SEMrush - Toolbox #5 - Keyword Gap Presentation

Presentation delivered by Jake Bohall at SEMrush Toolbox #5 Webinar with Craig Campbell. - https://www.semrush.com/webinars/semrush-toolbox-5-keyword-gap/

Presentation covers a method for manipulating the export from the keyword gap analysis to quickly create buckets for the keywords so you can more easily review and take action vs. staring at a list of 10,000+ keywords

Goals: content ideas, keyword discovery, content gap

1. Why Keyword Gap Analysis?

2. Prioritize Opportunities for New Content Keyword Discovery Evaluate Performance vs. a Competitor

3. Prioritize Opportunities for New Content Keyword Discovery

4. Goal: Determine Keywords to Target and Assign Priority Groupings

5. Pick Your Competitors *All keywords

6. Prep the data! Export Content to Excel Filter Data Text to columns on ranking and volume to change to number format Highlight Rankings for each site: Pos. 1-25 > green Pos. 26-50 > red Add new column for “priority” or “bucket” Result Sheet: coded data

7. Bucket Terms with Only 1 Site Ranking Filter all sites but last competitor to 0 Filter remaining competitor to “green” (ranking 1-25) Tag all keywords with a “ 4” (Potential) Filter competitor to “red”, tag as “6” (Outlier) Filter competitor to “no fill”, tag as “7” (Unlikely) Clear filter on next competitor and restart until all competitors done On self, again with all other filtered t o 0 Filter to “no fill” > 50 tag as “7” (Unlikely) Remaining should be < 50, tag as “5” (Under Radar) Clear Filters Step: Partial begin with Filtering Solos / Kauffman Result: Filtering Crossovers / Score

8. Bucket Terms with Competitor Improved Visibility Filter Cli ent to “red”, then f or each competitor ... filter to green and tag as a “1” (Attack) , then clear competitor filter 1 - Attack -- key phrases that represent a direct opportunity that you can use to edge in on your competitors. These are phrases where you rank between the 26th - 50th spot, and at least one of your competitors ranks between the 1st -25th position. Start: Filtering Crossovers / Red Green Attack

9. Bucket Competitive Terms Filter Client to “green”, then f or each competitor ... filter to green and tag as a “2” (Protect) , then clear co mpetitor filter 2 - Protect -- key phrases that both you and at least one of your competitors currently rank for. These are your most competitive and “At Risk” terms and need bolstering to maintain/grow. These are strong rankings (#1-25) that both you and your competitors rank for. It is worth considering a strengthening of your existing content and off-site authority to increase your search visibility. Start: Filtering Crossovers / Green Green Protect

10. Start: Filtering Crossovers / >25 Green Catch Up Bucket Terms with Missed Opportunity Filter Client to ranking > 25, then f or each Competitor … filter to “green” and Tag as a “3” (Catch Up) , then clear competitor filter … repeat with client filtered to 0’s 3 - Catch Up -- key phrases where your competitors are ranking and you are not. These “phrases of interest” represent gaps in your existing content that competitors are capitalizing on. Most often, these are the low-hanging fruit key terms that we can often create content around and build exposure.

11. Bucket Winning Terms with Misses Filter Client to 0, then f or each competitor filter to 26+ and tag as “4” (Potential) then c lear competitor filter 4 - Potential - key phrases that only one of your competitors have a high ranking position, or multiple rank and you do not. These phrases are likely relevant and are often are opportunity phrases we can expand content around. Start: Filtering Crossovers / 0 (remaining) Potential

12. Bucket Winning Terms with Low Competition Filter Client to “green”, then Filter all competitors to “no fill”, tag as “5” (Under Radar) Clear filters on competitors 5 - Under Radar - key phrases that you alone rank for. These are opportunity phrases we can expand content around to increase our footprint. This can also represent your own brand terms Start: Filtering Crossovers / Green No Fill Under Radar

13. Bucket Terms with Broad Visibility Filter Client to “no fill”, then Filter all competitors to “no fill" and t ag as “6” (Outlier), clear filters 6 - Outlier - key phrases that only one of your competitors have a high ranking position or the lack of any clear winners indicates there may be an intent mismatch. These are opportunity phrases we can expand content around. Start: Filtering Crossovers / No Fill for All Outlier

