The Importance of Competitor Keyword Analysis

If you're not spying on your competitors' keywords, you're leaving money on the table. Instead of reinventing the wheel, leverage what’s already working for others in your industry.

This guide will show you the best ways to uncover your competitors' top-performing keywords—both for organic search (SEO) and paid search (PPC)—so you can steal their traffic and boost your rankings.

Use SEMrush to Uncover Competitor Keywords

SEMrush is a powerhouse for competitive keyword research. Here’s how to dig up the gold:

Find Your Competitors

Open SEMrush > Organic Research
Enter your website and check the Competitors tab
Instantly see a list of domains ranking for similar keywords

Extract Their Best Keywords

In Organic Research, enter a competitor’s domain
Go to Top Organic Keywords
Sort by Traffic % to see their highest-traffic keywords
Use the Keyword Gap Tool to find untapped opportunities

Spy on Their PPC Keywords

Head to Advertising Research
Enter a competitor’s domain
Check Paid Keywords and Ad Copies to see what they’re bidding on
Filter by Top Ads Position to find their most profitable keywords

Pro Tip: Export everything to Google Sheets and prioritize based on search volume, competition, and CPC.

Steal PPC Keywords with Google Ads Insights & Spy Tools

If your competitors are running Google Ads, their keyword strategy is a goldmine.

Use Google Ads Auction Insights

If you're running Google Ads, check Auction Insights under your campaign settings
See who’s bidding on the same keywords as you
Identify high-value keywords worth targeting

Use PPC Spy Tools (SpyFu, iSpionage, AdPlexity)

These tools reveal:

Competitor PPC keywords
Ad spend trends
Actual ad creatives
Top-performing landing pages

Pro Tip: If a competitor’s ad has been running for months, it’s making money—study their landing page and copy.

Hack Google Search & SERP Analysis

Google itself is a free keyword research tool if you know where to look.

Google Search Operators

Use "site:competitor.com" + keyword to see indexed pages
Try "intitle:best product X" to find highly optimized competitor pages

Analyze SERP Features

When you search for your main keyword, take notes on:

People Also Ask questions
Related Searches at the bottom
Featured Snippets (your chance to steal position zero)
Top-ranking pages—Analyze and improve upon them

Reverse Engineer Competitor Content

Want to know why competitors outrank you? Their content is probably optimized better.

Use Ahrefs or SEMrush for Content Analysis

Enter a competitor's domain in SEMrush’s Organic Research or Ahrefs Site Explorer
Check the Top Pages Report—these are the URLs driving the most traffic
Export their keyword list and categorize by topic

Scrape On-Page SEO Data with Screaming Frog

Crawl competitor websites to extract meta titles, descriptions, and headings
Identify key terms they’re optimizing for

Pro Tip: If a competitor ranks well for a topic, they’ve nailed search intent. Use SurferSEO to analyze and out-optimize them.

Find Competitor Keywords on YouTube & Social Media

SEO isn’t just about Google. YouTube and social search are exploding.

YouTube Keyword Research

Use TubeBuddy or VidIQ to analyze video titles, tags, and descriptions
Search your main topic on YouTube and note “Search Predictions”

Social Media Trends

Use TikTok Trends and Twitter Trends to uncover viral keywords
Check Pinterest Trends for high-intent, long-tail keywords

Track Competitor Keyword Performance Over Time

Finding competitor keywords is one thing—tracking them is another.

Use SEMrush Position Tracking to monitor competitor rankings
Set up Google Alerts for competitor brand mentions
Use Brand24 or Mention to track keyword-based social conversations

Pro Tip: If a competitor starts losing rankings for a keyword, swoop in and optimize for it!

Best Practices for Using Competitor Keywords

Finding high-ranking keywords is just the first step—now, you need to use them strategically.

Use Keywords in Your SEO Strategy

Avoid keyword dumping! Instead, place them strategically:

Meta titles & descriptions
Blog/article headlines & body content
Anchor text
Image alt-tags
URLs

Google loves structured, natural keyword placement. Avoid stuffing them in just for the sake of it.

Drop the Dead Weight (Eliminate Non-Ranking Keywords)

Not every competitor keyword will work for you. Monitor performance and cut the ones that don’t bring traffic or conversions. Use SEMrush and Google Search Console to track keyword performance and refine your strategy accordingly.