Use Competitors Keywords to Enhance Your Digital Strategy

February 23, 2024 | Keyword Research

If you think that you can succeed in creating a perfect marketing campaign and derive tons of leads without conducting thorough competitor keyword analysis, then you are in for a great surprise.

Every digital marketing expert knows this for sure: without proper keyword competition analysis, one cannot succeed in this field.

That is why it is of utmost importance to know the value of conducting in-depth keyword competitor analysis and how to implement them successfully throughout your website content to yield maximum results.

Due to this reason, we are here to guide you through the various norms of keyword competitive analysis, methods to conduct the same, ways to implement the keywords, and the benefits that they bring along with them.

So, hold tight, as this is going to be an exciting journey!

What is Competitors Keyword Research?

Man thinking about keyword research

Competitor keyword analysis, as the name suggests, is the process of finding out keywords and search terms for which your competitors are gaining traffic and good SERP rankings.

Performing keyword competitor analysis brings forward all the keywords your various competitors have used in the content formats for which they rank.

Now, why is conducting keyword competitive analysis so important?

  1. It unfolds the competitors keywords that search engines have interpreted to match with user search intent.
  2. In-depth keyword competitor analysis helps you understand the various marketing tactics that your rivals are using.
  3. It gives you the competitors keywords that you need to implement in your website content to garner traction.

How To Perform Keyword Competition Analysis?

Boy with a questioning look

Now that we know the meaning of competitor keyword analysis and its importance, it is time to delve into the methods to conduct a successful keyword competitor analysis and find competitors keywords.

You need to use five basic methods to derive desired results from the keyword competitor analysis. So, ensure that you follow these steps to the fullest.

1. Identify Your Competitors

Boy with a magnifying glass with questions marks as background

The first step of conducting competitive keyword research is identifying your key competitors.

To do this, you need to have a trustworthy digital marketing tool that provides accurate results, and RankWatch fits the perfect description here.

RankWatch’s competitor analysis feature can easily unravel your top competitors in the industry within seconds.

RankWatch competitor analysis dashboard

Apart from providing immaculate results, the RankWatch competitor analysis also provides you with AI-powered insights through LARA.

Information like new local competitors, low-hanging fruits, etc., can be found on the competitor analysis dashboard. 

All of this information will help you identify potential competitors in your industry that you can take into account while conducting keyword competitor analysis.

2. Analyze Competitor Ranking URLs

man and woman with magnifying glasses and analyzing stats

After discovering your top competitors, it is time to discover the various search intents for which their website is ranking. 

Once you identify the various sections for which they are ranking, it will become easier for you to find competitors keywords.

The detailed table in the competitor analysis dashboard presents the ranking URLs of each of your competitors.

RankWatch competitor analysis table

Upon clicking on the “Ranking URLs” option, you will find a new dashboard disclosing which of your competitors’ ranking URLs are in featured snippets, their current and previous rankings, and the ranking keywords that helped them achieve this feat.

RankWatch competitor analysis “Ranking URLs” table

Besides that, RankWatch’s Competitor Analysis feature also consists of an “Ad copies” section that displays the various ad copies your competitors have generated in the selected time period.

RankWatch Competitor Analysis “Ad Copies” dashboard

Additionally, the ‘Organic’ section displays the various ads and content that generated organic traffic for your competitors.

RankWatch competitor analysis “Organic” section dashboard

Remember to analyze these pages properly, as it would help you derive organic keywords from your competitors.

3. Identify Competitive Ranking Keywords

sheets and reports with statistics and magnifying glass

Once you have uncovered the various search intents for which your competitors are ranking, it is now time to find competitors keywords for each of the search intents.

Here, the “Ranking Keywords” column of the competitor analysis table serves as a boon in disguise.

Clicking upon the numbers in the stated column will take you to a new dashboard disclosing the various competitors keywords that add up to improving the rankings of your competitors’ websites.

RankWatch competitor analysis “Ranking keywords” table

You also get a proper comparison table as to how those keywords are performing for your website as compared to your rivals, along with the change in rankings for each keyword for respective websites.

4. Export Competitors Keywords

export competitor keywords

Once you have conducted the competitive keyword research and found the ranking competition keywords, it is time to export them.

Well, had it been any other tool, you might have had to copy and paste the competition keywords to an Excel sheet, cross-check them manually, and then verify them per different metrics.

However, with RankWatch, you can say goodbye to manual labor. 

Our advanced digital marketing tool enables you to download the data directly to your device.

You only have to click the “Export” option on the right-hand side of the competitor analysis table, and the tool will automatically download the report.

RankWatch Competitor Analysis “Export” tab

All you have to do is open the report on your device, go through the sheet full of competitor keywords, and move on to the next step.

