How to Do Keyword Gap Analysis: A Beginner’s Guide

Your competitors are ranking for keywords you’re missing out on – keywords that are bringing them traffic, leads, and customers.

Why let them have all the wins?

Keyword gap analysis shows you exactly where you’re falling behind and how to close the gap. Steal your competitors’ best keywords, outrank them, and take back your share of the market.

Here’s how it’s done.

What Is Keyword Gap Analysis?

Keyword gap analysis is the process of finding keywords your competitors rank for, but you don’t. It helps you discover missed opportunities to drive traffic to your website.

By doing this, you can:

➜ Find new keyword ideas to target.

➜ Identify ways to improve your content and SEO strategy.

➜ Understand where your competitors are outperforming you.

Imagine you own an online shoe store. Your competitor ranks high on Google for phrases like “best running shoes for flat feet,” “waterproof hiking boots,” and “stylish sneakers for teens.”

While you have these exact products, your website is not targeting and ranking for these keywords. So, you’re missing out on a lot of potential customers.

This is where Keyword Gap Analysis comes in, helping you identify these gaps so you can create content or optimize product pages to target these keywords.

This way, you attract more potential customers and stay competitive in search results.

Disclaimer: Don’t confuse keyword gap analysis with content gap analysis. Keyword Gap Analysis identifies keywords your competitors rank for that you don’t, helping you target missed opportunities. Content Gap Analysis helps find missing topics or content types in your website compared to competitors, to make sure you cover user needs comprehensively.

In this post, we’ll focus on keyword gap analysis only.

Let’s get started.

How to do Keyword Gap Analysis as a Beginner?

Keyword gap analysis is broadly divided into two steps: Identifying your competitors and finding keyword gaps. I have divided them into sections A and B:

A: Identify Your Competitors

Who are competitors? Those who compete to rank for the same keywords as you do.

So how do you find your competitors?

Simple, just see who’s ranking for your target keywords.

First, Google your target keywords one by one and note which websites rank for it.

Second, use any reliable SEO tool (I use Semrush) to extensively cover your competitors.

Step 1: Google Your Keywords

Let’s start simple. Go to Google.com and make a search related to your product or service.

For example, if you have a handmade jewellery business, you could search for:

Note the top ranking websites. These are your competitors.

Also look at the Google Local Pack listing. To find the website of a business (if it has any), click it and then the Website button.

Do this for different primary keywords related to your product/service to find out your competitors on Google.

Step 2: Use Semrush’s Organic Research

To find out websites that are a direct competition to yours, use the Organic Research tool on Semrush. You will find it on the left of your Semrush dashboard, click it.

Enter your website URL in the box.

Select your target country

Hit Search.

Select the Competitors filter and this will show you a visual overview of your competition.

Scroll down to find the list of your Organic Competitors.

Copy the list manually or select Export on the left and download it in Excel sheet.

Step 3: Use Semrush’s Market Explorer

Organic Research tool only shows you your competitors on organic search. But Semrush also has a tool to help you find competitors in your overall industry.

On the Semrush dashboard, click .Trends on the left > Market Explorer > Find Competitors > enter your website > hit Research a market.

You’ll see an overview report. Click All Domains to find all your online competitors in the industry and see how much traffic they are attracting from different channels.

Note down any relevant competitors.

B. Gather Keyword Data

Now that you have a list of competitors, it’s time to see what keywords they are ranking for that you are missing out on.

Step 4: Use Semrush’s Keyword Gap Tool

Open your Semrush dashboard. Select the Keyword Gap tool on the left.

Enter your website in the first box and your competitors in the next.

Select your target country and hit Search.

This will show top keyword opportunities for you:

➜ Missing: Keywords for which your competitors rank but you don’t.

➜ Weak: Keywords for which you rank lower than any for your competitors.

Scroll down to the list of keywords and click Missing.

This will show you keywords that all your selected competitors rank for but you don’t.

You can filter the results to find even more impactful keywords.

Click Position > Competitors > select a range > hit Apply.

You can also use the following filters:

➜ KD: Select a range for keyword difficulty.

➜ Volume: Select a range for search volume.

➜ Advanced filters: You can include or exclude certain terms.

➜ Intent: Filter keywords based on intent (Informational, Commercial, etc.)

You want to target keywords that have high/decent volume but lower keyword difficulty.

Select keywords that are relevant to your business, click Export > Selected > Excel.

This will download all your selected keywords in an Excel sheet. You can copy the keywords from there and paste to your main keyword gap analysis spreadsheet.

Now, set the Untapped filter to find keywords that at least one of your selected competitors rank for but you don’t.

The keywords found here might not be super relevant, but sometimes you can find some hidden gems.

Repeat the process of selecting keywords and exporting them. Then save them to your mastersheet.

Step 5: Create Keyword Clusters

Once you’ve identified your keyword gaps, the next step is to group those keywords into clusters.

Organize keywords with similar meanings, search intents, or SERP results into groups.

This helps you create focused, comprehensive content while avoiding overlap between pages.

Here’s how to cluster keywords:

↳ Group by Topic: Identify keywords that share a common theme.Example: For “custom necklaces,” group keywords like “silver name necklace,” “gold-plated custom necklace,” and “best personalized jewelry.”

↳ Group by Search Intent: All keywords in a cluster should align with the same intent.Example: Don’t mix “buy custom necklace online” (transactional) with “how to clean silver necklaces” (informational).

↳ Check SERP Similarity: Make Google search to see if a keyword’s top-ranking pages overlap with others in your cluster. If SERPs are entirely different, separate those keywords.

What to Do With Your Keyword Gap Analysis

Now you have a list of 10000+ keywords your competitors rank for but you don’t.

So, what do you do with this data? How do you actually bridge this gap?

Here’s what you need to do to start ranking for these keywords:

↳ Analyze Competitor Pages

Google the keywords you have and see exactly which competitor page(s) rank for it.

Then use those keywords in the corresponding pages on your website.

For example, I searched “custom silver necklace with name:”

The top ranking results are pages dedicated to personalized necklaces.

Open these pages to see how the competitors have used the selected keyword.

Also study the structure, depth, and format of their content to understand what’s working.

↳ Audit Your Existing Content

If you already have a page targeting a similar topic, use the keyword here.

Update and optimize the page to better match user intent and keyword relevance.

Your content needs to be more comprehensive, engaging, and valuable than your competitors.

↳ Fill Content Gaps

If you don’t have a relevant page where you could use the keyword (but it is relevant to the product/services you provide), create a new page or content.

Expand topic clusters by creating new subtopics related to these gaps.

Use these keywords to strengthen your topical authority.

↳ Optimize and Track

Include the target keywords naturally in the title, meta tags, headers, and body.

I also try to incorporate question-based keywords into FAQs and summaries for maximum effect.

Also structure your content to target featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, and other rich results.

Lastly, regularly monitor your keyword performance and refine your content to have a competitive edge.

Stay Ahead of Your Competitors with Keyword Gap Analysis

Keyword gap analysis only helps you find valuable keywords. To really reap its benefits, make sure to implement your keywords the right way. Target the intent correctly and prioritize long-tail keywords with lower keyword difficulty but good search volume for best results.

Follow these guides to tailor your keyword research based on your industry:

↳ Keyword Research for eCommerce

↳ Keyword Research for SaaS

↳ Keyword Research for B2B

Frequently Asked Questions