The most crucial analysis of your ecommerce SEO strategy is competitor keyword research. It establishes the foundation for everything else you do.
Finding chances to generate traffic based on the web searches that prospective clients are really doing is the aim of keyword research. It serves as the foundation of any SEO strategy.
You may be able to generate high-quality passive visitors from your traffic by appearing naturally in relevant search engine results if you can use the proper keywords to optimize your sites and the content you provide.
What is a competitor keyword analysis?
A competitor keyword analysis is a process of determining which keywords your competitors are using and using that information to improve your own SEO strategy.
This process may be carried out manually by looking at the websites of your rivals and examining the content and keyword use on those sites. You can also find competitor keywords quickly and easily by using keyword research tools.
Benefits of competitive keyword analysis
Learn about your audience
You may learn a lot about your target market by researching the keywords of your competitors. You may learn about prospective consumers' search intentions and the driving forces behind online purchases by using keyword data. This information may help you improve your digital marketing strategy and provide content that resonates with your target market.
Understand search opportunities
To find out which keywords are relevant to your company and how challenging it would be to rank for them, you can also do competitor keyword analysis. When preparing your SEO marketing strategy, this information might assist you in selecting the appropriate keywords.
Improve your search visibility
If you can figure out the keywords your competitors are ranking for, you may outrank them for those specific keywords to increase your own search exposure. You'll rank higher in search results and receive more website traffic when you optimize your website for the proper keywords.
Tools to find competitors keywords
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a tool that enables users to look up competitors' keywords and monitor their search engine rankings. Through its Site Explorer, you get complete access to your rival's backlink profile, including snippet gains and lost rankings.
To go further into rivals' rankings, Ahrefs also enables you to filter through keywords based on factors like keyword difficulty, cost per click (CPC), and position changes.
How to find competitor keywords with Ahrefs
- Go to ahrefs.com/site-explorer.
- Sign up for an Ahrefs account.
- In your dashboard, click the Site Explorer tab.
- Enter your competitor’s URL.
- Click Organic keywords under Organic search on the sidebar.
Semrush
Semrush is a thorough SEO tool that enables users to monitor the search engine rankings of their websites. It also provides information on the domain metrics of a rival, including organic traffic, keywords, and backlinks.
You get a lot for free with Semrush. You may see top pages, position changes, and competitor keywords. With its free Keyword Gap Tool, you can even do a keyword gap analysis. If you need additional data, Semrush also provides a seven-day free trial for subscription services.
How to find competitor keywords with Semrush
- Head to www.semrush.com/analytics/organic/overview.
- Enter your competitor’s URL.
- You’ll be asked to create a free account. Enter your email and create a password to sign up.
- In the dashboard, click View all organic keywords.
SpyFu
SpyFu is a tool for competitive intelligence and keyword research that can increase your search presence. In just a few minutes, you may uncover both organic and paid (PPC) keywords. It also provides a tool for competitive analysis to assist you in identifying your top online competitors.
The free version of SpyFu is quite limited, only providing you with the top five to ten keywords that a competitor ranks for. But at $39 per month, you can access all of SpyFu's capabilities.
How to find competitor keywords with SpyFu
- Go to spyfu.com.
- Enter your competitor’s URL in the search box.
- Click Organic Keywords in the Organic Keywords (SEO) box.Â
How to do a competitive keyword analysis
- Understand the different types of keywords
- Make a list of topics relevant to your business
- Make a list of your top SERP competitors
- Use a keyword tool to identify content gaps
- Write down your top keywords
1. Understand the different types of keywords
Let's explain what a “keyword” genuinely implies before we discuss how to discover relevant keywords. Any word or phrase entered into a search engine qualifies as a “keyword.”
a single word like “cake” or a longer phrase like “how do I make a cake?” for example. Along with that, it's crucial to comprehend the three various categories of keywords, which are divided by searcher intent.
- Navigational:Â A navigational keyword is a term or keyword that helps someone find their way. For example, if you put the phrase “New York Times” into Google, you're presumably trying to navigate the New York Times website.
- Transactional:Â When trying to execute an activity, someone will employ transactional keywords. For example, a person trying to make a purchase would look for the keyword “buy running shoes online.”
- Informational:Â Informational keywords suggest that the user is acquiring context, investigating a subject or intent, or both, and is not necessarily looking to make anything. What is the most popular type of running shoe? would be an example of a keyword with informational intent.
