Content gap analysis: find the pages you are missing

A content gap analysis shows you the topics and pages your competitors rank for and you do not. It is the sibling of a backlink gap analysis — one finds the pages to build, the other finds the links to earn.

What a content gap is

A content gap is any topic several of your competitors rank for and you do not. Because they already rank, you know two things for certain: the demand is real, and pages on the subject can rank in your market. That is a far safer bet than inventing topics from a blank page and hoping one lands. A content gap analysis is simply the exercise of finding those topics on purpose instead of stumbling into them.

How to run one

• Pick your real competitors. The sites ranking for your terms, not necessarily your business rivals — they are not always the same.
• Pull the keywords they rank for. Across the whole set, so you see what is common to several of them, not one.
• Subtract what you already rank for. What is left is the gap.
• Prioritise by intent and reach. Terms where several competitors rank, with intent you can actually serve, come first.

Content gap versus backlink gap

They are two halves of the same picture. A content gap tells you which pages to build; a backlink gap tells you which sites to earn links from once you have built them. Publishing the missing page rarely ranks on its own if the pages above it are backed by links you do not have — so most content gaps are only closed when you close the matching link gap too.

Turn the gap into a plan

Take the prioritised list, build the pages that match real intent, then support each one with links from the sites already covering your niche. That second step is where a backlink gap analysis comes in: it hands you the media that link to competitors on the same topic and not to you — the shortest path from a new page to a ranking one.

Keep reading

• Keyword gap analysis
• How many backlinks do you need to rank?