition

The digital landscape is constantly shifting, and finding keywords that help your business outshine competitors can make all the difference in boosting online visibility and outshining them all.

Understanding which keywords your competitors are targeting provides invaluable insight, helping to inform your SEO strategy and lead to its success.

Step-by-step, this guide will walk you through the process of using organic keywords and discovering competitor keywords using today's latest research techniques and powerful tools.

Note that keywords and entities related to your industry and website need to be covered and included in your content. More on that in another post; for now, let's dive right in!

Step 1: Analysing Competitors Organic Keywords

Begin by compiling a list of your primary competitors online. This should include businesses operating within your niche or targeting similar audiences, with whom you share similar audiences or niches. Analysing their keyword strategies may reveal opportunities for growth that you could benefit from implementing on your own business website.

Competitor Analysis

Competitor keyword profile analysis can play a pivotal role in uncovering competitors' keywords and gaining an edge online. By studying the strategies, website content, and keyword usage practises of competitors, you can gather invaluable intelligence that will aid your own keyword research and optimisation efforts.

Gather Information About Competitors

As part of competitor analysis, collecting information about your competitors is paramount. This involves exploring their websites, social media profiles, online ads, and any other pertinent sources in order to better understand their strategies and tactics.

Exploring their website content, you can discover which keywords your competitors are targeting and gain insight into their overall keyword strategy.

Understanding Competitor Keyword Usage

By conducting competitor analysis, it becomes possible to uncover which keywords your rivals are using to drive organic search traffic and gain more knowledge about their keyword usage strategy.

By exploring competitors' website content, meta tags, headings, and other on-page elements, you can gain insight into how they rank the keywords they are optimising for organic search campaigns. This knowledge may lead you to discover new keyword opportunities or optimise existing targeting efforts.

Gaining Insights From Competitors' Online Presence

Discovering your competitors' online presence provides valuable information that can inform your keyword research and optimisation strategies.

By closely inspecting their website design, user experience, and content structure, you can identify areas for improvement and differentiation from your competitors.

Step Two: Conduct Competitor Research

Now is the time to explore competitor keyword research tools. Follow these steps in order to uncover competitors keywords and gain invaluable insight:

2.1. Conduct a Google Search:

Type in relevant search terms related to your industry or niche and note top-performing websites that consistently appear as top search results in organic search; these will be direct competitors for you.

2.2. Investigate Competitor Websites:

Visit the websites of some of your major competitors and explore their content, paying particular attention to which keywords they utilise in their page titles, headings, meta descriptions, and overall text. These offer important insight into their particular keyword and strategy.

Unlocking Organic Search Traffic Secrets

Are you curious about how your competitors attract visitors to their websites? Dive into organic search traffic analysis to uncover how they attract so many visitors. You need to dive deep into Organic Search Traffic Analysis by understanding which keywords drive the most traffic to their sites, which in turn provides clues as to their strategies for ranking high on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

Explore competitor URL keyword strategies that are making waves in your market. By studying which words and phrases are driving visitors to their websites, you'll discover exactly which ones their audience finds most compelling.

Organic search traffic analysis offers more than just an advantage; it also reveals golden opportunities. By tracking which keywords your competitors are ranking highly for, organic search traffic analysis helps identify gaps where you could gain an edge and dominate.

Unleash the Power of Organic Search Traffic Analysis

Now that you understand organic search traffic analysis's secrets, it's time to put them into action. Analysing competitors' keywords and strategies as well as uncovering new opportunities lies within its folds.

Take your tools and enter the world of organic search traffic analysis; your website's success awaits! Learn, expand, and watch as your organic search traffic skyrockets!

Step 3: Employ SEO Tools for In-Depth Analyses

For an in-depth analysis of your competitors' keyword strategies, utilise these SEO tools: (Please be aware that there are numerous other keyword analysis and research tools available that we don't list here.)

3.1. SEMrush:

SEMrush is an invaluable tool that allows you to gain insight into both organic and paid search keywords used by competitors. Entering their website URLs will cause SEMrush to display the top-ranking keywords, the search volumes, and any traffic these terms have generated.