14. Bucket Terms with For Manual Review Filter Client to “no fill”, then tag as “ 7 ” ( Unlikely ) Repeat with client filtered as “red” 7 - Unlikely - phrases that need to be manually reviewed, but are often brand variant or completely unrelated terms that should be discarded. Start: Filtering Crossovers / Green No Fill Under Radar

15. Final Housekeeping Filter Client to “green”, then tag as “2” (Protect)

16. Play with the Data Filter by Priority and then sort by Volume / CPC / Etc. to prioritize within buckets

17. Keyword and Content Strategy Buckets 1 - Attack -- key phrases that represent a direct opportunity that you can use to edge in on your competitors. These are phrases where you rank between the 26th - 50th spot, and at least one of your competitors ranks between the 1st -25th position. 2 - Protect -- key phrases that both you and at least one of your competitors currently rank for. These are your most competitive and “At Risk” terms and need bolstering to maintain/grow. These are strong rankings (#1-25) that both you and your competitors rank for. It is worth considering a strengthening of your existing content and off-site authority to increase your search visibility.

18. Keyword and Content Strategy Buckets 3 - Catch Up -- key phrases where your competitors are ranking and you are not. These “phrases of interest” represent gaps in your existing content that competitors are capitalizing on. Most often, these are the low-hanging fruit key terms that we can often create content around and build exposure. 4 - Potential - key phrases that only one of your competitors have a high ranking position, or multiple rank and you do not. These phrases are likely relevant and are often are opportunity phrases we can expand content around. 5 - Under Radar - key phrases that you alone rank for. These are opportunity phrases we can expand content around to increase our footprint. This can also represent your own brand terms

19. Keyword and Content Strategy Buckets 6 - Outlier - key phrases that only one of your competitors have a high ranking position or the lack of any clear winners indicates there may be an intent mismatch. There may be opportunity phrases we can expand content around. 7 - Unlikely - phrases that need to be manually reviewed, but are often brand variant or completely unrelated terms that should be discarded.

20. Evaluate Performance vs. a Competitor

21. Excluding Brand terms: Brand1.com ranks for 5,547 Terms (combined traffic volume of 1,699,960 searches/month) Brand2.com ranks for 3,513 Terms (combined traffic volume of 1,175,310 searches/month)

22. In #1 Position Brand 1 ranks for 373 terms with combined 111,190 monthly searches Excluding brand: 200 Terms - 90,400 monthly searches Brand 2 ranks for 295 terms with combined 54,880 monthly searches Excluding brand: 149 Terms - 23,690 monthly searches

23. Brand2 ranks & Brand1 does not (excluding brand): Brand2 Ranks for 2,318 non-brand keywords where Brand1 doesn’t. (combined traffic volume of 779,920 searches/month) Brand2 Ranks #1 for 7 non-brand terms (combined traffic volume of 2,410 searches/month) Brand2 has 89 Keywords in Top 10 (combined traffic volume of 36,730)

24. Head to Head (across 7,864 non-brand terms) Brand1 outranks Brand2 5,031 times (combined traffic volume of 1,568,090 searches/month) Brand2 Outranks Brand1 2,833 times (combined traffic volume of 911,790)

25. Head to Head Both Rank (across 1,196 non-brand terms) Brand1 outranks Brand2 680 times (combined traffic volume of 263,520 searches/month) Brand2 Outranks Brand1 515 times (combined traffic volume of 131,870)

26. VP, Marketing at Hive Digital Jake Bohall @jakebohall [email protected] Jake is passionate about education reform and representing companies focused on providing opportunities for inspiring entrepreneurship, discovering life purpose, and improving quality of life.

27. The Hive Digital Mission Hive Digital empowers globally responsible companies, organizations, and individuals by amplifying their message through innovative digital marketing. We use integrity, transparency, and humility to promote a nurturing environment, which translates to growth for our clients and our company. We hope you’ll let us help you change the world.