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Competitor gap analysis: the searches your rivals leave open

A competitor gap is a search that people make, often, where the leading competitors have no page. A competitor gap analysis lists those searches next to the ones the leaders do cover, so you can see where to build, where to catch up and where you are already ahead. About 140 people in the US search for "competitor gap analysis" every month.

Gap analysis is one part of search demand, the count of what a market searches for. This page explains what a gap is, shows a finished gap table, and covers how to read one and what to do with it. The pages below it go deeper on three parts: content gap analysis, competitor keywords and who your competitors are.

What a competitor gap is

Every search has a number behind it: how many people make it in a month. Every competitor has a set of pages, and each page answers some searches. Put the two side by side and three situations appear for each search:

• An open gap. People search for it. None of the leading competitors has a page for it. Whoever builds a good page first meets that demand with no one in the way.
• A catch-up gap. The leading competitors have a page for it and yours is missing or thin. You are absent from, or weak on, a search they already answer.
• Ahead. You have a page for it and they do not. Protect it.

A finished gap table: what it looks like

Here is an example for a lead generation site set against its leading competitors. The searches and their US monthly searches are real figures; two of them are lead terms by trade, and lead terms for every trade are on the markets page. The competitor and "You" columns are made up, to show the layout.

Read the Result column, then the volume. In this example the two open gaps add up to about 860 US searches a month, and the two catch-up gaps to about 580. The open gaps are bigger. The catch-up gaps are the ones where the leaders have already built the page, so you can open it and see exactly what you are up against.

A finished table also carries, for each cell that says "page", a link to the competitor's page. A mark without a link cannot be checked.

Three ways in

Gaps look different depending on what you compare.

• Pages and topics. Content gap analysis compares whole topics. It tells you which pages to write and which to improve.
• Searches. Competitor keywords lists the searches a competitor's pages are built to answer, so you can see what they chase and what they miss.
• Names. Who your competitors are is where every gap analysis starts. A gap measured against the wrong names is a gap in the wrong place.

How to read a gap table

• Volume first, then the result. A gap with 20 US monthly searches is a small prize, however open it is.
• Look at who has a page. A search that all of them cover is a proven need. A search that none of them covers might be a missed need, or it might be a search nobody wants. The volume tells you which.
• Check the page, not the mark. A competitor with a thin page and a competitor with a strong page both show as "page". Open the link before you decide the gap is closed.
• Group near-duplicates. "Roof repair cost" and "cost of roof repair" are one need. One row, one page.
• Look at where you are ahead. The searches you cover and they do not are the cheapest to defend.

Gaps and wrong-audience searches

A gap is only worth filling if the people making the search can buy. Some searches have large volume but come from people who will never buy. A gap list that includes them sends you to build pages that bring traffic and no business. In paid search the same searches become negative keywords that you exclude instead of pages you build. Keep the two lists apart: gaps are where you go, exclusions are where you do not.

What to do with a gap list

• Build one page for each open gap, in order of US monthly searches.
• For each catch-up gap, open the competitor's page and write the better version: more specific, more current, with a clear next step for the reader.
• Merge gaps that share an intent into one page instead of two thin ones.
• Add the open gaps to your ad groups if you run paid search, and the catch-up gaps to your content plan.
• Mark what you are ahead on, so no one retires those pages.
• Redo the table when you add pages or when a competitor does.

Mistakes to avoid

• Measuring against the wrong competitors. A list of names you assumed gives a gap list you cannot trust.
• Treating every gap as a to-do. Some gaps are low volume or bring people who will never buy. Skip them.
• Reading "none" as "empty". A competitor can answer a search on a page you did not expect. A claim of "no page" needs a link or a check behind it.
• Copying a competitor's structure one for one. Copying shows you what they do, not what the market wants.
• Doing it once. The table goes stale as competitors publish.

What to ask a provider

A gap list is only as good as what stands behind it. Ask for:

• the rows, which are searches grouped by need, each with US monthly searches;
• the link to the competitor page behind each row;
• which searches the leading competitors cover, and which none of them covers;
• a person's check of every row before delivery;
• the delivery time and a refund.

That is what Querytally delivers: delivery within 24 hours, a person checks every row, and every row links to the competitor's page, so you can verify any of it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a competitor gap analysis?

It is a comparison of the searches people make with the searches your competitors have pages for. The result is a list of searches nobody answers well, searches rivals answer and you do not, and searches you answer and they do not.

Is competitive gap analysis the same thing?

Yes. "Competitive gap analysis" and "competitor gap analysis" are two names for one analysis: what the market searches for, set against what the leading competitors answer.

What is the difference between a competitor gap and a content gap?

A content gap is a topic where the market searches and your site has no page, or only a thin one. It is measured against the market. A competitor gap is measured against specific rivals: what they cover and you do not. The two overlap, and a good table shows both.

Is a gap always worth filling?

Not always. A gap with low volume, or one that brings people who will never buy, may not repay the work. Volume and buyer fit decide.

See a finished gap table in the sample reports, or read how agencies use competitor gaps in client work.

Checked by a person and delivered within 24 hours, with a link and a search number behind every row.