3.2.Ahrefs:

Ahrefs provides valuable insights into your competitors' backlink profiles, organic search traffic, and keyword rankings. Use this free tool to quickly understand which keywords your rivals are targeting as well as identify gaps in your own strategy.

3.3. Moz:

Moz provides a number of SEO tools, including its Keyword Explorer tool. With this tool, you can enter any competitor's domain and quickly identify their top-ranking keywords, as well as gather valuable metrics about organic competitors such as keyword difficulty and search volume.

3.4. SE Ranking:

SE Rankings has seen substantial improvements over the last four years and now offers access to an expansive database of keywords. Their keyword research tools offer related, suggested, and long-tail search terms in addition to difficulty and search volume information.

3.5. InLinks:

InLinks is an effective SEO tool designed to assist website owners in optimising their content for search engines, by analysing entities and their relationships on websites. By gathering insights about entities present on a webpage, InLinks provides valuable data that helps website owners increase organic visibility.

3.6 Surfer SEO:

Surfer SEO is an advanced keyword research tool that provides data-driven insights to optimise content for search engines.

Surfer SEO equips website owners with advanced features such as SERP analysis and content recommendations to create highly optimised, search engine-friendly content that ranks higher and attracts targeted organic traffic.

Keyword Research Tools Of The Trade

Now that we've introduced you to organic search traffic analysis, let's discover some handy tools:

1. Google Analytics: Like having a magnifying glass for keywords. Google Analytics shows you which words and phrases are driving organic traffic to your competitors' websites and can reveal patterns and trends to help guide your own keyword strategy.

2. SEMrush: With this super tool, you can gain an inside view into your top competitors' organic and search rankings and traffic. Discover which keywords they are ranking for while also gathering insights about search volume, competition level, and keyword difficulty; it's like having your very own spy gadgets!

3. SimilarWeb: Harness the power of SimilarWeb to reveal your competitors' traffic sources. Discover their keywords that bring in organic traffic, determine how successful these keywords are at attracting visitors, and even see which keywords bring in paid ads from search engines! It's like having an easy roadmap to success!

Step 4: Analyse Keywords and Competition

Not all competitors keywords are created equal. Research tools may save time, but human judgement must still be applied when evaluating the keywords and search intent you have discovered. Here's how:

4.1. Relevance Analysis:

Determine whether the keywords align with your business, target audience, and content strategy. Focus on keywords that are highly pertinent to what you offer and have high chances of drawing visitors who could become customers.

4.2. Competitive Intelligence Analysis:

When researching keywords to target, make sure that their level of competition is taken into account. Ranking highly competitive keywords may prove challenging if you're just getting started; to increase the odds of success, aim for a balance of highly competitive keywords as well as long-tail ones in your strategy.

Competitive Intelligence

Competitive intelligence refers to the collection and interpretation of information regarding competitors' strategies, market position, keyword usage, and target audiences.

An effective competitive analysis plays a key role in understanding the landscape and identifying growth opportunities.

Businesses can use keyword analysis of competitors' keywords to gain a better understanding of customer search behaviour and preferences, which will enable more precise targeting and improved visibility for paid keywords in search engine results.

There are a variety of tools and techniques available for conducting competitor analysis and collecting competitive intelligence.

Conducting competitor audits is an increasingly popular practise among businesses, where businesses evaluate the websites, content, and backlink profiles of rival businesses in order to identify keywords and strategies that work for the competition.

Social media monitoring tools are invaluable tools for collecting competitive intelligence. They give insight into competitors' social media activities, customer engagement initiatives, and online reputation management processes.

Through monitoring competitors' social media presences, businesses can identify emerging trends and adjust keyword targeting strategies accordingly. Therefore, competitive intelligence is indispensable to staying at the forefront of the digital marketing landscape.

Attaining competitive intelligence gives businesses an edge when making more informed decisions regarding keyword targeting, ultimately leading to improved visibility, increased organic traffic, and greater success at attracting and engaging their target audience.

How can one monitor another company's social media presence?

Monitoring a competitor's social media presence can offer valuable insights into their strategies, audience engagement, and overall performance. Here is a step-by-step guide on how you can effectively monitor them on social media:

1. Locate Your Competitors: Begin by identifying those in your industry or niche who have established an extensive presence on social media platforms.

