The Complete Guide to Keyword Competition

If you spend any time reading about content marketing, you'll see the same tip again and again: Target the keywords your audience uses. The thing is, you're not the only one getting this advice. And as the internet gets more crowded, finding obscure keywords that actually move you to the top of the search results can feel impossible. 

Keyword competition measures how difficult it is to rank for any particular word or phrase. Understanding this metric can help you focus on the keywords that give you the best chance of success. If you run a deli, for instance, your odds of ranking for "New York City bagels" are probably slim. But "New York City delicatessen" or even "Astoria bagels" may be less competitive. 

If you're tired of being outranked on search engines, it's time to try something new. This guide walks you through how to measure keyword difficulty and the practical tools you can use (such as Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner) to gather keyword competition data and optimize your content.

What Is Keyword Competition?

Keyword competition is how hard it is to rank for a specific term in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Essentially, it tells you how many websites you'll need to beat to get the coveted number one ranking. 

Of course, it's not just about how many competitors target the same keyword. Other ranking factors play a role, too, including content quality and page authority. For example, say that 100 websites target the term "brake repair in Santa Fe," but most are filled with typos ("brake rpair") and haven't been updated in years. You may have an easier time ranking than if you went up against 20 high-quality pages. 

People often confuse organic keyword competition with competition for pay-per-click (PPC) ads, but they're not the same. Organic competition focuses on how difficult it is to rank in the SERPs. By contrast, PPC competition measures how many paid advertisers target a particular keyword. It's often easier for small businesses to rise to the top of the organic search results, because major companies can't simply buy their way to the top.  

Keyword Competition vs. Keyword Difficulty: What’s the Difference?

Keyword competition and keyword difficulty are related ideas but not the same. Keyword competition measures how many web pages target a specific search term, while keyword difficulty estimates how hard it is to land on the first page. 

If you picture yourself as an athlete in a marathon, keyword competition is the number of runners you're vying against, and keyword difficulty is your odds of crossing the finish line near the front of the pack. If you're competing against toddlers (or low-quality content), you've got much better odds than if you're racing Olympic runners. 

What Makes a Keyword Highly Competitive?

Understanding the level of competition for your keywords is a core part of content optimization. These signals tell you that a search term will probably have high competition: 

• High domain authority: Reputable, frequently cited websites often have more ranking power than less established ones. WebMD, for instance, has much more domain authority than a brand-new blog about vitamins. If you decide to target medical keywords, you'll probably face stiff competition from WebMD and government health websites.  
• Strong backlinks: Search engines tend to view content more favorably when other trustworthy sites, also known as referring domains, link to it. These links tell the algorithms that the content is valuable and authoritative, so they rank it higher. If your chosen keyword often gets high-quality backlinks, it's more challenging to outrank those linked pages. 
• Established content hubs: Some creators develop entire collections of content around a single topic or keyword. One example is our blog at Compose.ly, where we share hundreds of posts about topics like content creation and hiring freelancers. Users often treat these hubs as a go-to resource, so dethroning them with new content is less feasible. 
• Appears frequently in SERP features: When users search for certain keywords, Google generates bonus content like AI Overviews and featured snippets. For instance, a search for "sneakers or hiking boots" may trigger a People Also Ask box with related questions, such as, "Is it okay to hike in sneakers?" These educational resources draw on existing content, but they also push organic results down the page. That means it's harder to get visibility, even if Google excerpts your content for the answer. 

Just because a keyword has a high search volume doesn't mean you should target it. Sure, you'll get more traffic if you can pull off a high ranking. But the overall return on investment (ROI) may be low if you need to invest a lot of time and money to get there. Often, it's better to aim for less competitive keywords to build positive momentum. 

Tools To Check and Measure Keyword Competition

Keyword competition analysis software can help you measure how many sites are targeting the same search term. They also frequently recommend related — and potentially less competitive — keywords. 

