How to Find Competitor Keywords and See Who Is Bidding on Them

Your competitors may be targeting valuable search terms that you have never considered.

Some of those terms may bring organic traffic. Others may be attracting customers through Google Ads. The interesting part is that competitor research can reveal both opportunities at the same time.

By studying competitors keywords, you can discover topics worth creating content around, commercial terms worth targeting, and search queries where other businesses are already spending money.

But there is an important distinction: seeing that a competitor ranks for a keyword is not the same as proving that they are bidding on it. Organic competitor research and paid-search competitor analysis use different data sources.

This guide explains how to find competitor keywords, how to identify businesses bidding on search terms, and how to turn that information into a practical SEO and paid-search strategy.

What Are Competitor Keywords?

Competitor keywords are search terms that your competitors are ranking for, targeting in their content, or potentially using in paid advertising campaigns.

For example, imagine you operate an SEO agency in Canada.

A competitor might rank for terms such as:

You don’t need to copy their entire strategy.

Instead, competitor keyword research helps you identify gaps between your current visibility and theirs.

The goal is to answer three questions:

  1. Which keywords are competitors targeting?
  2. Which of those keywords are commercially valuable?
  3. Which opportunities can we realistically compete for?

That last question matters most.

A keyword with thousands of searches isn’t automatically a good keyword. Relevance, intent, competition, location, and conversion potential all need to be considered.

Why Competitor Keyword Research Matters

Traditional keyword research usually starts with your own business.

You enter a few seed terms into a keyword tool, review suggestions, and build a list.

Competitor research adds another layer.

Instead of asking only, “What might people search for?”, you’re also asking:

“What searches are already generating visibility for businesses like mine?”

This can uncover:

For businesses that don’t have a large internal SEO team, professional keyword research services can also help turn this information into a structured keyword strategy rather than a large spreadsheet of disconnected phrases.

competitor analysis SEO marketing

How to Find Competitor Keywords

There isn’t one perfect method. The strongest research usually combines several approaches.

1. Start With Your Main Search Terms

Begin with the keywords that describe your products or services.

For a Canadian link-building company, examples might include:

Search these terms in Google and examine the businesses appearing prominently.

Don’t immediately assume that every result is a direct competitor.

Look for businesses that:

Create a shortlist of genuine competitors before moving deeper into the research.

2. Study the Competitor’s Website

Once you have a competitor list, examine their website systematically.

Start with their:

Look for repeated topics and phrases.

For example, if several competitors have dedicated pages targeting “local SEO link building,” that is a stronger signal than seeing the phrase mentioned once in a blog article.

Pay particular attention to pages that appear designed to generate leads.

These pages often reveal commercially important keyword themes.

3. Use a Keyword Research Tool

SEO platforms can make competitor analysis significantly faster.

Depending on the tool, you may be able to enter a competitor’s domain and review estimated organic keywords, ranking pages, keyword positions, traffic estimates, and related information.

Popular tools include:

Don’t treat third-party traffic or ranking estimates as exact numbers. They are useful for identifying patterns and opportunities, but they aren’t the same as your own first-party performance data.

The best approach is to use them for discovery, then validate important opportunities using your own data and actual search results.

4. Look for Keyword Gaps

One of the most useful competitor research techniques is a keyword gap analysis.

Suppose:

You don’t need to pursue every missing keyword.

Instead, identify keywords that are:

Relevant + achievable + commercially useful.

For example, you may discover that several competitors rank for:

Canadian link building services

but your site has no dedicated page for the topic.

That could represent a content or landing-page opportunity.

A gap becomes especially interesting when multiple competitors rank for the same keyword but your website does not.

How to Search Keywords on a Web Page

Sometimes you don’t need an expensive SEO tool.

If you want to know how to search keywords on web page, your browser already provides a simple option.

On Windows

Press:

Ctrl + F

On Mac

Press:

Command + F

Then enter the word or phrase you’re researching.

For example, if you’re reviewing a competitor’s article about SEO, search for:

Your browser will highlight matching words on the page.

This method is useful for quick research, but remember its limitation: it only tells you whether a phrase appears on the visible page content. It does not tell you whether that phrase generates organic traffic, has significant search volume, or is being used as a Google Ads keyword.

For deeper research, you need keyword and advertising data.

keyword research analytics laptop

How to Find Out Who Is Bidding on a Keyword

This is where SEO and PPC research become different.

If you search a keyword on Google and see sponsored results, you can identify businesses currently advertising around that search.

However, one manual Google search should not be treated as definitive evidence of a competitor’s entire PPC strategy.

Ads can vary based on:

For more structured information, Google Ads provides Auction Insights.

The report allows advertisers to compare their performance with other advertisers participating in the same auctions. For Search campaigns, it can provide metrics such as impression share, overlap rate, position above rate, and top-of-page rate.

This makes Auction Insights much more useful than simply searching Google once and writing down the ads you see.

Google Ads PPC keyword research

Use Google Keyword Planner to Investigate Paid Opportunities

Google Keyword Planner is another useful resource.

Google says Keyword Planner can help discover keyword ideas, estimate monthly searches, and provide estimates related to the cost of targeting keywords.

You can start with a competitor’s website or with keywords related to your own business.

For example:

Seed keyword:

backlink services

You might discover related terms such as:

You can then evaluate which terms are relevant enough to investigate further.

Google also allows Keyword Planner results to be refined using factors such as search volume, competition, keyword text, and top-of-page bid ranges.

