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Which Searches Are Your Competitors Winning? How to Find Your Keyword Gap
By the Groow team · · 5 min read
You vs. Oakline Comfort Co.
Most recommended
| Signal | You | Them |
|---|---|---|
| Services on Google profile | 5 | 12 |
| Google reviews | 140 | 312 |
| Reviews in last 90 days | 8 | 41 |
| Listed on Angi | No | Yes |
| Cost page on website | No | Yes |
5 gaps sent to Opportunities
The Google searches your competitors rank for and you don't are your clearest openings. How to find them, which ones to go after, and what to do next.
Your competitors' websites already show you what works in your market. Every search they rank for on Google, and you don't, is a customer who found them first. That list is called your keyword gap, and it's one of the most useful lists a business can have.
Why it matters for AI too
Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, and many AI assistants, read the same pages that rank in search. A competitor that ranks for “heat pump installation cost” is also more likely to be the page AI quotes when someone asks about it.
How to find it by hand
- List the services you sell and the towns you serve.
- Search Google for each one the way a customer would, like “furnace replacement Ankeny”.
- Note which competitors show up on page one, and whether you do.
- Add the searches where a competitor ranks and you don't to a list.
It works, but it's slow, and you only find the searches you thought to try. Your competitors may rank for questions you'd never guess.
Which searches to go after
- Ones about what you actually sell. Ranking for a search you can't serve brings the wrong visitors.
- Ones people really search for. A search with real monthly volume beats one with almost none.
- Ones you can realistically win. A search where small local businesses rank is easier than one owned by national brands.
- Ones close to a decision, like “cost”, “near me” or “best”, over general research.
What to do with each one
- Check whether you already have a page that should rank. If you do, improve it: answer the search in the first two sentences, add the specifics, link to it from your other pages.
- If you don't, write one page for that search, not one page for ten searches.
- Track where you rank each week, so you know when it's working.
How Groow does this for you
Groow's Keyword gap compares your site with up to four competitors on Google and lists the searches they rank for and you don't. “Relevant to you” keeps it to what you sell, and “Best openings” puts the searches with real demand that are easiest to win first. Save the ones that fit, and Groow checks where you rank for them every week, and whether Google's AI Overview cites you.
Want to know where you stand? Run the free AI scan.