Add some of these keyword research tools to your roster: 

• Ahrefs lets you track keyword rankings for your site and competitors. It also generates a keyword difficulty score, so you can compare the level of competitiveness at a glance. 
• Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that measures search volume for keywords and forecasts their future performance. It's designed for PPC campaigns, but you can use it to research search terms without paying for ads 
• Moz's Keyword Explorer recommends high-opportunity keywords in your niche and monitors the organic click-through rates (CTR) for specific keyword. Use the Search Intent feature to understand what's motivating your audience's searches. You can also check out the backlink profiles for yourself and your competitors to see who has the most shareable content. 
• Longtail.pro's free keyword tool recommends hundreds of keywords for your domain. It also lists the level of competition and search volume for each term. 
• Semrush performs keyword gap analysis, which lets you benchmark your keyword strategy against competitors. You can also enter seed keywords into the Keyword Magic Tool to generate thousands of recommendations. Each suggestion comes with several metrics, including personal keyword difficulty and volume. 
• Serpstat offers a free keyword competition checker. It reveals how your competitors rank in organic search for each keyword and compares metrics like backlinks and domain visibility. 
• SpyFu offers a free keyword difficulty checker, which rates how difficult it is to rank in the top 10 search results for specific terms.

Every tool uses different methods to measure SERP competition, but you don't need to use them all. Pick one or two with the features you need and put them to work right away. Otherwise, you could get stuck spending more time on research than actual content creation. 

How To Perform a Manual SERP Analysis

You don't necessarily need fancy tools to analyze your competitor's keywords. A quick skim of the SERPs can give you all the information you need for a manual keyword competitive analysis. Follow these simple steps: 

1. Open Google in an incognito tab. This removes any personal data that may sway the algorithm's rankings — like the many visits you've made to your own website this month. 
2. Search for your target keyword. It could be a query related to your product or a trending topic in your industry. A senior living community, for instance, may target "assisted living amenities." 
3. Study the first page of the SERPs. Note which brands rank near the top for your query. If small businesses and blogs appear here, it may be relatively easy to compete.
4. Pay attention to when the top results were published. Google often ranks older pages for evergreen topics. If new content dominates, that's a sign that the search engine prioritizes fresh information for this query. 
5. Analyze which formats your SERP competitors use. If most of the top results are blog posts and white papers, other types of content may have a hard time ranking. 
6. Try to discern the intent behind the keyword vertical. Look closer at the content of the top-ranking results. If Google is ranking how-to guides and in-depth articles, users are probably looking for educational content. If the first page is filled with product reviews, it's safe to assume the main intent is commercial. 

All these observations can help you gauge your site's SERP strength and likelihood of outranking competitors. Your site is stronger if you have fresh content that matches your audience's intent. Using the right content formats can also give you a leg up.

Keyword Competition Analysis in Practice

There's no one-size-fits-all approach for picking keywords. It all depends on the goals of your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy and how much effort you want to invest into ranking. 

Let's say your company sells boutique pet food, and you're planning to create content about dog nutrition. "Food for diabetic dogs" is a great example of a keyword to target. It's more niche than a general term like "dog food" yet broad enough to potentially reach thousands of pet owners looking for advice.

Before you start outlining an article, plug your potential keyword into a keyword competition analysis platform. For instance, Semrush scores the keyword difficulty for "food for diabetic dogs" as 2%, which is very easy. That's encouraging. It also notes that an average of 880 Americans search for this query every month with an informational intent. 

Type your keyword in Google, too. Several veterinary hospitals hold the top ranking positions for the search term, beating out more authoritative brands like PetMD. Based on these promising findings, you can give your content creation team the green light to use this keyword. 

Keyword Competition Analysis Best Practices

Performing a SERP analysis is only part of the equation. You also need to know how to put your findings into action. Follow these tips to create a thoughtful keyword strategy that actually moves you up the rankings. 

