Competitor Research reveals exactly what keywords your competitors are ranking for, including their positions, estimated traffic, and the specific URLs that rank. This is ClearSERP's most detailed research mode for competitive intelligence and opportunity discovery.
What is Competitor Research?
Research Mode Overview
Competitor Research shows you exactly which keywords a competitor is ranking for, along with their position, estimated traffic, and the specific ranking URL. This provides the most detailed competitive intelligence available through comprehensive analysis.
What You Get
- • Exact keywords competitors rank for
- • Current ranking positions (1-100)
- • Estimated monthly organic traffic per keyword
- • Specific ranking URLs
- • Search volume, CPC, and difficulty data
- • Search intent classification
What You Don't Get
- • SERP weakness detection
- • Domain scores for ranking pages
- • Individual SERP result analysis
- • KeywordScore calculation
- • Content quality analysis
Competitor Input Requirements
Supported Input Formats
Competitor Research accepts both domain names and specific URLs, giving you flexibility to analyze entire sites or specific sections.
Domain Analysis Examples:
example.com→ All keywords the entire domain ranks forwww.example.com→ Same as above (www is handled automatically)https://example.com→ Full domain analysis
Specific URL Analysis Examples:
example.com/blog→ Keywords that blog section ranks forhttps://example.com/products/category→ Specific category performanceexample.com/specific-page→ Individual page analysis
Competitor-Specific Data Fields
Additional Data Columns
Competitor Research includes three unique data fields not available in other research modes.
Rank Position
The exact ranking position (1-100) where the competitor appears for each keyword.
Est Traffic
Estimated monthly organic traffic the competitor receives from each keyword.
Ranking URL
The specific URL/page that ranks for each keyword.
Standard Research Data Also Included:
- • Keyword phrase
- • Search volume
- • Cost-per-click (CPC)
- • Keyword difficulty
- • Search intent
Result Limits and Credit Costs
Available Result Limits
Credit Refunds: If fewer results are found than your limit, you'll automatically receive a proportional credit refund. Large, established competitors typically have thousands of ranking keywords.
Sorting Options
Competitor-Specific Sorting
Competitor Research includes unique sorting options based on the additional ranking data available.
Standard Sort Options:
- • Search Volume: High to low or low to high
- • Keyword Difficulty: Easy to hard or hard to easy
- • Cost Per Click: High to low or low to high
- • Alphabetical: A-Z or Z-A
Competitor-Specific Sorts:
- • Rank Position: Best ranks first (1,2,3...) or worst first
- • Est Traffic: Highest traffic keywords first (default)
Advanced Filtering Options
Competitor Research Filters
Competitor Research includes all standard filters plus three unique filters based on the additional ranking data available.
Standard Filters
Content Filters:
- • Contains/Doesn't contain specific terms
- • Search volume ranges
- • Cost-per-click ranges
- • Keyword difficulty ranges
Intent Filters:
- • Informational keywords
- • Commercial keywords
- • Transactional keywords
- • Navigational keywords
Competitor-Specific Filters
Rank Range Filter
Filter by ranking position (1-100) to focus on specific performance tiers.
Strategy: Filter for ranks 1-10 to see their best-performing keywords, or ranks 11-30 to find keywords where they're vulnerable to being outranked.
Est Traffic Range Filter
Filter by estimated monthly organic traffic to focus on high-value opportunities.
Use case: Set minimum traffic filters (e.g., over 100 visits/month) to identify keywords that are actually driving meaningful traffic to competitors.
URL Filter
Filter keywords by the ranking URL path to analyze specific page types or sections.
Examples: Filter for URLs containing "/blog" to see content keywords, or "/product" to see commercial keywords, or exclude certain sections entirely.
Understanding Your Results
Analyzing Competitor Performance
High-Traffic Keywords (500+ monthly visits):
These are the competitor's most valuable keywords. They represent proven opportunities where the competitor is successfully capturing significant organic traffic.
Top 10 Rankings (positions 1-10):
Keywords where competitors rank in the top 10 show their strengths. Analyze the ranking URLs to understand what types of content perform well for these terms.
Lower Rankings (positions 11-50):
These represent potential opportunities where competitors have some visibility but could be outranked with better content or optimization.
Strategic Use Cases
Content Gap Analysis
Identify keywords where competitors rank well but you don't have content targeting those terms.
Analysis Process:
- 1. Filter for high-traffic keywords (over 100 monthly visits)
- 2. Look for keywords relevant to your business but missing from your content
- 3. Analyze the ranking URLs to understand content requirements
- 4. Plan content that can compete with or surpass competitor pages
Vulnerability Analysis
Find keywords where competitors rank in positions 11-30, indicating potential opportunities to outrank them.
Target Criteria:
- • Ranks 11-30 (page 2-3)
- • High search volume
- • Relevant to your business
- • Reasonable difficulty score
Next Steps:
- • Run full SERP analysis on these keywords
- • Look for weaknesses in current top 10
- • Create superior content targeting these terms
Traffic Source Analysis
Understand which keywords drive the most organic traffic to competitors, revealing their most valuable content areas.
Insight: Keywords with high estimated traffic but moderate search volume often indicate excellent ranking positions. These show where competitors have achieved strong SEO performance.
Competitor Research Best Practices
Effective Analysis Strategy
Competitor Selection:
- • Start with direct competitors in your niche
- • Include successful sites in adjacent markets
- • Analyze both large and mid-sized competitors
- • Research specific high-performing pages/sections
Data Analysis:
- • Focus on high-traffic keywords first
- • Analyze ranking URL patterns
- • Look for content format trends
- • Identify consistent performance themes
- • Focusing only on keywords you already know about
- • Ignoring the ranking URLs and only looking at keyword data
- • Not filtering for minimum traffic thresholds
- • Analyzing competitors that are too dissimilar to your business
- • Not following up with full SERP analysis on promising opportunities
Research History & Data Preservation
Automatic Research Preservation
Every competitor research session is automatically saved to your Research History, preserving detailed competitive intelligence for ongoing analysis.
What's Automatically Saved:
- • Complete keyword ranking data with positions
- • Estimated traffic values for each keyword
- • Specific ranking URLs for every result
- • Competitor target and research parameters
- • All filter settings and sort configurations
Research History Features:
- • Track competitor performance over time
- • Compare different competitors side-by-side
- • Monitor ranking changes and traffic shifts
- • Organize competitive intelligence by campaign
- • Access detailed competitor data anytime
Ready to Analyze Your Competition?
Start uncovering exactly what keywords your competitors rank for and discover opportunities to outperform them in search results.