7 Proven Ways to Master SEMrush Competitor Analysis

By Eng Amjed / July 17, 2025

SEMrush competitor analysis is one of the most powerful strategies for identifying gaps in your SEO and outranking your rivals. Whether you’re a blogger, digital marketer, or business owner, mastering SEMrush tools can significantly boost your traffic, conversions, and content authority. In this article, you’ll learn exactly how to use SEMrush for competitor analysis and keyword research to dominate your niche and stay ahead of the competition.

Why SEMrush Is Essential for SEO Strategy

SEMrush is an all-in-one digital marketing suite trusted by over 10 million users worldwide. It offers comprehensive tools for SEO, keyword research, traffic analytics, and competitor insights.

Using SEMrush competitor analysis, you can:

• Discover what keywords drive traffic to your rivals
• Analyze their backlink strategy
• Evaluate their top-performing pages
• Uncover new content opportunities
• Benchmark your domain’s performance

In fact, according to Search Engine Journal, SEMrush is one of the most accurate and effective SEO platforms for real-time data analysis.

1. Start with the SEMrush Domain Overview Tool

To begin your SEMrush competitor analysis, use the Domain Overview tool. Simply enter a competitor’s domain and SEMrush will reveal:

• Authority score
• Organic vs. paid traffic
• Keyword distribution by country
• Top-performing organic keywords
• Referring domains and backlink profile

This snapshot gives you an instant understanding of how your competitor is performing and where their SEO strengths lie.

💡 Pro Tip: Compare multiple competitor domains side-by-side using the “Compare Domains” feature for a broader view of your market landscape.

2. Use Organic Research to Find Competitor Keywords

The Organic Research tool is central to SEMrush keyword research. After entering a domain, go to the Organic Research section to discover:

• Top organic keywords
• Keyword position changes
• SERP features (e.g., featured snippets, FAQs, local packs)
• Pages that bring the most traffic

This data is invaluable for building your content plan based on what’s already working for others.

How to use it:

• Filter by country or device
• Sort by traffic % or keyword difficulty
• Export top keywords into your editorial calendar

You’ll quickly uncover golden opportunities your competitors already rank for — and where you can outperform them.

3. Discover Gaps with the Keyword Gap Tool

Want to know what your competitors rank for that you don’t? Use the Keyword Gap tool.

Here’s how it works:

• Enter your domain and up to 4 competitors
• Select “Unique to competitors”
• Filter by keyword difficulty or search volume

The result? A refined list of keywords you’re missing, which your audience is already searching for. Prioritize these gaps in your content strategy to close the SEO gap fast.

Long-tail intent: how to do keyword research and competitor analysis using SEMrush

4. Analyze Competitor Backlinks with Backlink Analytics

Backlinks remain a vital SEO ranking factor. With SEMrush’s Backlink Analytics, you can reverse-engineer your competitor’s link-building strategy.

Features include:

• Referring domains and IPs
• Anchor text analysis
• Toxicity scores
• Follow vs. nofollow links
• New and lost backlinks over time

Use this data to:

• Reach out to the same referring domains
• Create link-worthy content based on high-authority sources
• Identify and avoid spammy link sources

According to Ahrefs, content with more backlinks ranks significantly higher — and SEMrush helps you build that edge.

5. Track Their Content Strategy via Top Pages

Using the Pages tab in Organic Research, you can see your competitor’s most visited URLs.

Look for:

• Blog posts or guides with long-tail keywords
• Evergreen content that consistently brings traffic
• Content with rich snippets (FAQs, reviews, how-to steps)

Analyze:

• Their word count
• Keyword density
• Structure and format
• Internal linking strategy

Then improve upon it in your own content with added value, visuals, or depth — this is known as the Skyscraper Technique.

6. Use SEMrush Traffic Analytics to Study Audience Behavior

The SEMrush Traffic Analytics tool reveals visitor behavior on competitor websites. You’ll learn:

• Total monthly traffic
• Bounce rate
• Average session duration
• Pages per visit
• Top traffic sources (organic, direct, referral, paid)

This helps you identify not just where their traffic comes from, but how users interact with it — essential for optimizing your own user experience.

Use filters to compare mobile vs. desktop performance or uncover hidden referral sources like niche directories or guest posts.

7. Benchmark Your SEO with Position Tracking

Once you’ve identified key competitor keywords, use SEMrush Position Tracking to monitor your own rankings.

Set up:

• A custom list of target keywords
• Competitor domains to track side-by-side
• Geographic and device-based segmentation

You’ll receive:

• Daily/weekly ranking updates
• Visibility score trends
• Alerts for SERP features gained or lost

Over time, this lets you evaluate whether your competitor analysis and keyword strategy is translating into real ranking improvements.

Combining Keyword Research & Competitor Analysis

To master SEMrush, don’t treat keyword research and competitor analysis as separate activities. Integrate them.

Here’s a streamlined workflow:

By combining all of the above, you create a data-backed SEO roadmap tailored to your industry.

Real Example: Beating a Competitor in 30 Days

Let’s say you run a Dubai-based digital agency and your competitor ranks #1 for “website design Dubai.”

You use:

• Domain Overview to identify their top-performing keywords
• Keyword Gap to find missing terms like “affordable website design UAE”
• Top Pages to reverse-engineer their most visited content
• Traffic Analytics to find that 60% of their users come from LinkedIn

You then:

• Create long-form, optimized blog posts around your missing keywords
• Build backlinks from the same referring domains
• Promote content via LinkedIn

In 30 days, you rank #3 for their main keyword and #1 for four long-tail variations. That’s SEMrush mastery in action.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

astering SEMrush competitor analysis is a game-changer for any business aiming to grow online. By leveraging the full capabilities of SEMrush — from domain insights to keyword gap analysis — you can create a content and SEO strategy that’s based on what’s proven to work.

Incorporate your findings into your blog, service pages, and link-building campaigns to attract high-intent traffic and outperform your competitors where it matters most — the search engine results page.

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