The majority of ecommerce businesses give transactional and informational keywords top priority. This is so because ecommerce keyword research mostly concentrates on searchers who have the intent to make a purchase.
Knowing the implicit intent behind a search query is essential for determining what content your page should have, whether that's in-depth information in an instructional blog post or a sales-focused product page. Not all of the keywords you'll target need to be related to searching for a purchase.
Just keep in mind that even if you use the proper keywords, search engines will only award you their top rankings if your content or product pages can bring value by satisfying the demands of consumers who are using those keywords to find what you are offering.
2. Make a list of topics relevant to your business
In actuality, there isn't one “optimal” method for coming up with your first list of themes. Consider your industry first, then the goods you offer. Consider what kinds of queries your prospective clients would have and the kinds of content they might find interesting as you get started.
Here are a few questions to help you as you brainstorm relevant keywords:
- How do you want to be discovered?
- How do your customers talk about your product?
- Is the keyword relevant to the products you’re selling?
- When someone searches for this keyword, what are they expecting to find?
If you offer coworking office space, for example, does your customer refer to it as a “coworking space” or a “shared office space”? Think about the many ways that consumers may search for your product when they want to make a purchase. Despite having a similar meaning, keywords may nonetheless differ in intent, use frequency, and other ways.
However, you shouldn't limit your keyword strategy to the transactional keywords that buyers use to search for products. Consider using informational keywords to support your content marketing. This may be achieved by producing blog articles or developing new pages devoted to informing and influencing your audience's purchase intent.
The creation of a page on your site that covers a certain issue or subject might thus improve your chances of being discovered in the first place using informational keywords, even if the ultimate objective is to persuade a visitor to purchase your product.
For example, a transactional search for “rubber garden hose” if you sell garden hoses might be appropriate. “How to pick the correct garden hose” might be a keyword for informational purposes.
You'll discover additional variants, associations, and related search questions as you go through the brainstorming and research process, which will help you get a better idea of how your consumers could use search engines to locate your business.
3. Make a list of your top SERP competitors
Generate a list of your top organic competitors as the next step in doing a competitor keyword analysis. The term “search engine results page,” or “SERP,” refers to the list of outcomes that displays when someone types a search term into Google.
The businesses that show up on Google's first page when a user searches for one of your chosen keywords are, in other words, your SERP competitors.
4. Use a keyword tool to identify content gaps
It's time to start using a keyword research tool to assist you in uncovering content gaps now that you have a list of subjects, keywords, and SERP competitors.
As previously noted, there are several keyword research tools accessible. As Ahrefs offers a broad range of options to aid with your ecommerce keyword research, we'll use it for this example. The Content Gap tool will then provide a list of keywords for which your competitors are currently ranking but not you. The term “content gaps” refers to them.
Consider the example of Homesick, a candle manufacturer, and your need to run a content gap analysis against Boy Smells and Flaming Candle Company. Simply enter the URLs and run the research to discover the keywords used by your competitors.
There are several types of content gaps. Based on elements like search volume and complexity, certain keywords may be more valuable than others. To help you prioritize which content gaps are worth resolving initially, use the “KD” column.
5. Write down your top keywords
After doing a content gap analysis, you need to have a list of your main competitors, their top-ranking SERP keywords, and the precise keywords that you're neglecting.
Set a priority for your list and prioritize writing your top keywords. As you indicated in step 2, make sure they relate to the pertinent subjects. Create a content strategy to pursue your target keywords after that.
Conducting your keyword competition analysis
Competitor keyword research can help ecommerce businesses gain a competitive advantage. You may learn what subjects and keywords are bringing customers to your competitor's business by examining their website.
You can carefully target prospective online buyers and increase sales if you can consistently uncover fresh keywords for your ads.
Competitor keyword analysis FAQ
You must first compile a list of the websites of your rivals. Then, you may use several analysis tools, such as Ahrefs, Semrush, or SpyFu, to assist you in learning their keywords.
The keywords that your competitors are using in their digital marketing campaigns are known as competitors' keywords. You may better plan the strategy for your own keyword efforts by targeting the keywords that your competitors are using.
A research and analysis process known as “SEO competitor analysis” is used to learn what SEO tactics your competitors are using and how well they are performing. Then, you may use this information to guide and enhance your own SEO efforts.
Yes, you can find competitors’ keywords using a competitive research tool like Ahrefs.