That can help you separate broad keyword ideas from terms with stronger commercial potential.

Don’t Confuse PPC Competition With SEO Competition

This is one of the biggest mistakes in competitor keyword research.

Google Ads competition and organic SEO competition are not the same thing.

A keyword can have:

High PPC competition + relatively low organic competition

or:

Low PPC competition + extremely difficult organic competition.

The reasons are simple.

Different businesses may invest differently in advertising and SEO. A company might aggressively bid on a keyword but have little organic visibility. Another company might rank organically for a valuable term without running ads.

Therefore, evaluate both channels separately.

For SEO, examine:

For PPC, examine:

This gives you a much clearer competitive picture.

How to Turn Competitor Keywords Into an SEO Strategy

Finding keywords is only the beginning.

Once you’ve collected your list, organize it into groups.

Group 1: Informational Keywords

These are searches where people are looking for answers.

Examples:

These keywords are often good candidates for blog content and educational guides.

Group 2: Commercial Keywords

These users are researching potential solutions.

Examples:

Comparison pages, detailed guides, and service-focused content can work well here.

Group 3: Transactional Keywords

These searches indicate stronger purchase intent.

Examples:

These terms may be better suited to service or landing pages than general blog posts.

Look Beyond Exact-Match Keywords

Competitor research should not become a hunt for exact phrases.

Search engines understand topics and relationships between concepts.

If your main topic is keyword research services, your content might naturally discuss:

You don’t need to repeat one keyword dozens of times.

A stronger article covers the subject comprehensively and uses relevant terminology naturally.

Common Competitor Keyword Research Mistakes

Copying a Competitor’s Keywords Blindly

A competitor may target a keyword that isn’t valuable to your business.

Relevance comes first.

Chasing Search Volume

High search volume can look attractive, but broad keywords often have weaker commercial intent and stronger competition.

Assuming Ads Mean Guaranteed Profit

If a company is bidding on a keyword, that doesn’t prove the keyword is profitable.

They may be testing it, targeting it for branding, or accepting a different return than you would.

Ignoring Location

Search behaviour differs by market.

A keyword strategy for Canada may not be appropriate for the United States, United Kingdom, or another market.

If you’re targeting Canadian customers, analyze Canadian search results and geographic settings whenever possible.

Treating Tool Estimates as Exact Data

Keyword tools provide valuable estimates and competitive signals. They shouldn’t be treated as perfect measurements of actual traffic or revenue.

A Simple Competitor Keyword Research Workflow

You can turn the entire process into a repeatable workflow:

Step 1: Choose 3–5 genuine competitors.

Step 2: List their important service and product pages.

Step 3: Extract their major topic and keyword themes.

Step 4: Use a keyword research platform to expand the list.

Step 5: Compare your rankings against competitors.

Step 6: Identify keyword gaps.

Step 7: Separate informational, commercial, and transactional terms.

Step 8: Search important keywords manually to understand the current SERP.

Step 9: Investigate paid competition using Google Ads tools.

Step 10: Prioritize keywords based on relevance, intent, competition, and business value.

This approach gives you something much more useful than a giant keyword spreadsheet.

It gives you a decision-making framework.

When Should You Use Keyword Research Services?

DIY keyword research works well when your website is small and your competitive landscape is simple.

As the website grows, however, keyword research can become significantly more complicated.

You may need to analyze:

Professional keyword research services can help organize this information into a strategy that connects keywords with actual pages and business objectives.

For competitive industries, keyword research can also work alongside content development and link building. A strong page needs relevance and quality, but competitive SERPs may also require authority signals to gain visibility.

Learning how to find competitor keywords gives you a practical way to understand where other businesses are gaining search visibility and where your own website may have opportunities.

Start by identifying genuine competitors, study their important pages, analyze their keyword themes, and look for gaps you can realistically target.

If you also want to know who is bidding on those terms, use Google Ads tools rather than relying solely on a single Google search. Keyword Planner can help with keyword discovery and bid-related estimates, while Auction Insights is designed specifically for comparing advertisers participating in the same auctions.

Most importantly, don’t copy competitors just because they rank or advertise.

Use their strategy as research.

Then build a better one for your own audience, market, and goals.

If you need help turning competitor research into a broader SEO strategy, BuyBacklinks.ca offers link-building solutions designed around relevance, authority, and long-term organic growth. Its services include Canadian link building, high-authority backlinks, local SEO link building, blogger outreach, niche link building, and backlink audits.

5. FAQ Section

1. What are competitor keywords?

Competitor keywords are search terms that competing websites rank for, target in their content, or potentially use in paid advertising. They can reveal content and search opportunities for your own website.

2. How can I find competitors’ keywords?

You can analyze competitor websites manually, use SEO keyword research platforms, compare keyword gaps, and examine the pages that receive organic visibility.

3. How do I find out who is bidding on a keyword?

You can manually review sponsored search results, but Google Ads’ Auction Insights provides more structured information about advertisers participating in the same auctions.

4. How do I search keywords on a web page?

Use Ctrl + F on Windows or Command + F on Mac, then enter the word or phrase you want to find. This confirms whether the term appears on that page, but it doesn’t provide search-volume or ranking data.

5. Is Google Keyword Planner useful for competitor research?

Yes. Keyword Planner can generate keyword ideas from keywords or websites and provide search-volume estimates and bid-related information.

6. Should I target every keyword my competitors rank for?

No. Prioritize keywords based on relevance, search intent, competition, business value, and your ability to create a better result for the searcher.

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