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Competitors (Keyword Research)

Identify every domain competing for a specific keyword in organic search — ranked by keyword overlap and visibility — to map your competitive landscape.

Written by Mike

Identify Who Competes for Any Keyword in Organic Search

The Competitors report in SEO Research shows every domain ranking in the Top 100 organic results for a specific keyword — aggregated at the domain level with competitive metrics. Unlike Top by Keyword (which shows individual ranked pages), this report gives you the domain-level competitive picture: who has the strongest presence, the most related keywords, and the highest visibility for your target query.

What you can achieve:

  • Map your keyword-level competitors: See exactly which domains you're competing against for a specific keyword — including non-obvious players like aggregators or niche blogs.

  • Benchmark domain authority and coverage: Compare visibility scores and keyword counts to understand the competitive intensity at the domain level.

  • Prioritize which competitors to analyze: Find the domains with the highest related keyword overlap — these are your real competition for this topic.

Getting Started

  1. Navigate to Keyword Research → SEO Research → Competitors in the left sidebar.

  2. Enter your target keyword and select the regional database.

  3. Click Search. The report loads all competing domains for this keyword.

  4. Sort by Related Keywords to find the domains with the most topical overlap.

  5. Click any domain to jump to its full Site Analysis.

Key Metrics Explained

  1. Related Keywords: The number of this domain's keywords that contain the searched keyword. High related keywords = this domain owns this topic.

  2. Total Keywords: The domain's total keyword count across all queries. A high number signals a large, authoritative site with broad coverage.

  3. Visibility: The domain's overall prominence across all its ranked keywords. Compare scores to understand the authority gap between you and competitors.

Pro Tip: Find the Competitor Most Worth Studying

Not every competing domain deserves equal analysis. This workflow finds the one with the most to teach you.

  1. Sort by Related Keywords descending — the top domain has the deepest coverage of your target keyword's topic cluster.

  2. Note whether it's a direct business competitor or a content/media site. Content sites are especially instructive — they've built topic authority without a business moat.

  3. Click through to their Site Analysis, then check their Top Pages report to see their highest-traffic articles on this topic.

  4. The goal: The domain with the most related keyword coverage has cracked Google's topical understanding of your subject. Their content structure is your benchmark.

⚠️ Important: This report shows competitors for a specific keyword — not your domain's overall competitive landscape. For a full picture of who competes with your domain across all your keywords, use Competitors in Site Analysis instead.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How is this different from Competitors in Site Analysis?
​A: Site Analysis → Competitors shows domains that compete with your domain across your entire keyword set. Keyword Research → Competitors shows which domains compete for a single specific keyword. Use this one for keyword-level research; use SA Competitors for domain-level strategy.
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Q: Why are large domains like Wikipedia appearing as top competitors?
​A: Large authoritative sites often rank for thousands of informational queries. If Wikipedia or a major news site is a top competitor, it signals that the keyword has strong informational intent — meaning Google currently rewards comprehensive, encyclopedic content.
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Q: Can I filter by domain type or industry?
​A: Serpstat doesn't filter by industry category, but you can use the URL filter to focus on or exclude specific domain types (e.g., exclude .gov or .edu results).

Next Steps

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