Competitor keyword research is one of the highest-ROI activities you can do before writing a single line of content or optimising a single page. Yet most businesses in Singapore skip it entirely, or worse, they do it superficially and end up chasing the wrong terms for months.
I’ve run competitor keyword audits for over 200 Singapore businesses across industries from fintech to F&B. The pattern is always the same: the companies that systematically study what their competitors rank for, and then act on the gaps, consistently outperform those that guess their way through SEO.
This guide walks you through the exact process my team uses. Not theory. Not a list of tools. A working methodology you can apply to your business this week.
What Competitor Keywords Actually Tell You (And What They Don’t)
A competitor keyword is any search term that a rival business ranks for in Google. Simple enough. But the real value isn’t in the keywords themselves. It’s in what those keywords reveal about your competitor’s content strategy, audience targeting, and commercial priorities.
When a Singapore-based accounting firm ranks for “IRAS tax filing deadline 2026,” that tells you they’re investing in informational content to capture top-of-funnel traffic. When they also rank for “corporate tax filing services Singapore,” they’re targeting commercial intent. The combination tells you their full funnel strategy.
What competitor keywords don’t tell you is whether those rankings actually generate revenue. A competitor might rank #1 for a term that drives 5,000 visits a month but converts at 0.01%. This is why raw keyword lists are just the starting point, not the finish line.
Before You Start: Define Your Competitive Landscape Properly
Most people get this wrong from the very first step. They assume their competitors in business are the same as their competitors in search. They’re often not.
Your SEO competitors are the websites that rank for the keywords you want to rank for. A hawker stall in Tiong Bahru doesn’t compete with McDonald’s for foot traffic, but in Google, they might both compete for “best chicken rice near me.”
How to Identify Your True SEO Competitors
Open an incognito browser window (important, because personalised results will skew your data). Search for your top 10 target keywords. Write down every domain that appears on page one across those searches.
The domains that show up repeatedly are your real SEO competitors. You’ll likely find some surprises. Directory sites like HungryGoWhere or SingSaver might be competing with you. Media sites like Vulcan Post or The Smart Local might occupy spots you want. These are all competitors you need to study.
For a more systematic approach, use Ahrefs’ “Competing Domains” report or SEMrush’s “Organic Competitors” feature. Plug in your domain and you’ll get a list ranked by keyword overlap percentage. Focus on the top 5 to 8 competitors with the highest overlap. Going broader than that dilutes your analysis.
The 10-Step Competitor Keyword Research Process
Step 1: Export Your Competitors’ Full Keyword Profiles
For each competitor, pull their complete organic keyword profile. In Ahrefs, go to Site Explorer, enter the domain, and navigate to “Organic Keywords.” Export the full list as a CSV.
Do this for all 5 to 8 competitors. You’ll end up with thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of keywords. That’s expected. The filtering comes next.
If you don’t have access to paid tools, Google Search Console data from your own site combined with free tools like Ubersuggest can give you a partial picture. But for serious competitor keyword research, investing in at least one professional tool is worth the $99/month.
Step 2: Filter for Singapore-Relevant Keywords
This step is critical for Singapore businesses and almost never mentioned in generic SEO guides. If your competitor operates in multiple countries, their keyword profile will include terms from every market they serve.
Filter your exported data by country (Singapore) and language. Remove keywords that include other country names unless you’re targeting those markets too. Pay special attention to keywords with Singapore-specific modifiers like “SG,” “Singapore,” neighbourhood names (Orchard, Jurong, Tampines), and local terminology.
For example, Singaporeans search “renovation contractor HDB” far more than “home renovation contractor apartment.” Understanding these local search patterns gives you an edge that international competitors simply can’t match.
Step 3: Categorise Keywords by Search Intent
Dump all your filtered keywords into a spreadsheet and tag each one with its intent type: informational, navigational, commercial investigation, or transactional.
Here’s a quick framework:
- Informational: “how to file GST in Singapore,” “what is a backlink”
- Navigational: “IRAS login,” “Ahrefs pricing”
- Commercial investigation: “best SEO agency Singapore,” “Ahrefs vs SEMrush”
- Transactional: “buy domain name Singapore,” “hire SEO consultant”
Why does this matter? Because if your competitor ranks for 500 informational keywords and only 20 transactional ones, that tells you their strategy is content-driven brand building. If it’s the reverse, they’re going after bottom-funnel conversions. Your strategy should respond accordingly.
Step 4: Run a Content Gap Analysis
This is where the real gold is. A content gap analysis shows you keywords that multiple competitors rank for but you don’t rank for at all.
In Ahrefs, use the “Content Gap” tool. Enter your domain as the target and your competitors as the reference domains. Set the filter to show keywords where at least 2 competitors rank in the top 10 and you don’t rank anywhere in the top 100.
The output is essentially a prioritised list of topics your audience is searching for that you’ve completely ignored. I ran this for a Singapore e-commerce client last year and found 340 keywords with combined monthly search volume of 28,000 that they had zero presence for. Within 6 months of creating content targeting those gaps, their organic traffic increased by 62%.
