Have you ever felt like you’re missing out on potential keyword opportunities in your digital marketing strategy? Keyword gaps can be a huge challenge, but SEMrush offers a fantastic toolset to help us bridge that gap efficiently. Through this article, I’ll guide you step by step on how to utilize SEMrush to its full potential in identifying and filling these keyword gaps, ensuring you stay ahead of your competitors.
Getting Started with SEMrush
First things first, if you haven’t already, head over to SEMrush’s website and create an account. Once you’re logged in, you’ll be greeted with a wide array of tools and features. Don’t worry; I’ll break it down for you, so it doesn’t seem overwhelming.
Setting Up Your Project
Before diving into keyword gap analysis, it’s essential to set up your project correctly. This will help SEMrush tailor its insights specifically to your website and your competitors.
Steps:
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Create a New Project: On the SEMrush dashboard, find and click the “Projects” tab on the left-hand sidebar. Click “Create Project” and fill in your domain name and project name.
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Configure Basic Settings: After creating your project, you’ll need to set up various tools like Position Tracking, Site Audit, and On-Page SEO Checker. Don’t skip these, as they’ll provide comprehensive insights into your site’s performance.
Competitor Identification
Before bridging the gap, you need to know who your competitors are. SEMrush makes it extremely easy to identify them.
Steps:
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Go to Domain Overview: Enter your domain in the search bar at the top of the dashboard. Click “Search.”
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Find Competitors: Scroll down to the “Main Organic Competitors” section. SEMrush will display a list of your primary competitors based on overlapping keywords. Note these down for future reference.
Understanding Keyword Gap Analysis
So what exactly is a keyword gap? In simple terms, it’s the keywords that your competitors rank for, but you don’t. This is crucial because identifying these gaps can lead to significant increases in organic traffic. SEMrush’s Keyword Gap tool makes this process seamless.
Using the Keyword Gap Tool
Now that you understand what a keyword gap is, let’s get into how to use SEMrush’s Keyword Gap tool to identify and bridge these gaps.
Steps:
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Navigate to Keyword Gap Tool: On the left sidebar, click “Keyword Gap” under the “Analytics” section.
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Input Domains: You’ll need to input your domain and the domains of your main competitors. You can compare up to four competitors at a time.
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Analyze: Click on the “Analyze” button, and SEMrush will display a comprehensive report.
Interpreting the Keyword Gap Report
Once you’ve generated the report, you’ll see a range of data that might initially look intimidating. Here’s how to break it down:
- Common Keywords: These are the keywords for which both you and your competitors rank.
- Missing Keywords: These are keywords your competitors rank for, but you don’t.
- Weak Keywords: Keywords for which you rank lower than your competitors.
- Strong Keywords: Keywords for which you rank higher than your competitors.
- Untapped Keywords: Keywords that neither you nor your competitors are ranking for substantially.
SEMrush presents this data in a table format, making it easier to comprehend.
| Keyword | Your Position | Competitor 1 Position | Competitor 2 Position | Competitor 3 Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| keyword1 | — | 5 | 3 | 7 |
| keyword2 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| keyword3 | — | 10 | 11 | 15 |
| … | … | … | … | … |
Prioritizing the Gaps
Not all keyword gaps are created equal. Some will have higher search volumes and would be more beneficial to target. Prioritizing which gaps to bridge first can maximize your efforts.
Steps:
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Sort by Volume: Within the Keyword Gap report, you can sort by search volume to pinpoint the most lucrative keyword opportunities.
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Competitor Ranking: Focus on keywords where your competitors rank high but you don’t rank at all. This presents an opportunity to capture some of their traffic.
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Difficulty Score: SEMrush provides a keyword difficulty score. Look for high-volume keywords with moderate difficulty scores—these offer the best balance between effort and reward.
Implementing Strategies to Bridge the Gap
Once you’ve identified the keywords you want to target, the next step is implementing strategies to improve your ranking for these terms.
Content Optimization
Content is king, and optimizing your existing content to incorporate these keywords can result in immediate gains.
Steps:
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Audit Existing Content: Use SEMrush’s On-Page SEO Checker to identify how well your current content is optimized for your targeted keywords.
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Incorporate Keywords: Where possible, naturally incorporate these missing keywords into your content. This could mean updating blog posts, tweaking product descriptions, or even adjusting meta tags and headers.
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Internal Linking: Improve your internal linking structure to incorporate these target keywords. This can, indirectly, enhance keyword relevance and improve your site’s authority.
Creating New Content
Sometimes, you might need to create entirely new content to target these gaps effectively.
Steps:
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Content Ideas: Utilize SEMrush’s “Topic Research” tool to generate content ideas around your new target keywords.
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Content Calendar: Plan a content calendar that ensures you consistently produce high-quality, keyword-focused content.
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Content Writing: Use SEMrush’s SEO Writing Assistant to guide the content creation process. This tool will help ensure your new content is optimized for your target keywords right from the start.
Linking Strategies
Backlinks are still a significant ranking factor. Building a robust backlink strategy can help you bridge the keyword gap more effectively.
Steps:
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Identify Opportunities: Use SEMrush’s Backlink Analytics tool to identify sites that link to your competitors but not to you. These sites are prime targets for your backlink-building efforts.
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Outreach: Create a targeted outreach campaign to request backlinks from these identified sites. Offer high-quality content or guest posts as part of your outreach strategy.
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Monitor Progress: Use SEMrush’s Backlink Audit tool to keep track of your progress and ensure the backlinks you acquire are of high quality.
Tracking and Measuring Success
The final step in any SEO strategy is tracking and measuring success. SEMrush provides a suite of tools that can help you monitor your progress and tweak your strategy as needed.
Position Tracking
This feature allows you to track your rankings for targeted keywords over time.
Steps:
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Set Up Tracking: Within your project, navigate to the Position Tracking tool. Specify the keywords you want to track, including the new ones you’ve targeted to bridge your keyword gap.
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Monitor: Check back regularly to see how your rankings evolve. SEMrush provides daily updates, so you’ll always have the most current data.
Traffic Analytics
Understanding how your keyword strategies impact actual traffic is crucial.
Steps:
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Navigate to Traffic Analytics: Within SEMrush, go to the Traffic Analytics section.
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Analyze Data: Input your domain to see detailed reports on your site’s traffic, including metrics like visit duration, bounce rate, and new vs. returning visitors.
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Compare Competitors: Traffic Analytics also allows you to compare these metrics with those of your competitors, offering insights into how well your strategies are working.
Reporting
Finally, generating regular reports can help you communicate your progress to stakeholders or simply keep a record for your own reference.
Steps:
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Custom Reports: Use SEMrush’s My Reports tool to create custom reports that highlight your progress in bridging the keyword gap.
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Schedule: Set up scheduled reporting so you receive these reports regularly, without needing to generate them manually each time.
Conclusion
Bridging the keyword gap might seem like an intimidating task, but SEMrush offers powerful, user-friendly tools that make it not just attainable, but also efficient. From identifying competitors and performing detailed gap analyses to implementing optimization strategies and monitoring success, SEMrush is a comprehensive solution for improving your visibility and gaining a competitive edge in digital marketing.
Have any questions or need further clarification on any of the steps? Feel free to ask away! I’m here to help you navigate through this journey.
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