Competitor Analysis with Semrush: A Practical Guide
Understanding what your competitors are doing online can help you make better decisions about your own marketing. Semrush brings together tools for researching organic search, paid advertising, backlinks and content, making it easier to spot opportunities and compare performance.
This guide explains how to carry out competitor analysis with Semrush, what to look for and how to turn your findings into an actionable plan.
What is competitor analysis?
Competitor analysis is the process of examining other businesses that compete for the same customers, search visibility or advertising audience. It can reveal which topics they target, where their website traffic comes from, how they earn links and what kinds of paid campaigns they run.
In Semrush, you can explore these areas using tools such as Domain Overview, Organic Research, Keyword Gap, Backlink Analytics and Advertising Research. The exact data available can depend on your subscription, database and the domain being analysed.
Choose the right competitors
Start by identifying businesses that genuinely compete with you online. These may not be the same as your closest commercial rivals. A website can compete with you in search results even if it sells a different product, simply because it answers the same questions or targets the same keywords.
Make a shortlist of three to five domains. Include:
- Direct competitors: businesses offering similar products or services to the same audience.
- Search competitors: websites that rank for the topics and keywords you want to target.
- Content competitors: publishers, guides or review sites that attract your audience’s attention.
To find potential search competitors, enter your domain in Semrush’s Organic Research tool and review the competitors report. Treat the results as a starting point: check that each domain is relevant to your market, location and business goals.
Get an overview of each domain
Use Domain Overview to build an initial picture of a competitor’s online visibility. Depending on the available data, you can review estimated organic and paid traffic, ranking keywords, referring domains and changes over time.
These figures are estimates rather than a competitor’s verified analytics. Use them to identify patterns and questions to investigate, not as exact measures of sales or revenue. For instance, a rise in estimated visibility may suggest that a competitor has expanded its search presence, but it does not reveal how profitable that traffic is.
Analyse organic search performance
Organic Research helps you examine the keywords for which a competitor ranks and the pages receiving search visibility. Look for:
- Keywords where the competitor ranks strongly but your site does not.
- Pages that appear to attract a large share of its organic visibility.
- Topics covered by several competitors but missing from your site.
- Changes in rankings that could point to new content or a shift in strategy.
When reviewing a page, consider its purpose and quality as well as its position. Is it a product page, a comparison guide or an informational article? Does it answer the searcher’s question clearly? The aim is not to copy a competitor’s page, but to understand why it may be useful to its audience and how your own content could serve that audience better.
Find keyword opportunities with Keyword Gap
The Keyword Gap tool compares keyword profiles across your domain and selected competitors. It can help you find terms that competitors rank for but your site does not, as well as keywords where you already have visibility and may be able to improve.
Use filters to focus on realistic opportunities. Consider search intent, relevance to your products or services, ranking difficulty, and whether your site has a suitable page for the topic. A high search volume alone does not make a keyword valuable. A more specific query with clear purchase intent may be more useful than a broad term that attracts visitors who are unlikely to become customers.
Before creating a new page, check the search results and your existing content. You may be able to improve an existing page rather than publish another one covering the same subject.
Review competitors’ backlinks
Backlink Analytics can help you investigate the websites linking to a competitor. Reviewing these links may show how other businesses earn coverage, build partnerships or create resources that people choose to reference.
Look for relevant, credible referring websites and patterns in the types of pages they link to. For example, links might point to research, useful tools, expert commentary or detailed guides. Prioritise opportunities that make sense for your organisation and audience. Avoid treating every competitor backlink as a link to pursue: relevance and editorial value matter more than simply increasing the number of links.
Investigate paid search activity
If paid search is part of your marketing, Advertising Research can provide insight into competitors’ paid keywords and ad copy. This can help you understand which products or offers they promote and how they position their messages.
Use this information for research rather than imitation. A competitor’s ad may reflect a different audience, budget or business model. Test your own messaging and landing pages, and assess performance using your campaign data.
Turn your research into an action plan
Competitor analysis is useful only when it informs decisions. Summarise your findings in a simple table, recording the competitor, the opportunity, the evidence and the next step. For example:
- Opportunity: Several competitors rank for a relevant comparison topic.
- Evidence: Keyword Gap shows relevant terms, and the search results include comparison pages.
- Action: Create or improve a comparison page with accurate, original information.
- Measure: Track rankings, organic visits and meaningful conversions over time.
Prioritise actions by relevance, potential impact, effort and confidence. A long list of keywords or backlinks is not a strategy; a short list of well-supported actions is more likely to lead to progress.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Choosing the wrong competitors: A large brand may have little relevance to your audience or market.
- Treating estimates as exact figures: Semrush data is useful for comparison, but it is not a substitute for your own analytics.
- Chasing every keyword: Focus on terms that match your expertise and business objectives.
- Copying competitors: Use their activity to identify gaps and improve your own offer, not to reproduce their content.
- Ignoring search intent: A page should meet the needs behind a query, not merely include the target phrase.
- Doing the analysis once: Competitors and search results change, so revisit your research regularly.
How often should you carry out competitor analysis?
For many organisations, a detailed review every few months is a sensible starting point, with lighter checks when launching a product, entering a new market or planning a major campaign. The right frequency depends on how quickly your industry changes and how actively competitors update their marketing.
Keep a record of your findings and compare like with like over time. Consistent tracking can help distinguish a genuine trend from a short-term fluctuation in estimated data or rankings.
Final thoughts
Semrush can make competitor analysis more structured by bringing search, keyword, backlink and advertising research into one workflow. The most useful results come from asking focused questions, checking that each competitor is relevant and turning the data into practical actions.
Use Semrush to guide your research, then validate opportunities with your own website data, customer knowledge and understanding of the market. That combination can help you build a search strategy that is informed by competitors while remaining distinctive to your business.
8 Essential Tips for Competitor Analysis Using Semrush
- Use Semrush’s Organic Research to find competitors ranking for your target keywords.
- Compare your domain with up to four rivals using Keyword Gap.
- Check Traffic Analytics to estimate competitors’ traffic sources.
- Review top pages to spot content that attracts visitors.
- Track keyword rankings to identify changing strengths.
- Use Backlink Analytics to uncover competitors’ link sources.
- Filter keyword gaps by intent, volume and difficulty.
- Repeat your analysis regularly to catch new opportunities.
Use Semrush’s Organic Research to find competitors ranking for your target keywords.
Use Semrush’s Organic Research tool to discover which websites rank for the keywords you want to target. Enter a relevant domain, then review its organic competitors and ranking pages to find sites competing for similar search visibility. Check that each result is genuinely relevant to your audience and market, as some may be publishers or directories rather than direct business rivals. This gives you a useful shortlist to investigate further and can reveal topics and search terms worth exploring.
Compare your domain with up to four rivals using Keyword Gap.
Use Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool to compare your domain with up to four competitors and quickly spot keywords they rank for that you may be missing. Filter the results by factors such as search intent, ranking position and keyword difficulty to focus on relevant opportunities your site can realistically target. Then check the search results and your existing pages before deciding whether to improve current content or create something new.
Check Traffic Analytics to estimate competitors’ traffic sources.
Use Semrush’s Traffic Analytics tool to estimate where competitors’ website visits come from, such as direct, referral, search, social media or paid campaigns. Comparing these sources can help you spot which channels appear to play the biggest role in their marketing and identify areas worth investigating for your own strategy. Traffic figures are estimates, so treat them as directional insights rather than exact results, and validate opportunities against your own analytics and business goals.
Review top pages to spot content that attracts visitors.
Use Semrush’s Organic Research tool to review your competitors’ top pages and see which content attracts the most estimated organic traffic. Look for patterns in the topics, formats and search intent behind these pages, then consider how your own site could meet the same audience needs with more useful, original or up-to-date content. Treat traffic figures as estimates, and check that each opportunity is relevant to your business before adding it to your content plan.
Track keyword rankings to identify changing strengths.
Track keyword rankings in Semrush to see where competitors are gaining or losing visibility over time. Changes can reveal emerging strengths, such as improved rankings for valuable topics, or areas where a competitor may be slipping. Compare these movements with your own rankings, then investigate the pages and search intent behind them. Use the insights to prioritise content updates and new opportunities, rather than reacting to every short-term fluctuation.
Use Backlink Analytics to uncover competitors’ link sources.
Use Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool to see which websites link to your competitors and identify potential opportunities for your own site. Look for relevant, trustworthy sources and explore why they linked—perhaps to a useful guide, original research or expert commentary. Focus on relationships and content that would genuinely benefit your audience rather than trying to replicate every competitor backlink.
Filter keyword gaps by intent, volume and difficulty.
When using Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool, filter opportunities by search intent, search volume and keyword difficulty to focus your efforts. Prioritise terms that match your audience’s needs and your business goals, attract enough searches to be worthwhile, and offer a realistic chance of ranking. This helps you avoid chasing popular but highly competitive keywords—or easy terms that are unlikely to bring relevant visitors.
Repeat your analysis regularly to catch new opportunities.
Repeat your Semrush competitor analysis regularly to spot changes in rankings, keywords, backlinks and advertising activity. Competitors may enter new markets, publish fresh content or gain visibility for terms you have overlooked. Reviewing the data every few months—and after major changes in your industry—can reveal new opportunities and help you adjust your strategy before those opportunities are missed.
