A content gap analysis identifies topics and keywords your competitors rank for that you do not cover. These gaps represent proven traffic opportunities — if competitors are getting traffic from these keywords, you can too by creating better content on the same topics.
Types of Content Gaps
- Keyword gaps: Keywords competitors rank for that you do not target
- Topic gaps: Subject areas competitors cover that are absent from your site
- Format gaps: Content types competitors use (videos, tools, infographics) that you have not created
- Funnel gaps: Stages of the buyer journey where you lack content (awareness, consideration, decision)
- Quality gaps: Topics where your existing content is weaker than competitors’
How to Do a Content Gap Analysis
Step 1: Identify Your Competitors
Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to find sites that rank for the same keywords you target. Focus on 3-5 competitors with the most keyword overlap.
Step 2: Run a Keyword Gap Report
- Ahrefs Content Gap: Enter your domain and competitor domains to find keywords they rank for but you do not
- SEMrush Keyword Gap: Compare up to 5 domains side by side to identify shared and unique keywords
- Filter results by search volume (100+) and keyword difficulty appropriate for your site
Step 3: Categorize and Prioritize Gaps
- High priority: High volume + high business relevance + achievable difficulty
- Medium priority: Moderate volume + relevant topics + moderate difficulty
- Low priority: Low volume or tangentially relevant topics
- Also flag quality gaps where you have content but it underperforms compared to competitors
Step 4: Create a Content Plan
For each gap, determine the best approach:
- New content: Topics you have not covered at all need new pages
- Content updates: Topics where your existing content is weaker need refreshes and expansion
- Content consolidation: Sometimes multiple thin pages should be merged into one comprehensive resource
Content Gap Analysis Template
Track your gap analysis in a spreadsheet with these columns:
- Keyword/topic
- Monthly search volume
- Keyword difficulty
- Competitor URLs that rank
- Your existing URL (if any)
- Gap type (missing, quality, format)
- Priority (high/medium/low)
- Action (create new, update existing, consolidate)
- Assigned to / target date
How Often to Run Gap Analysis
- Quarterly: Full competitive gap analysis to identify new opportunities
- Monthly: Quick check on competitor new content to spot emerging topics
- After major algorithm updates: Gaps may shift when rankings change