What Keyword Gaps Are, How to Identify Keyword Gaps, and How to Use Them for Better SEO
Keyword gaps refer to the missing opportunities in your website's SEO strategy. It highlights the relevant keywords your competitors are ranking for, but your website needs to be.
Imagine it like a Venn diagram. One circle represents the keywords your website ranks for. Then, another circle represents the keywords your competitors rank for. Next, the overlap, or where both circles meet, indicates the keywords you share ranking for with competitors. The remaining gap, or the area outside your circle but within the competitor's circle, is the keyword gap.
Advantages of Identifying Keyword Gaps
As you can immediately see, quite a bit of opportunity lies here. Meaning, there are several key reasons why identifying keyword gaps is crucial for your SEO strategy, like the following:
Uncovers hidden traffic opportunities. Imagine all the potential customers searching for terms related to your product or service, but using slightly different wording than what you've targeted on your website. Keyword gap analysis helps you discover these hidden gem keywords. These might be long-tail keywords with lower competition but significant search volume, offering a chance to attract targeted traffic you weren't aware of before.
Informs content creation. Knowing your keyword gaps is like having a roadmap for creating high-performing content. You can identify topics and information your competitors might be missing, allowing you to create content that fills those gaps and attracts users searching for those specific terms. This way, you're not just creating content, you're creating content that directly addresses user needs and search intent.
Strengthens your SEO strategy. By understanding what keywords your competitors rank for, you gain valuable insights into their SEO strategy. You can then use this information to inform your own approach. You can target some of the same keywords they do, but with a unique angle or better optimization, potentially outranking them in the search results. This back-and-forth analysis creates a competitive loop that pushes both websites to improve their content and user experience.
Boosts search visibility. By filling in your keyword gaps, you're essentially expanding the range of search terms that your website can potentially rank for. This increases your overall search visibility and makes it more likely that your website will appear in search results for a wider variety of relevant queries. The more relevant keywords you target and rank for, the more organic traffic you're likely to attract.
Provides a competitive edge. In today's competitive online landscape, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. Keyword gap analysis allows you to see what your competitors are doing well in terms of SEO and identify areas where you can surpass them. By targeting valuable keywords they might be missing and creating high-quality content that fills those gaps, you can gain a significant advantage in search engine rankings and attract more qualified leads.
In essence, identifying keyword gaps is like having a spyglass into your competitor's SEO strategy. It allows you to see their strengths and weaknesses, capitalize on missed opportunities, and ultimately improve your own website's visibility and organic traffic generation.
How to Identify Keyword Gaps to Use for SEO
Keyword gap analysis is a crucial part of any SEO strategy. It helps you identify the keywords your competitors rank for that you don't. By targeting these keywords in your content, you can improve your visibility on search engines and drive more organic traffic to your website. Here's how to do it:
Choose your competitors. Start by selecting 3-5 competitors in your niche. These should be websites that rank well for the keywords you want to target.
Use a keyword research tool. Tools like SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner, or Moz Keyword Explorer can help you find keyword gaps. Enter your website and your competitors' websites into the tool to get started.
Analyze the data. Look at the keywords your competitors rank for but you don't. These are your keyword gaps. Pay attention to the search volume and competition level of these keywords. You want to target keywords that have a high search volume and low competition.
Create a plan. Use the insights you've gained to create high-quality content that targets your keyword gaps. Focus on long-tail keywords, as they are more specific and less competitive.
Create useful and interesting content. Once you have the information you need, it’s time to write content that contains those newly-discovered keyword gaps. Be sure to weave in related keyphrases and always write for people, not search engines. Answer common questions and this will build trust with readers.
Monitor your progress. Keep track of your rankings for your target keywords. If you're not seeing the results you want, try adjusting your strategy.
Remember to use the keyword gap analysis to inform your content strategy, but don't rely on it entirely. You still need to create high-quality, engaging content that provides value to your readers.
