How to Check Competitor Keywords: A Comprehensive Guide for 2025

Understanding and leveraging competitor keywords is crucial for any entrepreneur or business owner looking to excel in the digital landscape of 2025.

Identifying what keywords your competitors rank for allows you to develop a targeted SEO strategy, improve content creation, and increase your chances of ranking higher in search engine results.

This guide will provide you with actionable steps, useful insights, and top tools to check competitor keywords.

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Why Check Competitor Keywords?

Competitor keyword analysis helps you:

Identify gaps in your content strategy.
Discover high-potential keywords that you may have missed.
Understand your competitors' strengths and weaknesses.
Develop better content to outdo your competition.

A 2025 study found that businesses that regularly conduct competitor keyword analysis are 40% more likely to achieve their SEO goals.

How to Check Competitor Keywords: Step-by-Step Guide

1. Identify Your Competitors

Before diving into keyword analysis, you need to identify who your competitors are. Tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, and Moz can help you find your top competitors based on the keywords you are targeting.

2. Use Competitor Analysis Tools

a. Semrush Keyword Overview Tool

Semrush Keyword Overview Tool allows you to uncover your competitors' top keywords—both organic and paid. Key metrics include:

Keyword Ranking: Current rank in search engine results.
Traffic Volume: Estimated number of visitors a keyword brings.
Keyword Difficulty: How hard it is to rank for a keyword.
Cost-Per-Click (CPC): The cost of paid search ads for a keyword.
Competitive Density: How competitive the keyword is in paid search.

b. Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer lets you explore a competitor's keyword strategy. Ahrefs provides:

Search Volume: Monthly search volume for keywords.
Keyword Difficulty: A measure of how challenging it is to rank.
Traffic Potential: Estimated traffic for ranking top for the keyword.
Ranking URLs: The URLs currently ranking for the keyword.
Estimated Traffic Value: The monetary value of the traffic for the keyword.

c. Moz Keyword Explorer

Moz Keyword Explorer goes beyond traditional keyword analysis by exploring broader content strategies and themes. Key data points:

Keyword Ranking
Domain Authority: Credibility of the competing sites.
Page Authority: Strength of the ranking pages.
Backlinks: Links pointing to ranking pages.

3. Analyze Keyword Gaps

d. SEMrush Keyword Gap Tool

SEMrush Keyword Gap Tool identifies keywords that your competitors rank for but you don’t. This helps you:

Identify Missing Keywords: Keywords your competitors rank for, which you don’t.
Find Shared Keywords: Keywords both you and your competitors rank for.
Discover Strong Keywords: Keywords where you have a competitive edge.
Spot Weak Keywords: Keywords where your competitors outperform you.

4. Implement Your Findings

Once you've identified the keywords, you need to create content around them. Here are a few strategies:

Content Improvement: Enhance existing content to be more comprehensive and keyword-focused.
New Content Creation: Develop new articles, blog posts, or pages targeting the identified gaps.
On-Page SEO: Optimize metadata, headings, and other on-page elements with your target keywords.

5. Monitor and Adjust

Regularly review your rankings and the effectiveness of your keyword strategy. Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs offer ongoing monitoring and alert features to keep you up to date.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

Over-reliance on Tools: While tools provide valuable data, always use your insights to refine your strategy.
Neglecting Search Intent: Ensure your content matches the intent behind the keywords.
Ignoring Long-Tail Keywords: These may have lower search volumes but often convert better.

Additional Resources

Conclusion

Checking competitor keywords is an integral part of a successful SEO strategy. By leveraging powerful tools and analyzing the right data points, you can uncover opportunities, outsmart your competition, and dominate search engine rankings. Use the insights and tools provided in this guide to start your competitive keyword analysis and watch your SEO performance soar.

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FAQ

1. Why should I check competitor keywords?

Competitor keyword analysis helps you identify gaps in your content strategy, discover high-potential keywords you may have missed, understand your competitors' strengths and weaknesses, and develop better content to outdo your competition. Learn more about the importance of competitor keyword analysis

2. How do I identify my competitors for keyword analysis?

You can use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz to find your top competitors based on the keywords you are targeting. Identify your competitors with SEMrush

3. What is the SEMrush Keyword Overview Tool and how does it work?

The SEMrush Keyword Overview Tool allows you to uncover your competitors' top keywords, both organic and paid, providing metrics such as keyword ranking, traffic volume, keyword difficulty, cost-per-click (CPC), and competitive density. Explore the SEMrush Keyword Overview Tool

4. How can the Ahrefs Keyword Explorer help in competitor keyword analysis?

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer lets you explore a competitor's keyword strategy by providing data on search volume, keyword difficulty, traffic potential, ranking URLs, and estimated traffic value. Learn more about Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

5. What unique insights does Moz Keyword Explorer offer?

Moz Keyword Explorer provides data points beyond traditional keyword analysis, such as domain authority, page authority, and backlinks, to help understand broader content strategies and themes of your competitors. Discover the Moz Keyword Explorer

6. What is the SEMrush Keyword Gap Tool and how is it useful?

The SEMrush Keyword Gap Tool identifies keywords that your competitors rank for but you don’t, helping you find missing keywords, shared keywords, strong keywords, and weak keywords. Explore the SEMrush Keyword Gap Tool

7. How can I implement my findings from competitor keyword analysis?

You can enhance existing content, develop new content targeting identified gaps, and optimize on-page SEO elements like metadata and headings with your target keywords.

8. What are common mistakes to avoid in competitor keyword analysis?

Avoid over-reliance on tools without refining your strategy, neglecting search intent, and ignoring long-tail keywords as they may have lower search volumes but often convert better.

9. Why is it important to monitor and adjust your keyword strategy regularly?

Regular review of your rankings and the effectiveness of your keyword strategy is crucial as it helps you stay updated with changes in search engine algorithms and competitor movements. Stay updated with SEMrush

10. Where can I find additional resources on competitor keyword analysis?

Resources like the WordStream Blog and the Search Engine Journal provide complete guides and step-by-step processes for competitor keyword analysis. Explore the complete guide on WordStream | Read the Search Engine Journal guide

About the Author

Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur.

Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).

She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities.