Competitor keywords are the terms your rivals rank for that you don’t. Identifying them is one of the most common starting points when launching a new website or SEO campaign.
But keyword gaps only show you part of your rivals’ visibility.
Competitor keywords are the starting point. Competitive visibility is the goal.
Identifying keywords your competitors rank for that you don’t is a useful way to spot content gaps. But it’s just the first stage in getting a full picture of your competitors’ overall online visibility.
These days, users type prompts into tools like ChatGPT to find information. They go to Reddit for product comparisons and reviews from real people. And platforms like YouTube and TikTok have long given users more channels to perform research than Google search alone.
Traditional competitor keyword analysis misses all of these areas your rivals could be showing up that you’re not. This means you need to go further than just looking at competitor keywords. To get a full picture of your competitors’ visibility, you need three layers of research:
- Search engine visibility covers rivals’ performance in organic search
- AI visibility covers where your competitors appear in AI-generated answers on platforms like Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity
- Conversation visibility covers where your competitors are being discussed, recommended, or compared on social media platforms and in online communities
Mapping all three gives you a clearer picture of where your competitors are reaching your audience and where you can close visibility gaps.
How to choose which competitors to analyze
Choose competitors to analyze by separating your SEO competitors from your business competitors.
SEO competitors are those whose websites appear in search or AI results for the same keywords you target, while business competitors are companies that sell similar products or services to the same audience.
SEO competitors may not sell what you sell, and business competitors may not appear for the terms you appear for.
For example, Nike might want to appear for a keyword or prompt like “running shoes for flat feet.” In Google, their business competitors appear alongside them in the “Sponsored products” section — brands like On and Brooks. But their SEO competitors are sites like Runner’s World, which appears as the first non-Reddit organic result below the AI Overview.
To identify your SEO competitors, look at the search engine results pages (SERPs) for keywords you want to appear for.
Or, use Semrush’s Domain Overview tool to identify SEO competitors based on keyword overlap. Enter your domain and scroll to the “Competitive Positioning Map” to see the domains that rank for similar terms to your site. You’ll also see their total keywords and an estimate of their organic search traffic.
When analyzing the terms and conversations your competitors appear for that you don’t, it’s best to look at a mix of your SEO and business competitors.
How to find competitors’ keywords and owned conversations: A three-layer framework
Find your competitors’ keywords and owned conversations by working through three layers: traditional search, AI search, and conversations on social media and in forums.
Track the keywords, topics, and key discussions you find below in a spreadsheet. Use these findings to inform your content strategy.
Layer 1: Traditional search
Analyze your competitors’ traditional search engine visibility to understand which keywords they rank for, the kind of content they create to rank for those terms, and how they show up in SERP features like AI Overviews.
Below are three ways to analyze traditional search results to find competitor keywords.
Manual review
Manually review the keywords and topics your competitors are targeting by visiting their websites.
Look at rivals’ homepages, main product or service pages, and recent blog posts. Pay attention to terms that appear in page titles, headings, meta descriptions, and URL structures. These often contain the keywords they’re targeting.
For example, if you were analyzing competitors for a beard care brand, you might look at Mad Viking Beard Co’s website.
Here are some of the keyword ideas you’ll find on Mad Viking Beard Co’s site:
- Their homepage appears to target terms like “premium beard products” and “beard bundles”
- Their navigation menu suggests they target product categories like “beard oil,” “beard balm,” and “beard wash”
- Their blog has articles on topics like “beard care routine” and “new beard growth guide”
This manual review won’t give you data about the search demand for those terms. But it gives you a quick read on how a competitor positions themselves and what topics they’re prioritizing. It also gives you seed keywords to use for further keyword research.
Organic Rankings
Use Semrush’s Organic Rankings tool to see which keywords your competitors rank for, along with their specific ranking positions, estimated traffic, and the pages driving traffic.
Enter a competitor’s domain into the tool and go to the “Positions” tab. Then, use the “Positions” filter to show keywords they rank for in the top 10, along with metrics like intent, position, traffic, keyword difficulty, and the specific URL that ranks for that keyword.
To see the competitor’s visibility in AI Overviews, remove the position filter and click “SERP Features,” hover over “Domain ranks,” and select “AI Overview.”
Keyword Gap
Perform a keyword gap analysis to directly see keywords your competitors rank for that you don’t.
Use Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool to compare your domain against up to four competitors. Enter your domain and your competitors’ domains, scroll to the “All keyword details for:” section, and click the “Missing” tab to see keywords all your rivals rank for that you don’t.
Since all your competitors rank for these terms, there’s a good chance they’re also relevant to your business. And therefore worth optimizing for.
Use the “Weak” tab to find terms where all of your rivals outrank you. These often represent easier wins, since you already appear for them but not as highly as you could.
Layer 2: AI search
Look at your rivals’ AI search visibility to find prompts you may want to appear for in tools like Google’s AI Mode and ChatGPT.
A competitor can rank poorly in traditional search for a topic while appearing consistently in related AI-generated answers. This means you can find more opportunities to improve your visibility relative to your rivals if you look beyond keyword gaps in Google search.
Find AI visibility gaps by looking for them manually or by using an AI SEO tool.
Manual approach
Enter prompts directly in AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode to learn where your competitors appear but you don’t.
Focus on three types of queries when manually testing prompts in AI tools:
- Category and use case prompts: Examples include “best [product/service type] for [use case]” and “top competitor-intelligence-and-research tools for [audience]”
- Comparison prompts: Use prompts like “[competitor name] vs [alternative]” and “alternatives to [competitor name]”
- Problem-based prompts: Use prompts like “how do I [solve problem your product addresses]?” or “what’s the best way to [complete task your service helps with]?”
For each response, note which competitors appear and whether your brand is mentioned alongside them. Run the same prompts across multiple AI tools, as responses can vary.
This manual approach can help you roughly gauge visibility gaps. But to do this at scale you need to use a dedicated tool.
Competitor Research
Use Semrush’s Competitor Research report to see where competitors are being mentioned and cited in AI-generated answers but you’re not.
Open the tool and enter your domain along with up to four competitors. Use the platform selector to focus on a specific AI system, such as Google AI Mode, or to look at all available platforms at once.
Scroll down to the “Topics & Prompts” section, then click the “Missing” tab to see all the topics your competitors appear for that you don’t. Click into a topic to see the individual prompts they appear for.
Click “View full response” on any prompt to see the actual AI answer and where your competitors are cited. This can help you understand what type of content gets cited for prompts related to your business.
Layer 3: Conversations on social media and in forums
Look at conversations happening on social media platforms and forums that your competitors are being included in to understand how visible their brand is beyond traditional search and AI tools.
These conversations don’t show up in keyword tools, but they can impact buying decisions. Plus, they’re also often cited in AI responses, like this example comparing of Mailchimp and Klaviyo on Reddit:
Look for conversations on forums like Reddit, video platforms like YouTube and TikTok, and social media platforms like X and LinkedIn.
Reddit and other forums
Search Google using “site:reddit.com [competitor name]” to find threads mentioning your rivals.
Do a Reddit-focused Google search for each competitor, then repeat using category terms and product-type terms rather than brand names.
For example, a project management software company might search:
- “site:reddit.com ‘Asana’”
- “site:reddit.com ‘Asana’ ‘best project management tools’”
- “site:reddit.com ‘best project management tool’”
- “site:reddit.com ‘project management software recommendations’”
(Try searching both with and without quotations, as you may see different results.)
In the threads you find, note which competitors get recommended and for what use cases. Look for threads where multiple people recommend the same competitor for a specific type of buyer or problem. Those may be topic and positioning gaps worth paying attention to.
Also check whether competitors are actively participating in relevant subreddits themselves. If they are, it could be worth running your own Reddit marketing campaign to boost your visibility on the platform.
Repeat this process on any niche forums relevant to your industry. The search operator “site:[forum domain/subfolder] [competitor name]” works the same way.
YouTube and TikTok
Search your competitor’s brand name on video platforms like YouTube and TikTok to see what content they create and what other people create about them.
YouTube and TikTok are useful for finding competitor keywords for two reasons:
- You can see what keywords your rivals are directly targeting on these platforms if they create content themselves
- You can find conversations they’re showing up in that may be important for your own brand
First, check a specific rival’s channel or profile to see what topics they’re publishing videos on. High-view-count videos signal topics their audience is genuinely interested in, and those topics often map to keywords and prompts worth targeting in your own content.
Next, look at what other people are publishing about your competitors. Find these videos by searching for terms like:
- [Competitor name] review
- [Competitor 1] vs [competitor 2]
- Alternatives to [competitor]
- Best [product/service] for [use case]
Note how frequently your rivals appear in this kind of content and which use cases come up. If competitors are appearing in third-party “best of” or comparison videos and you’re not, that’s a visibility gap that you may want to prioritize closing. Especially since these kinds of videos often show up in relevant AI responses.
Note that some of the discussions you find may be due to partnerships between your competitor and the creator. This kind of insight may be useful for your own influencer marketing efforts.
Other social media platforms
Look at discussions your competitors appear in on platforms like X and LinkedIn to uncover more topics associated with your rivals but not you.
