Why would you want to do a competitive keyword analysis?

And remember: it's not about copying your competitors, it's about doing better than them. If you think about it a little, you'll find the way.

AHere I explain why you should do it and how to execute it step by step ⬇️

What is a competitive keyword analysis?

A competitive keyword analysis is the process of researching and evaluating what terms your direct and indirect competitors seek to position on Google and other search engines. It's about discovering what keywords they use in their content, in their paid campaigns, and how they're structuring their organic traffic strategy.

This analysis gives you access to valuable information such as:

• Keywords they're already ranking for.
• New terms they're starting to use.
• Keywords that you are not taking advantage of but could be relevant.
• Level of difficulty of those keywords.
• Link building strategies based on anchor text.

In short: it's a way of obtaining market intelligence applied to SEO, with the objective of optimizing your own strategy and outperforming the competition in visibility.

Why should you do a competitive keyword analysis?

You understand the real environment in which you compete

Not all of your business competitors are your competitors on Google. Sometimes, informational websites, blogs or guides position you better for your own products or services. Knowing who is ranking helps you adjust your strategy precisely.

You detect winning keywords (and strategic gaps)

It allows you to identify keywords with good traffic volume and low competition (Low-hanging fruit), as well as detecting gaps in your current strategy: terms that your competitors do use and you don't.

My practical tip: Always start with long-tail keywords. They are easier to position, have greater search intent and tend to convert better.

Optimize your existing content with real data

You can compare the content of your pages with that of your competitors and understand if you lack depth, structured format, synonyms or even clearer calls to action. This allows you to improve your already published content and move up positions quickly.

You identify trends and changes in the industry

Markets change, and so do users. By regularly analyzing the new keywords that your competitors are starting to use, you can detect emerging themes and adapt before it's too late.

Reinforce your link building strategy

Keywords don't just appear in content. They are also present in inbound links (anchor text). Analyzing this allows you to develop a link building strategy smarter, focused on natural and relevant links that point to your own pages.

How to do a competitive keyword analysis (step by step)

Step 1: Identify your competitors

Start by defining who your main competitors are in Google, not just in the market. You can do this by searching for keywords related to your business and seeing which sites regularly appear in the top positions.

Recommended tools:

• SEMrush
• MAKE IT TOOL
• Ahrefs
• Ubersuggest
• SE Ranking
• Google Search Console (to compare with your own keywords)

For example, with MAKE IT TOOL you can do the following:

Thanks to the competition analysis tool, you can view the top 15 competitors in three groups. In this way, you can see the traffic of each domain compared to those of your group, the average number of positions per group, in addition to viewing a table of the average positioning and the total sum of the positions of all the competitors.

Step 2: Extract your keywords

Use one of the tools mentioned above to extract the list of keywords that your competitors are ranking for. Search for both organic and paid keywords.

Key data to be collected:

• Main keywords
• Search volume
• Keyword Difficulty (KD)
• Current position in SERP
• Estimated traffic per word

For example, with our favorite tool, MAKE IT TOOL, you can do the following:

Cluster the target keyword and visualize at a glance the general volume you should attack. Know the total SERPs that each keyword attacks, the level of competition, the type of keyword, and even your main intention.

Step 3: Organize and segment your data

Classify keywords by thematic categories, search intent (informational, transactional, navigational) and level of competence. Eliminate those that aren't relevant to your business.

Professional tip: Use spreadsheets (Excel or Google Sheets) or clustering functions of SEO tools to make this task easier.

Step 4: Detect opportunities

Look for keywords with high volume and low difficulty where your competitors are not yet well positioned. These are ideal opportunities to gain visibility quickly.

Also pay attention to the words that they do position and you don't. They can indicate gaps in your content that need to be taken advantage of.

Step 5: Prioritize and Act

Select the keywords that best align with your target audience, your technical capacity and your current authority. Include them in your editorial calendar to create new content or update existing content.

This would be an effective strategy that would help you to use your resources well:

👉 Start with long-tail keywords.

👉 Focus on content that has high conversion intent.

👉 Optimize pages that already have some traffic but don't rank well.

A competitive keyword analysis isn't espionage, it's strategic intelligence. It's an indispensable tool for any SEO professional who wants to move forward wisely, without going blind or losing opportunities.

If you don't know where to start, use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, MAKE IT TOOL, SE Ranking, or Ubersuggest. Identify your main competitors in the SERP, extract their keywords, organize the data and prioritize according to volume, difficulty and search intention.

And remember: it's not about copying your competitors, it's about doing better than them. If you think about it a little, you'll find the way.