How can you use search results to select and analyze competing pages?

To select competing pages, first define the target keyword and search context. Then choose pages from the search results and compare the search intent they serve, their content structure, and their link profiles, rather than looking only for well-known brands. For a quick review, look for common features among the top five results; for a fuller assessment, examine the first page and its different result formats. The example below uses “best backpack for travel” as the target keyword. It assumes the goal is to create travel backpack comparison content for people in the United States searching Google in English on desktop. This is an analysis scenario, not a live ranking report.

Set the scope: top five for common features, first page for types of competition

For a quick analysis, a 2021 Screaming Frog article recommends searching for the core keyword, noting what the top five results have in common—such as videos, clear pricing, or shipping information—and then checking for gaps in your own content. This helps identify items worth investigating further, but it does not mean those shared features are the reasons the pages rank. (S3)

A 2024 Semrush article uses “best backpack for travel” to demonstrate a first-page review, listing Pack Hacker, The New York Times, Reddit, and Amazon. These were the results shown in the article at the time and should not be treated as the current results for the hypothetical scenario above. The example reminds us that search competitors may include publishers, forums, and e-commerce sites, not just brands in the same industry. (S5)

• If time is limited: compare the top five results first, looking for common features in content and presentation.
• If you are preparing to commit resources: expand the review to the first page to identify articles, product pages, reviews, and result formats such as ads and videos.

Read each page and check how thoroughly it covers the topic

Read the content before looking at tool data. A 2026 Semrush article suggests that heading structure, word count, repeated terms, and internal links can help identify specific differences, but no single detail can explain why a page performs well. (S4)

• Search intent: does the content help readers compare and choose backpacks, rather than simply introduce a brand?
• Content and structure: can readers easily find answers to purchasing questions? Are there product images, frequently asked questions, and relevant internal links?
• Content gaps: which questions do competing pages answer that your own page does not? Is information missing, or is it simply difficult to find?

These checks help you understand which topics a page covers, how well it meets search intent, and whether its structure is clear (S5). Once you identify differences, decide whether your own page needs improvement. Do not treat a higher word count or repeated terms as a ranking guarantee.

At Procrustes, our content services turn the questions that genuinely matter to clients into articles, with ongoing planning, writing, and updates.

Use links and traffic to assess competition, not just to match the numbers

Assess total backlinks and referring domains separately: the former may include multiple links from the same website, while the latter counts how many distinct websites link to the page. A 2024 Semrush article also emphasizes that the authority and diversity of linking websites deserve more attention than the total number of links. Page authority scores can help assess how difficult it may be to compete, but you still need to read the content. (S2)

Also consider what a competing page’s monthly organic search traffic measures: it includes traffic from all the keywords the page ranks for, not just the target keyword. You can examine other related keywords the page ranks for to find suitable topics to add, but you should not assume that optimizing your own page will necessarily bring it the same total traffic. (S2)