Competitor keyword research is the process of analyzing which keywords a competitor's site ranks for in Google search results, along with their positions and estimated traffic. With Direbase, you can research a competitor's ranking keywords by simply entering a domain (Basic plan and above, up to 30 times per month).
Knowing which keywords drive traffic to your competitors is the starting point of any SEO strategy. However, most keyword research tools are paid, costing anywhere from $10 to $100+ per month. Direbase's competitor keyword research tool is available on the Basic plan and above (up to 30 times per month). This guide covers how to use the tool, interpret the results, and turn insights into an actionable content strategy.
Why Competitor Keyword Research Matters
When starting SEO, most people create content around keywords they want to write about. But this risks wasting time on keywords with no search demand or burning out competing against dominant players.
Competitor keyword research lets you verify what's already working. When you can see which keywords drive traffic to successful sites and how much, you can efficiently prioritize which keywords to target.
What you learn from competitor keyword research
- Keywords where competitors rank in Google and their positions
- Monthly search volume and estimated traffic for each keyword
- Keywords your site doesn't yet cover (content gaps)
- Competitor content structure and per-page keyword strategy
"Researching keywords" means different tools for different goals
"I want to look up a site's keywords" can mean three different things. Whose site you're looking at, and at which stage, decides where the right data comes from.
| What you want to know | Tool | Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keywords bringing traffic to your own site | Google Search Console (Performance report) | Free. Google's own measured impressions, clicks, and average position | Only for sites you have verified |
| Keywords a competitor ranks for | Competitor keyword research (third-party database) | Works for sites whose Search Console you can't access | Estimates. Small sites return few keywords |
| Search volume and variations for keywords you plan to target | Keyword research (suggestions and search volume) | Shows demand and how people actually phrase the query | Doesn't tell you who ranks or how much traffic they get |
Look up your own site's keywords in Search Console
- Open your property in Search Console and select "Performance" (Search results) in the left menu
- Turn on "Average CTR" and "Average position" at the top, and set the date range (e.g. last 28 days)
- The "Queries" tab in the table lists the search terms your site appeared for. Sort by impressions
- To focus on one page, add a filter with "+ New" → "Page" and enter its URL
- Very rare queries are hidden to protect user privacy, which is why the table total can be lower than the chart total
For your own site, Search Console's measured data beats any third-party estimate. To turn what you find into page improvements, see How to Boost Rankings by Rewriting Content. To explore search volume and phrasing for new targets, use the keyword research tool. The rest of this guide covers the second case: competitor keywords.
How to Research Competitor Keywords with Direbase
Open the Keyword Tool
Log in to Direbase and click "Keyword Research" in the header. Select the "Competitor KW" tab.
Enter a competitor domain
Enter the competitor's URL (e.g. https://competitor.com) or domain and click "Analyze". If you enter a URL, the domain is extracted automatically.
Analyze the results
Ranking keywords, search positions, monthly search volume, and estimated traffic are displayed in a table. Click column headers to sort.
How to Read the Results
The results table has 5 columns. Here's what each means and how to use it.
Keyword
Keywords where the competitor site ranks in Google's top 100. Keywords your site doesn't yet cover represent 'content gaps' — candidates for new content.
Ranking Page
The URL path of the page ranking for that keyword. Understanding which pages capture which keywords helps inform your content structure.
Monthly Search Vol.
Estimated monthly search volume on Google. Higher volume means more potential traffic, but also stronger competition.
Est. Traffic
Estimated monthly organic traffic from that keyword, calculated from search position and volume. Higher-ranking keywords with large volume drive the most traffic.
Search Position
The competitor's current search ranking for that keyword. Positions 1–3 have significantly higher CTR and capture the majority of clicks.
Before you read the numbers: where the data comes from
Estimated traffic = search volume × CTR for the position
Our data provider DataForSEO describes estimated traffic (etv) as the product of CTR and search volume (DataForSEO documentation, checked 2026-10-08). It is not an actual click count, so use it to compare keywords against each other, not to size a competitor's business.
Positions count organic results only
The position shown counts only organic results, excluding ads, AI Overviews, video packs, and similar features. Because those features sit above the organic results, a "#3" can appear much further down the screen.
English uses U.S. Google data; Japanese uses Japan
Searching from the English interface targets U.S. results, and the Japanese interface targets Japan. That's why the same domain returns different keywords when you switch languages.
Basic's "top 20" means the 20 highest-ranking keywords
Within your plan's limit, keywords are returned in order of search position — not by estimated traffic. A high-volume keyword where the competitor sits mid-page may only appear in Pro's top 100.
The database updates weekly
DataForSEO updates its data weekly (same documentation), so ranking moves from the last few days may not be reflected yet. For your own site's latest movement, check Search Console.
Building a Content Strategy from Competitor Keywords
Find content gaps
Identify keywords where competitors rank but your site has no coverage. Keywords with 500+ monthly searches where the competitor ranks below position 10 are prime targets — if even they can't crack the top 10, quality content can leapfrog them.
Prioritize by estimated traffic
Sort by estimated traffic, not just search volume. A keyword ranked #1 with 500 monthly searches can drive more actual traffic than one ranked #50 with 10,000 monthly searches.
Study competitor content structure
Check the ranking page column to analyze how competitors structure their content. When one page ranks for multiple keywords, it's likely functioning as a pillar page in a topic cluster strategy.
Focus on long-tail keywords
Keywords with 100–500 monthly searches and 3+ words (long-tail) face less competition and are achievable even for sites with lower domain authority. Build traffic steadily with long-tail keywords first, then target more competitive terms as your domain grows.
For the technique of expanding researched keywords into pages at scale, see What Is Programmatic SEO? How It Works, Examples & When to Use It.
If you want to compare not just competitor keywords but the SEO score gap against rival sites directly, the competitor SEO comparison tool lets you audit up to 6 sites — including your own — side by side across structured data, meta tags, content, and technical SEO.
Usage Limits by Plan
Competitor keyword research is available on the Basic plan and above. The number of monthly searches and displayed keywords varies by plan.
| Plan | Searches | Keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Basic ($20/month) | 30/month | Top 20 |
| Pro ($65/month) | 100/month | Top 100 |
