The story usually starts the same way.
A business does everything right.
They run competitor analysis. They open Ahrefs or SEMrush. They export hundreds of keywords. They fill a spreadsheet with columns and filters and colour-coded “priorities.”
Then they build content around all the “right” terms — the ones with volume, the ones their competitors rank for, the ones every SEO says to target.
And for a while, everything looks like progress.
Rankings go up. Traffic climbs. The dashboard looks healthy.
But sales barely move.
And that’s when the truth hits them:
They copied their competitors so well that they inherited all of their blind spots.
The problem wasn’t the keywords they found. It was the keywords they never thought to look for.
This article is for the businesses who want to stop playing catch-up. For people who are tired of fighting for over-saturated keywords. For anyone who wants to win where their competitors aren’t even paying attention.
This is how you find SEO keyword gaps competitors haven’t targeted — and how you turn them into real revenue, not just traffic.
The myth that keeps businesses blind to keyword opportunities
Ask most people where keyword research starts and they’ll tell you: “With competitors.”
It makes sense on paper. Your competitors are already ranking. They’ve already built content. Surely that means they know something.
But the flaw in that logic is huge.
Your competitors aren’t perfect. They’re just early.
They built content first — not necessarily better. They published what was obvious — not what was profitable. They covered the surface — not the depth.
Competitor analysis shows you the keywords they chose to target. It says nothing about the ones they missed.
And the ones they missed are usually the ones with:
- high intent
- clear buying signals
- strong commercial relevance
- low competition
- specific pain
The exact keywords you’re looking for.
The real keyword gaps your competitors never see
There are keyword gaps you won’t find in any SEO tool.
Gaps based on behaviour. Gaps based on frustration. Gaps based on context.
Here are the gaps your competitors almost always miss — and why they matter.
1. Keywords tied to problems competitors don’t want to admit exist
Look closely at any industry and you’ll find pain points businesses avoid mentioning.
Maybe they’re embarrassed. Maybe they see it as a weakness. Maybe they think addressing it will make their product look flawed.
Which means they create content that sounds polished — but not honest.
Your opportunity sits in the cracks of that honesty.
If you sell software and everyone complains about onboarding, guess what people search for?
- software with simple onboarding
- crm that doesn’t take weeks to set up
- tools that offer done-for-you setup
Your competitors won’t target these. You can — and you’ll win trust immediately.
2. Keywords from the “buying moment” competitors never analyse
Buyers rarely search one keyword and buy.
The real action happens in the second, third, and fourth search — the refinement searches.
These searches are invisible to most tools. They’re often low volume. But they’re some of the highest-intent keywords in the entire customer journey.
Examples:
- “crm for small business” → “crm that integrates with xero”
- “marketing agency” → “marketing agency with in-house designers”
- “project management tool” → “project management for teams working asynchronously”
Competitors target the broad terms. You target the refined ones.
This is where conversions happen.
3. Use-case keywords competitors dismiss as “too niche”
No one wants to sound too narrow.
So competitors target broad keywords that feel impressive — but vague.
You want use-case keywords, not ego keywords.
Examples:
- accounting software for construction firms
- it support for dental practices
- seo for b2b manufacturers
These keywords rarely have high volume. But they often convert 5–10x better.
Competitors avoid them. Buyers don’t.
4. Keywords based on competitor weaknesses (not strengths)
Every competitor has a weakness. Most businesses pretend those weaknesses don’t exist.
You can use them to find entire categories of keywords your competitors refuse to touch.
If a competitor is:
- slow to respond
- too complex
- expensive
- missing a key feature
- limited to specific industries
These weaknesses convert into keywords your competitor will never target.
Examples:
- simple crm alternative
- affordable project management software
- help desk tools with human support
These are the easiest keyword gaps to win — because your competitor can’t publish around them.
5. Keywords based on language buyers use — not the language businesses use
Most SEO content uses industry language.
Buyers don’t.
Buyers say:
- “slow checkout system” not “low throughput ecommerce architecture”
- “keeps breaking” not “poor maintainability”
- “can’t track who’s done what” not “lack of workflow visibility”
Your competitors optimise for jargon. Buyers search in plain language.
That gap is enormous. And valuable.
The investigative method for finding keywords competitors don’t know exist
This is not traditional keyword research.
It’s investigative work.
You go past the tools, past the obvious, and into the places where real buying friction lives.
Step 1: Extract the raw language of your customers
- sales calls
- demo call transcripts
- live chat logs
- support tickets
- customer onboarding calls
- repeated complaints
- moments of frustration
- phrases buyers repeat
- the situation they were in when they looked for a solution
Step 2: Analyse competitor reviews to uncover blind spots
- Capterra
- G2
- Trustpilot
- Reddit threads
- “support takes too long”
- “too complicated to use”
- “pricing is confusing”
- “steep learning curve”
Step 3: Examine your analytics for “accidental intent signals”
- high impressions + low clicks
- position 8–20
- queries going to irrelevant pages
- emerging keywords competitors don’t know about
- gaps that need dedicated pages
- long-tail opportunities with buying intent
Step 4: Go where competitors don’t listen — social conversations
- Facebook groups
- LinkedIn comment threads
- Slack communities
- pain points people complain about repeatedly
- unusual feature requests
- stories about switching tools or providers
- the real language people use when frustrated
Step 5: Review your closed-won deals
- What were buyers trying to solve?
- What triggered them to look for a solution?
- What competitor did they leave?
- What situation made them switch?
Turning competitor-free keywords into revenue
- Problem keywords → diagnostic guides
- Refinement keywords → short, high-intent landing pages
- Use-case keywords → tailored use-case pages
- Competitor weaknesses → alternatives pages
- Feature-specific searches → feature landing pages
Final thoughts
- customer frustrations
- competitor weaknesses
- refinement searches
- niche use-cases
- buyer language no one has mapped yet
