How to Do a Keyword Gap Analysis (With Example)
Keyword gaps are the fastest route to compounding traffic — you already know what to write about because someone else already proved the demand.
A keyword gap analysis compares your ranking keyword set to your competitors' ranking sets, then surfaces keywords your competitors rank for that you don't. Do it by exporting the ranking keywords for 3–5 competitors, subtracting your own ranking set, filtering to keywords with commercial intent and achievable difficulty, and prioritising by volume × relevance.
What keyword gap analysis is
Keyword gap analysis is competitor-driven keyword research. Instead of guessing what your audience searches for, you look at what's already proving to work for the 3–5 sites that compete with you, subtract your own coverage, and get a list of keywords that:
- Have proven traffic potential (someone already ranks and captures visits).
- Match your buyer's intent (a similar business chose to target them).
- Are winnable with your authority level (competitors of your size are ranking).
It's the highest-ROI kind of keyword research because it removes the two biggest guesses: is anyone actually searching this, and can I rank for it.
Step-by-step: run a gap analysis manually
- Pick 3–5 competitors. Not just brand rivals — pick the sites that actually rank on your target keywords. Semrush's competitor discovery is fine for this.
- Export each competitor's ranking keywords. You'll want position, volume, URL, and search intent per keyword.
- Export your own ranking keywords the same way.
- Subtract. In a spreadsheet: keywords ranking in the top 20 for any competitor AND not ranking for you.
- Filter for winnability. Cut anything with KD > 40 unless your domain authority is high. Cut anything in a language or geography you don't serve.
- Cluster by topic. Group similar keywords so you plan one strong page per cluster rather than one thin page per keyword.
- Prioritise. Sort by
volume × intent_score × (1 - difficulty/100).
How LemRank runs it for you
Our Competitor Research module automates all seven steps and adds:
- Overlap heatmap — which competitors compete on which of your terms.
- Difficulty-adjusted filter — only surface gaps you can realistically win given your current Domain Authority.
- Intent classification — separates informational from commercial gaps so you can plan differently.
- Priority score — volume × CTR-at-target-position × (1 − competitor overlap).
- Freshness gate — only include keywords the competitor has ranked for 30+ days (filters out transient rankings).
What "winnable" actually means
Difficulty is relative to your domain, not the keyword's KD score in isolation. A rough calibration:
| Your Authority Score | Target keyword KD |
|---|---|
| 0–20 (new site) | 0–20 |
| 20–40 (growing) | 0–35 |
| 40–60 (established) | 0–55 |
| 60+ (strong) | 0–75 |
Below the ceiling for your authority tier, gaps are worth pursuing. Above, you'll spend six months and land on page 3.
Common mistakes
- Comparing to competitors that are much bigger than you. A gap versus a domain 3x your authority is a wish, not a plan.
- Chasing every gap. Publish 3–5 per month, do them well, internal-link them together.
- Ignoring intent. A keyword the competitor ranks for informationally is a different beast to one they rank for commercially.
- Skipping the cluster step. Publishing 10 similar keywords as 10 pages creates cannibalization on day one.
What gap analysis does not do
- It doesn't validate profit — proven search demand isn't proven revenue.
- It doesn't tell you why the competitor ranks — you still need SERP analysis to know what to build.
- It doesn't include zero-volume long-tail opportunities — for those, use the Keyword Golden Ratio.
Related
Run it on your own site
Run any keyword through the free difficulty checker — live top-10 authority, no signup.
Score a keyword nowFrequently asked questions
How many competitors should I include in a keyword gap analysis?
3–5 is the sweet spot. Fewer misses coverage; more introduces noise from off-strategy rankings.
Should I use the same competitors as my brand competitors?
Not necessarily. SEO competitors are the sites that rank on the queries you want, which is often different from your commercial competitors.
What difficulty score is realistic for a new site?
Stay under KD 20–25 while you build authority. As your Authority Score climbs above 40, you can safely raise the ceiling.
How often should I re-run a keyword gap analysis?
Quarterly for most sites. Monthly if you're publishing aggressively or in a fast-moving niche.
What is the difference between keyword gap and content gap?
Keyword gap looks at ranking keywords a competitor has and you don't. Content gap looks at topics or intents you haven't covered at all — it's upstream of keyword gap.
Related articles
Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR): How to Calculate It
The Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) is a formula for spotting keywords a new site can rank on page 1 within days.
What is Share of Voice in SEO (With Formula)
Share of Voice tells you what slice of the total available search traffic your site captures across a tracked keyword portfolio.
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