Besides, our advanced filter tabs also allow you to include other important metrics in the dashboard that you can download for proper keyword competitor analysis.

5. Dissect Competitive Keywords

Blue screen operated by a man with a funnel on top

After exporting the keywords, it is time to dissect them and filter the best out of the lot. 

We know it can be a bit overwhelming to choose which keywords will work for you, as all of the competitors keywords might seem important, but we have a solution for that.

Once you have exported the keywords, review them once and see which ones are similar. 

After getting similar keywords, test the main keyword on our keyword research tool, which is also known as the best free keyword research tool in the market.

Once you put the main keyword in the dialog box and press “Search,” the tool will provide you with AI-powered keywords along with their CPC value, search volume, competition, and difficulty level.

RankWatch keyword researcher dashboard

Most of the keywords derived from the keyword researcher might already be present in the list, thus making your job a lot easier.

How To Implement Competitors Keywords To Your Advantage?

Once you have made the final list of competitors keywords, you need to implement them in your website content.

The major mistake that most digital marketers make in this phase is only including these keywords in their blogs.

Though blogs are important, why not utilize the keywords to their fullest potential instead of just limiting them to blogs?

Below are some of our highly recommended methods of implementing competitive keywords in your website content that will bring maximum results.

Curating Appealing Titles & Heading Tags

What can be better than using the competitor keywords in your website content’s title and HTML H1 tags?

As title tags, headings, and subheadings are more visually prominent, using competitor keywords in these sections will improve your chances of ranking better in search engines.

Ensure that you check whether your heading tags are up to the mark or not with RankWatch SEO IQ, our on page analysis tool.

SEO IQ “exact keyword in HI and H2” sections

SEO IQ “broad keyword in HI and H2” sections

SEO IQ “exact keyword in HI and H2” graph

SEO IQ “broad keyword in HI and H2” graph

It clearly states whether your page’s heading tags contain the exact and broad format of the competitive keyword or not.

Moreover, the tool also discloses an analysis graph for each metric that further helps you understand your position amongst the competitors.

As it is known, proper usage of competitors keywords in headings can increase your chances of featuring in Google passage ranking for your website content. 

For this, you must design question-based headings matching users’ search intent.

The “Content Editor” section of SEO IQ can be of great help here. You can view the “Questions” table in the dashboard’s right-hand corner that provides the various questions matching users’ search intent.

RankWatch SEO IQ Content Editor dashboard

Besides, our keyword researcher’s “Top Question Terms” can also help you derive these search queries easily, which you can later use for designing headings and FAQs.

RankWatch keyword researcher “top question terms” section

Optimized Meta Tags

Meta tags are the second thing that a user sees when the search results appear on their screen. 

Users decide to click on the web page URL after going through the meta description. And what can be better than including the competitor keywords in for meta tags SEO?

Implementing the results from the competitor keyword research in meta tags can bring in good results.

If you have doubts whether including the keywords in the meta description will be beneficial, our SEO IQ can help clear these doubts.

RankWatch SEO IQ “Exact keyword in meta title” section with analysis

The “Improvement Ideas” section has a dedicated section for meta tags and meta descriptions, which shows whether the exact and broad format of the keywords is used properly or not. 

Additionally, it also discloses the analysis graph of the top ten competitors who are using the said keyword in their meta tags.

RankWatch SEO IQ “Exact keyword in meta description” graph

These insights can help you design proper meta tags with your competitive keyword research results.

Keywords In URLs

Yes, URLs can also contain competitors keywords and they should!

It is well known that Google prefers everything clean and crisp, including URLs. So, it is highly advisable to design SEO friendly URL structure that depict the essence of your website content.

RankWatch SEO IQ “Exact and broad keyword in URL”

Moreover, using competitors keywords in designing URLs can bring great advantages to your website traffic.

Keywords Clustering

keyword clustering example

After designing the headings, title tags, meta tags, and URLs, it is time to understand how to implement competitor keywords throughout your website content.

Since competitors keywords hold more value than normal keywords, it makes sense to use them for forming topic clusters or keyword clusters.

Topic clustering helps you understand which competitors keywords are relevant, where they can be used, and also how to use them. 

Additionally, proper keyword clustering also helps in forming good pillar content and sub-content that will not only help spread the link juice in your website but also help satisfy users’ search intent.

Conclusion

If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, then you need to think like them as well. And conducting competitors keyword research can help solve at least half of your problems.

Since keywords are the main factors for ranking a web page, it is of utmost importance to get hold of the ones your competitors use to improve their SERP rankings.

Now that you know the steps of conducting keyword competitor analysis and the various methods to implement them, we suggest you start immediately.

Don’t worry; RankWatch is here to help you throughout the journey of competitor keyword research. 

Signup now for our 14-day free trial and conduct keyword competitive analysis without any hassle.

See you soon!

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