SEO is a complex beast that can take a lot of time and effort to tame, but one of the easiest ways to improve your website’s ranking is to see what keywords your competitors are targeting.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss three methods to help you check competitor keywords, two of which involve using paid keyword research services. We will also take a look at why you need to check competitor keywords and how you can use them to improve your website’s ranking.
How to Easily Check Competitor Keywords
To check competitor keywords, you can hire a keyword researcher from a platform like Guru, use a keyword research tool like SEMRush, or scan your target page’s source code.
Hiring a Freelance Keyword Researcher
This is the easiest way to check competitor keywords–you simply need to hire a keyword researcher who will do all the heavy lifting for you. If you’re wondering how to hire a keyword researcher, there are many talented researchers on online platforms like Guru Writers, whom you can hire for a very reasonable price.
The biggest advantage of hiring keyword researchers is that they have access to all the latest tools and resources, giving you accurate and up-to-date data about your competitor’s keywords without breaking the bank.
Use SEMRush
SEMRush is a powerful competitor keyword research tool. It’s very easy to use and it provides a variety of valuable data. To use SEMRush, simply enter your competitor’s website into the search bar. Then, click on the “Keyword Research” tab and you’ll see a list of keywords that your competitor is ranking for.
You can also use the “Domain versus Domain” feature to compare your website to your competitor’s. This way, you can see which keywords you’re ranking for and which ones they’re ranking for. The problem with using a keyword research tool like SEMRush is being unable to analyze the data meaningfully if you’re inexperienced with SEO.
Scan the HTML Code of Your Competitor’s Website
The most basic SEMRush plan costs $119.95 a month. If that’s too pricey for you, you can always scour your competitor’s HTML code to find their keywords. To do this, simply enter your competitor’s website into Google Chrome and then hit “Ctrl + U” on your keyboard (or “Cmd + U” if you’re using a Mac). This will open up your competitor’s HTML code. Once you’re there, look for the keywords in places such as the title, meta, alt, and image title tags.
Although this process is a bit more time-consuming than using a tool like SEMRush, it’s completely free and it can still give you some valuable data about your competitor keywords.
How to Use Competitor Keywords for SEO Purposes
Here are three ways in which you can use competitor keywords for SEO purposes:
Adjusting Your Website for Competitor Keywords
Checking your competitor’s keywords can help you optimize your website for better ranking. If you see that they are targeting certain keywords, you can adjust your website to include those same keywords. This will help improve your chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERP).
For example, let’s say you own a website that sells shoes. You could use a keyword research tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner to see what keywords people are searching for when they’re looking for shoes. Then, you can compare those keywords to the ones your competitors are targeting.
You can update your title tags, meta descriptions, and your website’s content to include those keywords. This way, when people search for those keywords, your website will be more likely to come up in the SERP. And, if you’re ranking higher in the SERP, there’s a good chance that more people will visit your website, which could lead to higher sales.
Using the Keywords Ignored by Your Competitors
You can also focus on the keywords that your competitor is not focusing on. This way, you can find gaps in the market and try to outrank your competition for the keywords they missed.
It would be especially helpful if you can determine any long-tail keywords that they’re not targeting. That’s because long-tail keywords tend to be less competitive, so it may be easier for you to rank for them. And, if you’re able to rank for them, you could get a lot of targeted traffic to your website.
Generating New and Meaningful Content Ideas
Another benefit of checking your competitor keywords is that it can give you ideas for new content. For example, if you see that they’re ranking for a keyword that you’re not, you can create a new blog post or web page that targets that keyword. This can help you expand your reach and attract even more website visitors, and it makes searching for new content ideas much easier.