1. Start With Search Intent, Not Metrics

It's easy to fixate on keyword difficulty scores and other data, but that's not the play. Instead, look at the top-ranking pages for your search query to make sure you understand what your human audience wants. Is Google prioritizing commercial content like landing pages or informational materials like guides and listicles? 

When you match user intent, you create genuinely useful and engaging content. These relevance signals increase the odds of your content ranking and showing up for AI Overviews. 

2. Use Multiple Signals to Evaluate Competition

Search engines use complex and somewhat mysterious formulas to rank content, so there's no single metric for keyword competitiveness. Consider these factors as you decide which keywords to add to your SEO-optimized content: 

• Keyword difficulty scores
• Number of referring domains 
• Presence in SERP features 
• Which brands appear on page one

3. Analyze the Entire SERP, Not Just the Top Result

Resist the urge to only glance at the page that lands in the coveted #1 position. Scanning the full first page will give you a big-picture view of the keyword's competitiveness. 

Keep an eye out for opportunities to shake up the SERPs. Maybe you notice that some of the content has glaring typos or hasn't been updated since 2019. If you publish high-quality content, you may have a decent shot at overtaking these weaker competitors. 

If you're still undecided, check back a few times over the next six months or so. If the SERP keeps changing, that's a sign that Google is testing new pages because it hasn't found what it wants yet. That's a golden opportunity to step in with new, intent-oriented content. 

4. Prioritize Keywords You Can Realistically Win

You may feel tempted to churn out hundreds of blogs targeting different keywords, but that's a recipe for burnout. Plus, flooding the internet with content may dilute your authority instead of strengthening it, especially if you don't take the time to perfect each piece. 

Focus on feasibility instead. Choose keywords that have authority gaps or shallow content. These areas are easier to compete in. The intent should also match your business goals. There's probably not much point in writing a comparison guide about mobile apps if you only sell computer accessories. 

Focusing on the most promising keywords will help you get faster results and invest in your content creation resources where it truly counts. 

5. Segment Keywords by Competition Level and Funnel Stage

Keyword competition analysis isn't a one-time chore. As you periodically size up your competitors, keep a running list or spreadsheet with keyword ideas. Sort these search queries into several categories based on their competitiveness and where you can use them in the customer journey. For example, people may search for "affordable e-bikes" when they're ready to order a new ride. 

Using a mixture of keywords from each group can help you achieve different types of success. Low-competition terms can help you score short-term wins, while more competitive ones may lead to long-term growth. 

Pay attention to length, too. Long-tail keywords with three or more words are typically less competitive than short-tail keywords. However, they may bring in less traffic, so check the search volume before you commit. 

6. Optimize Your Content for Clarity and Structure

Now that we're navigating content creation in a post-AI world, structure matters more than ever. Clear headings and definitions help both humans and AI find the information they need quickly. In turn, this user-friendliness can boost your traditional rankings and increase your odds of showing up in AI searches. 

As you sharpen your writing, avoid keyword stuffing. It's when creators cram dozens of search terms into their articles in a misguided attempt to compete. This tactic usually turns an article into a nonsensical mishmash of awkwardly phrased sentences. 

Instead, be kind to your audience by creating quality, well-organized content with a handful of strategically chosen keywords. Over time, you'll naturally attract readers and backlinks for SEO.

Make Keyword Competition Work for Your SEM Strategy

These days, adding a few relevant keywords to your content just doesn't cut it. If you want to rank, keyword competition analysis can help you decide which terms to include. 

Remember that SERPs aren't static, and search algorithms can change overnight. Keep analyzing the search results to spot new opportunities and tap into your competitors' success. As more companies invest in answer engine optimization (AEO) and SEO, the most adaptable creators will rise to the top. 

Need help getting that competitive edge? Let Compose.ly's SEO experts size up your competition and recommend the best keyword strategy for your brand. Or check out our free keyword research report for practical tips you can start applying today. 

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