How to Find Competitor Keywords for Free
Free ways to see which keywords your competitors target, and how to turn that into pages that win.
Paid SEO tools can list thousands of keywords a competitor ranks for. You can learn most of what matters for free โ by reading what competitors publish and how Google responds to it.
1. Find your real search competitors
Search the five to ten phrases that matter most for your business. The sites that appear repeatedly are your search competitors, even if they are not your business rivals. See how to analyse competitor SEO.
2. Read their titles and headings
Page titles and H1s show the keyword each page targets. Open their main pages, category pages and blog index, and note the phrases they use. The free competitor comparison tool pulls titles, headings and other on-page signals for up to four sites side by side.
3. Use Google's site: search
Search site:competitor.com topic to see which of their pages Google associates with a topic. Their sitemap (often at /sitemap.xml) lists every page they consider important.
4. Check what Google suggests around their topics
Take the phrases you found and run them through Google autocomplete and "People also ask". This reveals related long-tail keywords they may not cover yet. Read how to find long-tail keywords.
5. Look for gaps
- Topics they cover thinly โ a short page where a full guide would help.
- Questions they never answer โ from "People also ask" or customer emails.
- Outdated pages โ old prices, past years, discontinued tools.
- Formats they lack โ a calculator, checklist or comparison table.
Measure content gaps against a subtopic list with the topical coverage calculator.
6. Turn findings into a plan
Group the keywords by intent, check you are not duplicating your own pages, and plan one strong page per group. Prioritise gaps where the current results are weak โ see how to find low-competition keywords.
Stay ethical
Learn from competitors; do not copy their content. Use the gaps to write something more useful in your own words, with your own experience.
A simple template for your notes
Keep one row per competitor page with these columns:
- URL and page type (guide, product, category, tool).
- Title tag and H1 โ the keyword it targets.
- Main subtopics covered.
- What is missing or weak.
- Your matching page, or "none yet".
- Action: improve, create or ignore.
After ten to twenty rows, patterns appear: topics every competitor covers (you need them too) and gaps none cover (your opportunity).
A worked example
A pet supplies store compared three competitors. All three had category pages for dog food, but none had a guide on "how much to feed a puppy by weight" โ a question that appeared in People also ask. The store published a clear guide with a feeding chart and linked it to its puppy food category, which gave it a page the competitors could not match.
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Frequently asked questions
Can I see exactly which keywords a competitor ranks for for free?
Not completely. Free methods show the topics and phrases they target; paid tools estimate full ranking lists.
How many competitors should I study?
Three to five search competitors usually reveal clear patterns.
Should I target exactly the same keywords?
Target the ones where you can offer a better answer, and the gaps they leave.
How often should I check competitor keywords?
Every few months, and when a competitor suddenly outranks you.