Search for a competitor’s name and note the sentiment of responses and what specific topics they’re associated with. This can help you understand how visible they are on social media platforms, and what features or advantages users associate the competitor with.
For example, this post on X associates Figma with vector art generation.
According to the Keyword Magic Tool, keywords related to “vector art generator” see 1.1K monthly searches.
Figma doesn’t rank on page one of Google for this term. So if you were competing with Figma and just looking at traditional search to find competitor keywords, you could miss this visibility gap.
How to prioritize and act on what you find
For each visibility gap you identify across traditional search, AI search, and conversations across forums and social media, consider how realistic it is to close.
In search and AI, look at what’s actually ranking or being cited. If the top results rely on original research you can’t replicate, years of accumulated backlinks, or proprietary data, competing will be difficult.
For conversation gaps, consider whether the visibility your competitors have is organic, the result of partnerships that take time to build, or active community participation that requires separate resources.
And factor in what your team can actually execute before trying to close a specific content gap.
How to act on keyword gaps
To address keyword gaps, first check whether you already have content that could target the keyword.
If you have content that could better focus on a given term, optimize that page rather than creating a new piece of content. Improving an existing page is usually faster than starting from scratch.
If no existing page covers the topic, you need new content. Use these metrics to decide which gaps to prioritize:
- Search volume: High-volume terms that are relevant to your business may be more likely to drive traffic to your site if you can rank for them
- Search intent: Commercial and transactional keywords are more likely to drive conversions, while informational keywords can build authority and brand awareness
- Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD%): Terms with a low PKD% are ones your site is well-positioned to rank for based on your current authority
Check these metrics for any keyword with Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool.
How to act on AI prompt gaps
If a competitor is appearing in AI answers for something you already cover, it often means your page isn’t structured in a way that’s easy for AI tools to find and cite.
The fix may be providing clearer answers, using better-structured subheadings, or ensuring your information is up to date. Start there before creating a brand new piece of content.
If no existing page covers the topic, treat it like a search keyword and plan new content accordingly.
How to act on conversation gaps
The appropriate way to act on conversation gaps you identified depends on where the gap exists.
If your competitors are being recommended in Reddit threads or forums you’re not part of, start participating in those communities. Answering questions and contributing genuinely useful responses to relevant threads can help you build a real presence on these platforms.
If competitors have stronger YouTube or TikTok visibility on topics relevant to your business, consider creating content on those platforms. Start with topics where multiple competitors have coverage and you have none. If you don’t have the capacity to create the content yourself, consider partnering with influencers who do.
Track competitors’ keywords and owned conversations to refine your strategy
Finding competitor keywords, prompts, and conversations gives you a one-time snapshot of rivals’ visibility compared to yours.
Since your competitive landscape changes continuously as rivals publish new content, gain AI visibility, and build presence in new communities, track your progress and revisit your analysis regularly to maintain your own visibility.
How to track your traditional search keyword rankings
Use Semrush’s Position Tracking tool to track your traditional search keywords and monitor your rankings compared to your competitors.
Set up your project, enter your domain and target location, and add the keywords you’re pursuing.
Once in Position Tracking, go to the “Overview” tab and scroll to the “Rankings Overview” table. This shows you all your tracked keywords, where you rank, and how that position has changed over time.
You can also use Position Tracking to monitor AI Overview visibility. Click the “SERP Features” filter, select the circle next to “[yourdomain.com] ranks” and choose “AI Overview” to see which of your target keywords are triggering AI Overviews and whether you’re appearing in them.
How to track your AI prompt visibility
You can also use Semrush’s Position Tracking to monitor your visibility in AI platforms directly.
When you’re setting up a new Position Tracking campaign, select an AI platform (such as Google AI Mode) as the search engine and add the prompts you want to appear for.
The “Overview” tab shows whether you’re being mentioned for each prompt and how your visibility is trending over time. Use this to identify which prompts you’re gaining traction for and which ones you need to further optimize for.
How to track your conversation visibility
Track your visibility in conversations across the web manually by regularly searching for your brand on platforms like Reddit, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn. Monitor new conversations for opportunities to participate, or to find new content ideas.
Use Semrush’s Brand Monitoring tool to receive alerts when your brand or a rival brand is mentioned online. And there are filters specifically for discussions, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Close competitor keyword gaps to boost your visibility
Your competitor keywords can be useful sources of content ideas. But analyzing the prompts they show up for in AI tools and the conversations they appear in across the web lets you get a full picture of their visibility.
Semrush’s SEO and AI Visibility Toolkits give you the tools you need to close visibility gaps. Try them all with a Semrush One free trial.