2. Determine Relevant Social Media Platforms: Identify which platforms are relevant to your industry and where your competitors are active; typically, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are among the more popular options.

3. Follow and Subscribe: Stay abreast of what your competitors are up to by following or subscribing to their social media accounts, to keep abreast of their content, posts, and activities.

4. Track Engagement Metrics: Keep tabs on the engagement metrics of your competitors' social media posts, such as likes, comments, shares, and retweets, to gain an idea of which types of posts resonate well with their audiences. This may give you an indication as to the type of content which resonates most strongly.

5. Analyse Content Strategy: Carefully consider what kinds of content your competitors are sharing - articles, images, or videos? Pay particular attention to their tone, messaging and frequency of posts.

6. Assess Audience Engagement: Take note of how their audience interacts with their posts; whether through comments, questions or sharing the content produced. This can provide a gauge as to the connection and interest their target market has for what you offer them.

7. Monitor Follower Growth: Keep tabs on their follower count over time, noting any sudden spikes or declines that might indicate impactful campaigns or strategies.

8. Analyse Ad Campaigns: Keep an eye out for sponsored or promoted posts from competitors, then examine their ad campaigns to understand their targeting, messaging and overall approach to social media advertising.

9. Utilise Social Media Listening Tools: Consider employing tools such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or Mention for social media listening purposes when monitoring competitors' mentions, hashtags, and conversations related to their brand on social media platforms such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social.

10. Keep Track with Notifications: Stay informed with your competitors' latest posts, announcements and events with notifications enabled on their social media accounts. Stay current by receiving real-time notifications of posts or events that might interest you!

11. Benchmark Performance: Compare your social media metrics and performance against that of competitors to identify areas for improvement or learn from their successes or failures.

Remember, while monitoring competitors is important, focus more on maintaining your unique brand identity and engaging effectively with your own target audience. Use insights gained through monitoring to inform your social media strategy and drive its own success.

Step 5: Expand Keyword List

Now that you have a strong foundation of competitor keywords, it is time to expand your own keyword list for search engine rankings. Follow these steps to do competitor keyword analysis and uncover additional keyword opportunities:

5.1. Brainstorm Keywords:

Wage your imagination and brainstorm related keywords that your competitors might have overlooked, including variations, synonyms, long-tail keywords, and any location-specific terms relevant to your business.

5.2. Use Google Keyword Planner:

Google Keyword Planner is a free keyword tool, offering keyword ideas and insights into search volumes, competition analysis levels, competitor keywords to add to your list, as well as relevant suggestions from related searches to broaden it out.

AdWords and PPC campaigns

Competitors often employ AdWords and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns to directly target specific keywords. Such campaigns enable them to display ads at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), providing instantaneous visibility for those chosen keywords.

One tactic competitors use in these campaigns is strategic keyword bidding. By placing higher bids for particular keywords using Google Ads accounts, they can ensure their ad shows above those of their rivals - increasing its chance of clicks and conversions.

Competitors utilise various strategies to identify lucrative keywords in paid advertising environments, including conducting extensive keyword research and analysis to pinpoint high-converting words with relatively lower competition levels and cost efficiency - this allows them to target keywords that maximise return on investment (ROI).

Analysing competitors' AdWords and PPC campaigns can provide invaluable insight into their keyword targeting strategies. By studying them closely, businesses can gain crucial knowledge of competitors' keyword strategies that could aid in uncovering new keyword opportunities.

They can track the keywords their competitors are bidding on, the ad copy and landing pages they employ, as well as the overall success of their campaigns.

Analysis allows businesses to adjust their AdWords and PPC strategies effectively. By identifying valuable keywords their competitors may have missed or overlooked, businesses can gain an edge and reach more potential customers.

Studying competitors' AdWords and PPC campaigns can also help businesses identify gaps in the market. By spotting keywords that their rivals aren't targeting effectively, businesses can take advantage of any untapped opportunities and drive more traffic to their own website.

AdWords and pay-per-click advertising campaigns provide companies with essential tools for targeting specific keywords, while businesses can utilise strategic keyword bidding and analysis of competitors' campaigns to identify lucrative terms and gain an edge in the paid advertising landscape.

