Keyword tracking entails monitoring the performance of specific keywords or phrases relevant to a business’s products, services, or industry. In other words, it involves analyzing how well a website ranks for particular search terms and how much traffic those terms generate. But you don’t have to stop there. You can use your competitors’ keywords to get new keyword ideas and to keep an eye on what they are targeting.
Tracking your competitors’ keywords allows you to:
In this guide we will show you how to see your competitors’ keywords. We use Seobility for this because its a great SEO tool for spying on your competitors, but you can use any tool you prefer that have the same or similar features.
This competitor keyword guide will still be helpful even if you don’t use Seobilty. It has free tools and plans so we encourage you to check it out.
Step 1: Open Seobility’s keyword research tool and click “competitor analysis.”
Step 2: Fill in the required information. Click “Gap” if you want to see untapped keyword opportunities (what you’re yet to rank for) and intersections if you want to see keywords that you and your competitors rank for. We selected “Gap” for this tutorial.
Step 3: Now, you should see a list of keyword ideas. Export this list as a CSV file.
Step 4: Log into your Keyword.com dashboard. Enter your competitor’s URL, then copy and paste the keywords list from your CSV file. Keyword.com gives you suggestions of related keywords you can track.
Step 5: Set the data parameters for granular keyword tracking. You can specify the location, device (whether mobile or desktop), and other information. Next, click “Add keywords.”
Step 6: Now, you can see a competitor’s performance for those keywords over time. Keyword.com also shows you its current SERP ranking, competition, and search volume for these queries.
This dashboard updates automatically in real-time so that you can see historical and current competitor performance for these keywords.
Beyond SEO tools, here are two other ways to know the keywords your competitors are prioritizing:
You don’t have to prioritize every keyword your competitor ranks for — otherwise, you’ll be deemed a copycat brand. Rather, use these insights to improve your content strategy.
Say your competitor ranks top for broad keywords like “search engine optimization” or “AI for SEO.” In that case, you could target narrower keywords with similar intent, lower difficulty, and a reasonable search volume — such as “how SEO works.” This way, you can rank for a relevant keyword and drive targeted traffic while limiting the competition in the SERP.
Keyword tracking data can also be used to find new channels for content distribution. Suppose the social listening data shows that your competitors gain lots of traction for money keywords on Twitter. In that case, you can make Twitter a major content distribution channel to get your content (and brand) in front of a wider audience.
