1. 5th June 2013
Competitor Keyword Research for SEO
by Jason Mun
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2. JasonMun.com
Introduction
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2005
2008
2009
2011
2012
2013
Systems Analyst
Web Analyst
Senior SEO Specialist
Senior Search Specialist
SEO Manager
Independent SEO Consultant Brands I’ve worked on…
@jasonmun
plus.google.com/110294128730059915083
Jasonmun.com

3. JasonMun.com
Spy on Competitors…
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1. Data Gathering – Tools of the Trade
2. Analyse Data & Metrics
3. Filter & Categorise
4. Adapt & Execute

4. JasonMun.com
Data Gathering – Tools of the Trade
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5. JasonMun.com
SEMrush – Paid Tool
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Enter URL
Select Organic > Positions
Number of keywords
ranking in Top 20
Export data in to
CSV
OUCH!
Link: www.semrush.com

6. JasonMun.com
SEMrush – Data Export
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Keep these Don’t need these
Use these URLs with
Google Keyword Tool
Content Ideas!

7. JasonMun.com
Google Keyword Tool
7Link: https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool
Make sure you are
logged in
Enter URL here
Set targeting
options
Use exact
match
Sort by local
monthly searches
Download data in
to CSV
Repeat process with other URLs (deep pages)

8. JasonMun.com
Google Keyword Tool – Data Export
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Use Find & Replace to
remove square
brackets
Don’t need these

9. JasonMun.com
Screaming Frog – Free & Paid
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Enter URL
Screaming Frog scrapes the
following information
Link: http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/

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Meta Keywords a Dead Giveaway
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Select meta
keywords
Keywords that competitors
are targeting
Pro Tip: Remove the meta keywords tag if you are still using them
Export data in to
CSV

11. JasonMun.com
Titles, Descriptions & Headings
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Repeat process with page titles, meta
descriptions & header tags

12. JasonMun.com
Screaming Frog – Data Export
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Use some Excel wizardy and clean up the data!

13. JasonMun.com
Open Site Explorer - Paid
13Link: http://www.opensiteexplorer.org
Enter URL
Select this
tab
Choose this option
Export data in to
CSV
This will tell you what keywords competitors are
focussing on for link building

14. JasonMun.com
Open Site Explorer – Data Export
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Use Excel filtering
options to remove
brand, URL, img & noise
What’s left are commercial anchor text links

15. JasonMun.com
Analyse Data & Gather Metrics
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Merge all CSV exports in
to a Master spreadsheet
De-dupe the
keyword list
Missing data from
Screaming Frog & OSE

16. JasonMun.com
Gather Missing Search Volume
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Filter list by
“Blank” search
volume
Paste keywords
here in 2.5k
batches
PRO Tip:
If you have access to the Google Adwords API, use SEOgadget’s Excel Plugin
http://seogadget.com/google-adwords-plugin-excel/

17. JasonMun.com
Categorise & Filter Keyword List
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Categorise keywords
(product type, location,
brand, etc)
Determine keyword
relevancy to your brand

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Filter, Cull & Shortlist
Here are some pointers to help with the filtering process:
• Is the keyword relevant to my brand?
• Do we have the product/service/content to support
that keyword?
• Can we create content around that keyword?
• Do not ignore low volume keywords, they could be
content ideas
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Taking It Further
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Add the shortlist of keywords in to your favourite keyword ranking tool – Check
how your competitors are ranking

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Use Excel to Visualise & Analyse
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Excel pivot tables and charts are your best friends!
Ranking well on low
volume & longer tail
keywords
Ranking well on high
search volume keywords

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Apply Findings to Your Own Website
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Reprioritise your
SEO efforts
Optimise on-site &
off-site based on
findings
Add to existing
content
plan/calendar
Plan for growth

22. JasonMun.com
Thank You!
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@jasonmun
plus.google.com/110294128730059915083
Jasonmun.com

23. JasonMun.com
Credits & Links
Thanks to:
Slide 1 – http://www.honeybar.com.au
Slide 3 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/anonymous9000/2663313056/sizes/o/in/photostream/
Slide 4 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/
Slide 21 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/krasimira_nevenova/
Slide 22 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/23679420@N00/
Useful Links:
http://www.semrush.com
https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool
http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
http://www.opensiteexplorer.org
http://seogadget.com/google-adwords-plugin-excel/
http://www.advancedwebranking.com/
http://www.rankerizer.com/
http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank-checker/
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