Competitive keyword research is a crucial part of any SEO strategy. It’s vitally important to understand what your competitors are ranking for, so that you can identify the most relevant keywords in your niche or industry.

But before you begin your quest to find new keywords, you need to know exactly who your competitors really are. You may think you know your search results competitors, but on closer inspection, they may be different. Finding out which sites appear most often alongside your own can give you a fantastic insight into who you're competing against for valuable keywords.

Moz Pro’s competitive research tools allow you to find out exactly who your competitors are, what keywords they rank for and what their top performing content is. You can then use this information to create high-quality content that can compete against what your competitors have published, and get you more traffic to your site.

In the following videos, some of our best and brightest Mozzers will show you what you need to do to get the most out of these tools.

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Identify your true competitors using True Competitor

Our True Competitor feature gives you the ability to pinpoint your closest SEO competitors. By inputting your domain or subdomain, you can see who your top 25 competitors in the search results are.

In this video, Hannah walks you through the steps you need to take to find your true competitors.

Find a competitors top ranking keywords using Explore by Site

Explore by Site lets you check the ranking keywords for multiple competitor domains, subdomains or exact pages.

Not only can you see what each competitor ranks for individually, but also any shared ranking keywords between the sites.

Our onboarding specialist, Varad, shows you what you need to do to get this data.

Find Important Keywords to Improve On with Keyword Gap

Some of the keywords your competitors rank for may be more relevant than others. To find out which ones are the best to target, head to the Keywords to Improve section of Keyword Gap.

In this video, Rachel from the onboarding team shows you how to identify the best keyword opportunities.

Identify Competitors Top Content, URLs and Keywords using Keyword Gap

While creating unique content is something you want to strive for, it’s no harm to look at what your competitors are doing and to use that as inspiration.

In this Daily Fix, Christy highlights how you can pick out a competitor’s top keywords and content in Moz Pro.