Websites appearing ahead of yours can help you understand prospective customers’ questions. They do not reveal their private analytics. The goal is to turn observations and estimates into useful page ideas for your business, rather than copy competitors’ text.
You can start this method without a subscription, then add a tool if you already have access. We will use a fictional bicycle repair workshop. Searches and priority examples below are exercises, not measurements from a real market.
1. Define what you offer and whom you serve
Record the service or product family, website language, area served and desired outcome: an enquiry, booking or purchase. A popular topic is not automatically useful to your business.
The fictional workshop might focus on bicycle maintenance and repairs for people in one city. “How to build a bicycle” belongs to the same broad subject but may serve a different commercial need.
Start with five to ten phrases drawn from actual customer questions. Separate the language customers use from your internal service names.
2. Find competitors in search results
- Select three representative searches.
- Review results for the intended country and language, recording the date and context.
- Distinguish ads, local results and conventional organic pages.
- Identify three to five websites recurring with relevant pages.
- Save the specific page URL rather than only the domain.
A commercial competitor and a search competitor may differ. A magazine can appear for a practical question while a nearby workshop appears for a service. Compare page types with equivalent intent.
Results vary by location, device and time. Manual observation is not an exhaustive ranking measurement; private browsing does not remove every source of variation.
3. Review the pages manually first
For each page, note its title, offer, main questions answered, supporting evidence and next action for the visitor. Review menus and categories to understand how topics are organised.
A workshop page might explain the price of a service, the checks included, how long the bicycle will be unavailable and how to book. That reveals possible information needs, not the page’s actual traffic.
Use three columns: observed, needs checking and idea for our website. A phrase in a title is observed; “this phrase generates sales” remains an unproven hypothesis.
4. Add a visibility tool when useful
A tool may associate a domain’s pages with keywords and estimated rankings. Its results depend on the database, country, date and coverage. They do not provide every query or the competitor’s actual sales.
Semrush now documents Organic Rankings, formerly Organic Research. Look up a domain, choose the country and review associated keywords and pages. Export options and limits depend on the access available. Organic Rankings documentation.
If you already have access, begin with a small export and retain URLs relevant to your services. A subscription is not required to complete this guide: manual research already supports an initial shortlist.
5. Compare topics without treating every gap as a priority
A comparison tool such as Keyword Gap can identify shared keywords or terms missing from your estimated visibility. Select the appropriate country and search type and compare relevant competitors. Keyword Gap documentation.
A missing keyword may concern a service you do not offer, another region, a competitor’s brand or an irrelevant page. Examine the query and results before adding it to your plan.
If your domain is new and the tool has little data, competitor page analysis still works. A missing entry in a database does not establish that nobody searches for a phrase.
6. Understand the need behind each phrase
| Search | Likely need | Possible page |
|---|---|---|
| bicycle repair [city] | Find an available workshop | Service page with practical details |
| bicycle service cost | Understand price and scope | Pricing section or guide, depending on the need |
| when to replace bicycle chain | Recognise wear and decide what to do | Guide with explained criteria and a useful next step |
| [competitor brand] phone | Contact another business | Exclude from this editorial project |
This classification is a starting hypothesis. Review results to check the expected format and ask your customers. One phrase can cover several needs.
7. Read metrics with their limitations
Search volume and difficulty estimates help compare opportunities; they do not predict guaranteed orders. Low difficulty does not guarantee a ranking. CPC relates to advertising rather than the ease of organic SEO.
For seasonality, Google Trends provides relative indices rather than exact search counts. Keep the period and geography consistent. Understanding Google Trends data.
Search Console reports queries and performance for your own verified property, with reporting limitations. It does not expose competitors’ private data. Understanding performance reports.
8. Select three achievable actions
For each topic, ask whether it connects to a real offer, whether you can provide a strong answer, whether a page already exists and what work remains. Estimate effort from the content, images and approvals available.
Keep three decisions rather than a list of five hundred phrases. Fictional example: improve the repair page, explain what a bicycle service includes and prepare a chain-wear guide. These are not universal priorities; validate them for the actual business.
Group variations requiring the same answer. Assign a main page to a topic where appropriate instead of producing near-duplicate pages. One page can answer several closely related formulations.
9. Turn a keyword into a page brief
Audience: [target customer]. Main question: [need]. Related offer: [real service]. Existing or new page: [URL]. Answers required: [list]. Original material: [photos, experience, example or method]. Next step: [enquiry, further reading or purchase]. Owner and date: [complete].
Use your own information. Do not copy competitors’ testimonials, photographs or wording. Explain what your business genuinely does, including its conditions and limits.
10. Publish, measure and revisit the decision
Link the page from relevant content, check access and record the publication or update date. Monitor impressions, queries, clicks and useful outcomes with an appropriate measurement setup. Compare suitable periods while accounting for seasonality and other website changes.
A page without immediate progress is not automatically a deletion candidate. Review intent, quality, links and access. Use our WordPress SEO mistakes guide to separate editorial choices from technical issues.
For tool selection, see our keyword research tools guide. For online sales, apply your research to the categories and products in your ecommerce project.