How can you turn competitors’ keywords into content that fits your business?

Turning competitors’ keywords into your own content is not about copying a keyword list. Start by selecting terms that fit your business and your audience’s needs. Then identify the answers and page formats searchers need, along with the content gaps you can fill. Competitors’ rankings can suggest topics to explore, but an approach that works for one website may not suit another. Copying it does not guarantee the same results.

Find your competitors in search results, then examine their content

Backlinko recommends starting with keywords potential customers would search for and recording the websites that rank for them. These search competitors are not necessarily direct business competitors; they may also be media outlets or informational websites.

When examining their content, look beyond the words they use to their titles, the topics they cover, and how they organize their navigation. A 2023 article by yesharris notes that competitive conditions differ across industries, websites, and keywords. Shared practices can offer research leads, but should not automatically be treated as the reasons those sites rank.

Narrow the keyword list to topics you can address well

According to tenten’s 2024 overview, you can group similar keywords by shared topic, then filter them according to your business goals and audience needs, rather than pursuing every keyword your competitors rank for. As an initial check, ask:

• Is this question relevant to your products, services, or expertise?
• Does your audience need this kind of answer, or does the search volume simply look high?
• With your current resources, can you provide more valuable content than the existing pages?

At Procrustes, we plan, write, and update articles around the questions our clients genuinely care about, and continue this work over time.

For growing brands with limited resources, competing for high-volume, high-difficulty keywords can be challenging. In that case, Backlinko recommends starting with topics within their expertise that have reasonable search volume and less competition.

Confirm search intent before choosing an article or a product page

After selecting priority keywords, examine the types of pages currently ranking before deciding on a content format. Not every keyword calls for a how-to article. Using a vegan vitamin keyword with commercial intent as an example, Backlinko recommends reviewing the search results, then creating a landing page that lists relevant products and provides valuable, in-depth content.

You can also find topics by focusing on audiences competitors have overlooked. For example, if a competitor focuses on “best vegan protein powder” and you genuinely offer affordable products, you could research the needs of budget-conscious shoppers rather than simply changing the title and rewriting the same recommendation list. Once you have selected your topics and formats, add them to your content calendar.

Use reviews to find gaps, but make comparisons only when justified

Customer reviews may contain natural phrasing that keyword tools have not captured. If reviews report difficulties importing and exporting data, and your software genuinely addresses those issues, you could research related long-tail queries and plan how-to articles or comparison pages. A complaint alone does not justify claiming that your product is better.

There are also differing views on whether to include branded keywords. A 2023 article by tenten advocates excluding them, while Screaming Frog’s event recap from the same year suggests using competitor-related content to highlight your strengths. Both are strategic recommendations, not platform rules. The choice should depend on whether the content is intended to cover general topics or compare alternatives.