Content Gap Analysis: A Step-by-step Guide

What Is a Content Gap Analysis?

A contented dispersed study is nan judge of uncovering applicable topics you haven’t covered aliases could surface amended to amended your hunt results.

It tin spot uncovering position your competitors rank for that you don’t. Or identifying topics you petition to adhd to your contented strategy to reside each stages of nan customer’s journey.

Performing a contented dispersed study tin too mean evaluating contented you’ve already published to find opportunities to amended it. 

For example, you could update an existing information to reside further customer denotation points aliases spot maestro insights to proviso a unsocial and valuable constituent of view.

Why Perform a Content Gap Analysis?

Doing a contented dispersed study tin thief you amended your content’s performance. 

Here’s what it tin do:

• Boost visibility: Discovering caller topics and improving your existing contented provides you pinch overmuch opportunities to rank successful hunt results
• Acquire competitors' traffic: Covering topics amended than your competitors tin divert their postulation to your site
• Be overmuch efficient: Performing a contented dispersed study tin beryllium a faster measurement of generating ideas compared to doing keyword and taxable investigation from scratch
• Improve business results: Creating high-quality contented connected topics your assemblage cares astir tin lead to overmuch conversions

How to Do an SEO Content Gap Analysis

Learn really to do a contented dispersed study by pursuing these workflows:

1. Find Competitors’ Keywords

Performing a keyword dispersed study to find position competitors rank for that you don’t helps you tin contented gaps astatine nan tract level—meaning you tin find topics you haven’t covered astatine all.

Use Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool to find these keywords quickly.

Add your domain and nan domains of up to 4 competitors, past click “Compare” to tally nan analysis.

In immoderate cases, nan instrumentality mightiness return tens of thousands of imaginable keyword opportunities.

Applying different filters is simply a bully measurement to constrictive down nan list.

Let’s opportunity you want to attraction only connected your competitors’ apical keywords that are easy to rank for. Because your domain is caller and has mini authority.

Select nan “Position” filter, hover complete “Competitors,” and click “Top 20.” 

Then, spell to nan “KD” (keyword difficulty) prime and premier “Very easy” (this will show only position that are very easy to rank for successful nan apical 10 results).

After applying nan filters, scroll down to nan keyword database and premier “Missing” to spot nan keywords each your competitors rank for that you don’t.

Click “Untapped” to show keywords that astatine slightest 1 competitor ranks for but you don’t.

The adjacent measurement is picking nan keywords that champion align pinch your brand, product, and audience.

2. Research What Your Audience Wants

Researching communal desires and denotation points helps you spot contented gaps that are highly applicable to your audience. 

Here are a mates of ideas for really to observe what your assemblage cares about:

• Use societal listening to understand your audience’s interests and denotation points
• Conduct an online study connected a circumstantial topic—such arsenic favourite merchandise features—and banal a nexus to it connected your website
• Use postulation analytics devices to understand nan webpages that are celebrated among circumstantial assemblage segments

Once you’ve uncovered immoderate wide concepts, usage Semrush’s Topic Research instrumentality to get circumstantial contented ideas.

Open nan tool, participate your topic, and click “Get contented ideas.”

You’ll spot galore ideas you tin usage to build contented around. 

Click “Show more” connected immoderate subtopic insubstantial to spot headlines and related questions.

This will springiness you a bully thought of really others personification covered nan subtopic. And fto you to spot what whitethorn beryllium missing from their content.

3. Find Your Underperforming Content

Finding low-performing contented tin thief you spot existing pages pinch gaps you tin fill.

For example, you tin usage Google Search Console (GSC) to find pages that utilized to get a batch of visits but nary longer do. That mediocre capacity indicates those pieces now incorporated gaps that personification made them small valuable to your audience.

To start, unfastened GSC and click “Search results” successful nan left-hand menu.

Click “More” > “Compare.” Then premier a period—we impulse selecting astatine slightest 3 months of accusation to norm retired impermanent dips successful performance.

Then, scroll down to nan array and click “Pages.” This will show your apical pages and nan changes successful clicks and impressions for each complete your chosen period.

Find pages pinch a notable alteration successful clicks. Then, comparison them to competitors’ top-ranking contented for nan aforesaid superior keywords to spot contented gaps.

Another method is to find pages that rank small than your competitors’ pages successful hunt results.

To find these keywords, spell backmost to nan Keyword Gap tool.

This time, we’ll look astatine “Weak” keywords. These are nan queries wherever you rank small than immoderate of your specified competitors.

It’s a bully thought to prioritize keywords wherever your tract ranks connected nan 2nd aliases 3rd page (positions 11-30.) Because filling contented gaps of those pages could springiness you nan champion chance of ranking connected nan first page of hunt results.

4. Analyze SERPs

Analyzing nan hunt centrifugal results pages (SERPs) for each nan keywords you’re targeting (or strategy to target) helps you tin contented gaps immoderate connected your website and connected individual pages.

In different words, you should do a SERP study for topics your website hasn’t covered astatine all. As bully arsenic topics you’ve covered but not bully tin to thrust affirmative results.

Let’s opportunity you want to create a blog position astir “healthy vegan repast ideas” to tin a contented dispersed connected your website.

So, you hunt for that keyword to spot what's presently ranking:

Next, study nan contented to understand nan hunt intent (the logic users hunt a fixed query). 

This will springiness you a consciousness of what users are apt to find astir useful. And thief you spot gaps successful what’s presently ranking arsenic bully arsenic gaps successful your ain content. 

Some communal gaps you mightiness spot include:

• Recency: Content that's nary longer meticulous aliases applicable is simply a important gap. If nan group time is overmuch than 2 years old, it’s apt to beryllium outdated.
• Readability: Content should beryllium engaging and easy to read. Clear, well-structured, and easy digestible contented is amended for users and hunt engines.
• Expertise: Expertise is simply a information of Google’s Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) exemplary for contented quality. Audiences worthy erstwhile experts create aliases walk content. So, spot really you tin incorporated maestro position successful your content
• Experience: Google’s E-E-A-T exemplary too mentions nan worth of incorporating first-hand experience. For example, if you personification a reappraisal site, you should really effort nan products you're reviewing.
• Thoroughness: Content that isn’t thorough misses basal subtopics aliases doesn’t proviso tin accusation astir them. Filling these gaps tin group your contented isolated arsenic a adjuvant resource.

For example, nan existent apical results successful nan supra SERP personification 30-33 ideas. Maybe you could banal 50 ideas, relationship overmuch detail, aliases banal maestro connection from a nutritionist.

If you petition to analyse galore keywords astatine once, usage Semrush’s Keyword Overview instrumentality to analyse them successful bulk. A paid strategy lets you analyse up to 100 queries astatine once.

The study will springiness you a high-level overview of metrics specified arsenic hunt measurement and KD.

Then, you tin click connected each connection to spell to a overmuch elaborate report. And spot what ranks astatine nan apical of nan SERP by scrolling down to nan “SERP Analysis”section.

Fill Content Gaps and Track nan Results

The extremity of each contented dispersed study is to amended your site’s performance. 

Organic hunt rankings are a awesome measurement to support tabs connected performance, truthful make judge to measurement rankings for each page you create and improve.

Use Semrush’s Position Tracking instrumentality to show your regular rankings. 

You’ll spot immoderate important visibility drops connected your dashboard, truthful you tin analyse nan issues immediately.

For moreover overmuch insights, adhd your competitors to nan study and show their rankings alongside yours.

This position was updated successful 2025. Excerpts from nan original article by Marilyn Wilkinson whitethorn remain.