[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/how-to-identify-competitor-keywords-to-target\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/how-to-identify-competitor-keywords-to-target\/","headline":"How To Identify Competitor Keywords To Target","name":"How To Identify Competitor Keywords To Target","description":"How To Identify Competitor Keywords To Target Keywords are the base of all successful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns. However, getting the best keywords to drive traffic to your business often feels overwhelming. Especially if you\u2019re short of time. But it doesn\u2019t have to be that way. Have you tried mimicking the SEO strategy of … Continue reading How To Identify Competitor Keywords To Target<\/span><\/a>","datePublished":"2020-11-15","dateModified":"2026-04-16","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/author\/jana-legaspi\/#Person","name":"Jana Legaspi","url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/author\/jana-legaspi\/","identifier":8,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba3039ce7c5eedb92f315518b69aea1d90d5c2076ce893d078c6f29cf6ddd032?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba3039ce7c5eedb92f315518b69aea1d90d5c2076ce893d078c6f29cf6ddd032?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AOK Marketing","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AOK-Marketing-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AOK-Marketing-Logo.png","width":126,"height":53}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/How-To-Identify-Competitor-Keywords-To-Target-3.png","url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/How-To-Identify-Competitor-Keywords-To-Target-3.png","height":253,"width":624},"url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/how-to-identify-competitor-keywords-to-target\/","about":["Tips & Tricks","PPC - Pay Per Click Marketing","Search Marketing","SEO"],"wordCount":1066,"keywords":["Keyword research","keyword strategy","Keywords in articles","SEO Keywords"],"articleBody":"How To Identify Competitor Keywords To TargetKeywords are the base of all successful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns.However, getting the best keywords to drive traffic to your business often feels overwhelming. Especially if you\u2019re short of time.But it doesn\u2019t have to be that way.Have you tried mimicking the SEO strategy of your competitors? Doing a content gap analysis to take advantage of any keywords others haven\u2019t noticed yet?Such a method is a proven blueprint for SEO success! And the best part: you\u2019ll not have to guess which keywords drive traffic and conversions.Image by\u00a0Tumisu\u00a0from\u00a0PixabayThis short guide is meant to enlighten you on a keyword research process that will help you gain a running start and lay a strong foundation for your content efforts and keyword research.Let\u2019s jump in\u2026What\u2019s Competitor Keyword Research?There are two main approaches to keyword research.1. The Traditional Approach: This uses seed keywords to build a bigger set of related search queries that can be mapped to pages or posts on a site. Although this process works, it\u2019s mostly about guesswork and lots of upfront legwork.2. The Competitor Keyword Research Approach: Here, you reverse-engineer the keywords which are already driving an audience and conversions for your competitors. This lets you easily see the areas in which you are falling short so that you can sport crucial gaps in your site\u2019s content strategy.Below are some reasons why you should make competitor analysis the bedrock of your keyword research.There\u2019s no need to reinvent the wheel \u2013 it\u2019s easier to work with what\u2019s already working for your top competitors.Helps you find new keyword opportunities easily by analyzing keywords that are ranking for your competitors that you hadn\u2019t thought of.An easy time finding and filling crucial content gaps and updating your content to outrank the competition.You\u2019ll readily know why the competition is beating you.You can find the terms that the competitors are bidding on during their PPC campaigns. By finding this, you can then create content around the topics.You\u2019ll get lower competition long-tail keywords that you could add to your content calendar.You\u2019ll find secondary keywords and featured snippet opportunities. Keywords trigger featured snippets and once you identify the topics triggering them, you\u2019ll find it easy optimizing for placement.Tools That Will Help You Figure Out your Competitors\u2019 KeywordsGoogle Keyword Planner ToolIn Google\u2019s AdWords interface, you can access the Google Keyword Planner. This is a free tool that\u2019ll help you achieve great results in your keyword research in just a few steps:Sign in to AdWords, locate the Keyword Planner in the interface, and look for the \u201cFind new Keywords\u201d option.Select the \u201cFind New Keywords\u201d option. This allows you to find keywords using a phrase, category, or the website that you intend to know which keywords it\u2019s ranking for.Select the text field on the \u201cYour Landing page\u201d section and paste the competitor\u2019s URL. Once you do, click on \u201cGet Ideas.\u201dGoogle will crawl the URL and give you a list of keywords related to the page and website as a whole.Once Google displays your results, click the tab named \u201cKeyword ideas\u201d below that graph to see the keywords that your competitor is ranking for.Your Competitor\u2019s Website HTML Page SourceGet to your competitor\u2019s website and select the page that you intend to find keywords in.\u00a0 This works for local keyword research too.\u00a0 Right-click on the page and toggle over to \u201cPage Source.\u201d A window will pop up with the HTML source code of that page.In the code, find keywords in the title tag, meta description, image alt tags, and optional keywords tag. It\u2019s worth noting that not all sites will have keywords tag, but it\u2019s worth looking out for it.Screaming Frog SpiderThe Screaming Frog software will help you do a simple SEO audit on the website of your competitor.Download the tool to your computer and use it to crawl your competitor\u2019s website in a similar way that search engines do. This will give you a log of details on the website, including image alt texts, metadata, heading texts, and anchor texts, among others. All these items point to keywords being targeted by your competitor.SEMRushSEMRush makes a fantastic organic keyword research tool that can show you the ranking terms for close to all domains. Using this tool is as simple as keying in your competitor\u2019s URL and finding keywords from the list that SEMRush provides you with.Besides, the SEMRush tracker will also provide the URL that ranks for your competitor to help you further understand the pieces of their content marketing that are working best for them.BuzzSumoBuzzSumo will add a cool twist to your competitor keyword research process by allowing you to look at it from a social and sharing point of view. By doing this, it \u201creverses\u201d the competitive keyword research process.Other than thinking about the keywords that your competitors use first, BuzzSumo allows you to start working with known keywords that matter to you. You can then see who else is also ranking for those terms. This tool will present the most liked, shared, and socially distributed content for the keywords you have.By seeing the content that\u2019s doing well, you\u2019ll easily explore the pieces to better understand keyword types, variations, and nuances with the potential to work for you. It can also help you identify \u201cnew\u201d competition to your business \u2013 that\u2019s other sites that compete for those ranking keywords you care about.More ToolsAhrefs keyword explorerFeedtheBot SEO Overview ToolMoz Keyword Difficulty and SERP Analysis ToolMoz Open Site Explorer Final Thoughts Above are just a few of our favorite tactics and tools for finding keywords that the competitors are ranking for.Of course, you don\u2019t want to spend all your time and resources trying to rank for each of your competitor\u2019s keywords. Like most things with content and SEO, it\u2019s crucial to be intentional and strategic with your decisions.As you choose a tool to work with, try and understand your funnel, identify the right competitors to track, and prioritize the keywords that you ought to target."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"How To Identify Competitor Keywords To Target","item":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/how-to-identify-competitor-keywords-to-target\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]