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords play an indispensable role in finding less competitive alternatives to the main keywords used by competitors, providing businesses with an edge in today's highly competitive online environment. By understanding what these new words represent and how to utilise them effectively, businesses can gain an edge against their competition in this increasingly intense online battleground.

Targeting Niche Audiences with Long-Tail Keywords

Reaching niche audiences using long-tail keywords is essential for multiple reasons.

Businesses can leverage it to explore communities or markets they would have previously missed out on, by understanding their audiences' unique needs and interests and catering their content and offerings accordingly.

Long-tail keywords tend to have lower search volumes compared to generic ones, yet this should not be seen as an obstacle; rather, it presents an opportunity.

With less competition among search competitors, businesses stand a greater chance of ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords, meaning more targeted and high-quality traffic could come through, which is likely to convert into customers or leads.

Strategies for Locating and Incorporating Long-Tail Keywords

There are numerous approaches for locating and including long-tail keywords in content. One such strategy involves conducting thorough keyword research using specialised software and tools.

These tools can assist businesses in discovering specific keyword variations with lower competition in their industry or niche, yet still relevant to their content or keywords used by competitors. An alternative strategy involves analysing their content and keywords used.

Businesses can learn valuable insights and inspiration for content optimisation from studying competitors' approaches and understanding their top long-tail keywords.

Once these long-tail keywords have been identified, it's crucial that they be strategically integrated into website copy, meta tags, headings and other on-page elements.

Optimise content using these specific keywords to increase their chances of ranking higher in SERPs and drawing targeted organic search traffic.

Step 6: Tweak Your SEO Strategy

Armed with an exhaustive list of competitor keywords (via spreadsheet), now is the time to tailor your SEO strategy for maximum impact:

6.1. Integrate Competitor Keywords Strategically:

Strategically include competitor keywords into your website's page titles, headings, meta descriptions and content so they flow naturally while providing value to your audience.

6.2. Content Creation:

Use your competitors' keywords as inspiration when developing content to attract and keep target audiences engaged. Create informative, engaging, and optimised pieces using these keywords that attract and keep their interest.

6.3. Monitor and Adapt:

Keep an eye on keyword rankings and website analytics, monitoring competitor keywords that you have implemented to track their performance and making any adjustments as needed in order to optimise your SEO strategy.

Optimising Your Content for Search Engines

For your website to become more visible and appealing to both search engines and visitors, its content needs to be optimised - this means improving both its quality and relevance so it ranks higher in search results.

One way of doing this is to research what your competitors are up to. By analysing their keywords - those they target in searches to rank highly - and creating content based on them, you can learn from their strategies and create something even more successful than they are.

To effectively optimise your content, it is vital that you consider these important elements:

1. Titles: Incorporate key terms related to the subject matter into the titles for better search engine indexation.

2. Meta Descriptions: Craft engaging meta descriptions incorporating your keywords to encourage people to click through when they see it in search results.

3. Headings: Use keywords within H2, H3 tags to organise your content and make it easier for both people and search engines to navigate it.

4. Keyword Placement: Make sure that targeted keywords fit naturally throughout your text so they add value to readers.

5. Relevance: Your content should be highly pertinent to the keywords you're targeting, meeting what people are searching for and effectively meeting their needs.

By optimising your content with these keyword research strategies, you increase its likelihood of ranking higher in search results, drawing in more organic traffic, and outpacing competitors.

Once your keyword research is complete, consider creating topic clusters or silos to further expand on what has been learned in step one of competing online.

An Essential Step in Being Viable Online

Discovering competitor keywords is essential to outwitting your competition and realising online success.

By following this step-by-step guide and employing powerful SEO tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, Inlinks Surfer, and Moz, you'll gain valuable insights that will inform your SEO strategy and help your business outstrip its competition.

Be proactive, stay abreast of emerging trends, and constantly refine your approach in order to unlock the full potential of competitor keywords. Get going today and take your online presence to new heights!

Red Kite SEO is here to guide your every move when it comes to harnessing competitor keywords for maximum online success. Reach out now and contact us so we can assist in unlocking the power of competitor keywords for maximum returns on investment!