Keyword gap analysis: what it is and how to do it (bluntly)

Never analyze gaps over your entire domain if you're looking for specific opportunities. Use specific URLs: a product landing, a category, a service page. This way you discover real breaches, not noise.

What really is a keyword gap?

It's not just a list of terms that your rivals rank and you don't.

It's a window into the user's mind.

When a competitor appears on the SERP by “how to fix water leak in a faucet without a key”, he doesn't do it by chance. It does so because it has identified a real need, with volume, clear intention and low relative competition. And you... probably didn't even consider it.

A keyword gap is the difference between:

• What you are optimizing
• What your competition is optimizing
• And what users are really looking for

It's not about copying. It's about completing the search map that you incompletely created yourself.

Why is this analysis indispensable (and not a luxury)?

Let's get to the point:
SEO isn't about creating content and waiting. It's playing with an advantage.

If you don't know what keywords your competition uses to gain traffic, you're operating blindly. Just like a soccer team that trains without watching the games of its rivals.

Here's the real value of doing a keyword gap analysis:

1. You discover hidden opportunities: Words with 500—3,000 searches/month, high CPC and medium-low difficulty. Those are the “ripe fruits” that no one collects.

2. You understand the user's real intention: Your competitor ranks for “best car insurance for young people 2025" and you only optimize “cheap car insurance”. That difference is cultural, geographical, emotional. You're talking about price. They, of security, trust, urgency.

3. You avoid investing in irrelevant words. By seeing what keywords all competitors share, you identify the industry's “entry words”. The ones you should have. Those that are mandatory.

4. You save time and budget: Instead of releasing 10 new articles blindly, focus 2 on words that already have proven traffic. You turn content into an investment, not an expense.

👉 My type of experience:
Never analyze gaps over your entire domain if you're looking for specific opportunities. Use specific URLs: a product landing, a category, a service page. This way you discover real breaches, not noise.

How to do it step by step? (practical guide, without magic tools)

Step 1: Define your real competitors (not the ones you think)

Don't use tools from the start to automatically find “competitors”. Do it yourself. Then you can go to tools and confirm what you have seen.

Google your main keyword (e.g., “urgent plumbing Madrid”) and write down the first 5 results. It doesn't matter if they're big brands. If they are there, they are competing with you.

Now look for 3 other variations:

• “emergency pipeline repair Madrid”
• “24-hour plumber Madrid”
• “where to call for a water leak?”

Identify which domains appear in at least 2 of these searches. That's your group of real competitors. 3—5 maximum.

⚠️ Avoid including giants like Amazon or Wikipedia if they don't directly compete with your business model. They'll fill your noise table.

Step 2: Retrieve each competitor's keywords

Use a professional tool: Semrush, Ahrefs, MAKE IT TOOL, or KeywordFinder. Enter each of your competitors and extract:

• All organic keywords (top 100)
• Search volume
• Difficulty (KD)
• CPC
• Current position

Export this to a spreadsheet. Yes, do it manually. For now.

Step 3: Compare. Look for the gaps. Not the repetitions.

Here comes the critical part.

Create a simple array:

We filter:

• Missing: Words that all your competitors have and you don't. They are a top priority.
• Weak: Words that your competitors are in position 11—30, and you don't have them or are in 50+. Quick attack opportunity.
• Unique: Words that only you have. Check if they are worth it. Sometimes they're branded or irrelevant.
• Shared: Words that everyone has. They are the “floor” of the sector. You must be there.

Decisive tip:
< 45 y CPC >Always prioritize missing words with volume > 500, KD €1.50. If it meets that, it's pure gold. It doesn't matter if it's long or “unsexy”. If there are people willing to pay for it, you must be there.

Step 4: Fill the Gap — But Not With Any Content

This is where the majority fails.

Don't create a new page and that's it.

Analyze the content of your competitors that are already ranking.

• What format does it have? (Step-by-step guide, video, FAQ, comparison chart)
• How many words does it have?
• Does it include images, videos, testimonials?
• Do you have internal links from other relevant pages?
• Do you use H2/H3 headers with semantic variations?

Then create something 10 times better.

No longer. Better structured. More useful. With real data. With quotes from experts. With a clear call to action that prompts the customer to contact, not to read.

💡 My real example: A plumbing customer had a generic page about “pipe repair”. I analyzed the breaches and saw that 4 competitors ranked for “repairing a copper pipe leak without breaking a wall”.
I created a guide with 7 real photos of the repairs we did, a 90-second video showing the technique without damaging the wall, and a contact form with a discount for “confirmed urgency”.

Result: 3rd position in 11 weeks. Organic traffic +320%. Conversion +18%.

Step 5: Measure, Adjust, Repeat

Don't do this just once.

Set up weekly tracking for the keywords you just added. Use tools like MAKE IT TOOL, or SEMrush Position Tracking.

Look:

• Did they rise in positions in 6 weeks?
• Did you get traffic from new words?
• Did any of your competitors start ranking for words they didn't have before? (It means you did well too, and they're responding.)

SEO is a game of chess. Not from darts.

The gap is not a mistake. It's your next advantage.

The keyword gap doesn't exist to make you feel bad. It exists to show you the path that no one else sees.

Many SEOs focus on optimizing meta tags and building backlinks. But the real power lies in understanding what users think before writing their query.

Your task is not to be better than your competition.
Your task is to be more complete.

When you fill in the gaps that they have explored, you stop being just another player.
You become the reference.

Do this analysis once a month, with your 3 real competitors, and focus on 3 keywords per week.

You don't need to do everything, just what counts.

And what counts... is always in the gaps.

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