Step 5: Assess Keyword Difficulty Honestly
Every tool gives you a keyword difficulty (KD) score. Treat these as directional, not absolute. A KD of 35 in Ahrefs means something different from a KD of 35 in SEMrush.
What matters more than the number is what’s actually ranking on page one. Open the SERP for each high-priority keyword and ask yourself:
- Are the ranking pages from massive authority domains (government sites, Wikipedia) or from businesses similar to mine?
- How comprehensive is the content that’s currently ranking?
- Are the top results genuinely good, or are they thin and outdated?
- How many referring domains do the top 3 results have?
If the top results are mediocre content from sites with domain ratings similar to yours, that keyword is very winnable regardless of what the KD score says.
Step 6: Analyse Competitor Content Quality and Structure
For your top 50 priority keywords, actually read what your competitors have published. Don’t just look at metrics. Study the content.
Note the word count, heading structure, use of images and videos, internal linking patterns, and how they address the searcher’s question. Look at whether they include original data, case studies, or expert quotes. Check if they have schema markup implemented.
Your goal is to identify exactly what you need to create to outperform them. If every competitor has a 1,000-word generic overview, a 2,500-word guide with original Singapore-specific data and practical examples will stand out to both Google and your readers.
Step 7: Mine Their Paid Search Data
Keywords your competitors pay for in Google Ads are keywords they’ve validated as commercially valuable. This is essentially free market research.
In SEMrush, check the “Advertising Research” section for any competitor domain. You’ll see their active ad keywords, ad copy, and estimated spend. In SpyFu, you can see historical ad data going back years.
Pay close attention to keywords where competitors consistently run ads month after month. Consistency means profitability. If a competitor has been bidding on “payroll software Singapore SME” for 18 months straight, that keyword almost certainly converts well. Target it organically.
Step 8: Map Keywords to Your Site Architecture
Now comes the implementation planning. Take your prioritised keyword list and map each keyword (or keyword cluster) to a specific page on your site, either existing or planned.
Create a simple spreadsheet with columns for: keyword, monthly search volume, intent, target URL, current ranking (if any), and action needed (create new page, optimise existing page, or add to content calendar).
This mapping exercise prevents a common problem: multiple pages on your site competing for the same keyword, which is called keyword cannibalisation. It also ensures you’re not creating content randomly but building a structured topical authority around your core themes.
Step 9: Build Your Content Production Calendar
Prioritise your keyword targets using this simple scoring method. Give each keyword a score from 1 to 5 on three criteria: business value (how closely it relates to your product or service), ranking feasibility (how realistic it is to reach page one within 6 months), and search volume.
Multiply the three scores together. Keywords with the highest combined scores go first on your content calendar. For a typical Singapore SME, I recommend targeting 4 to 8 new keyword-focused pages per month. Quality always beats quantity.
Schedule regular content gap analyses every quarter. Your competitors are publishing new content and winning new rankings constantly. Competitor keyword research is a recurring process, not a one-time project.
Step 10: Track, Measure, and Refine
Set up rank tracking for every keyword you’re targeting. Tools like Ahrefs Rank Tracker, SEMrush Position Tracking, or the more affordable SERPWatcher all work well.
Review your rankings weekly for the first 3 months after publishing new content. If a page isn’t moving after 8 to 12 weeks, diagnose the issue. Common problems include: thin content compared to competitors, insufficient internal links pointing to the page, missing or weak backlinks, or poor on-page optimisation.
Also monitor your competitors’ movements. If a competitor suddenly jumps from position 15 to position 3 for a keyword you’re targeting, investigate what changed. Did they update their content? Gain new backlinks? Restructure their page? Understanding their moves helps you respond faster.
Common Mistakes Singapore Businesses Make With Competitor Keyword Analysis
Copying instead of differentiating. If you target the exact same keywords with the exact same type of content, you’re just creating a worse version of what already exists. Use competitor data to find angles they’ve missed.
Ignoring search intent mismatch. I’ve seen Singapore businesses create product pages targeting informational keywords and blog posts targeting transactional keywords. Check what Google actually shows for a keyword before deciding what type of content to create.
Obsessing over high-volume keywords. A keyword with 50 monthly searches and strong transactional intent can drive more revenue than a keyword with 5,000 searches and purely informational intent. Especially in Singapore’s smaller market, lower-volume commercial keywords are often your best opportunities.
Frequently Asked Questions About Competitor Keyword Research
How often should I repeat competitor keyword research?
Run a full competitor keyword audit quarterly. Do lighter checks, such as monitoring new keywords your competitors start ranking for, monthly. Singapore’s search landscape shifts faster than most people expect, especially in competitive verticals like finance, property, and education.
Can I do competitor keyword research without paid tools?
Partially. Google Search Console shows your own keyword data. Google Keyword Planner gives search volume estimates. Ubersuggest offers limited free competitor analysis. But for a thorough job, you’ll need at least one paid tool. Ahrefs or SEMrush at their entry-level plans ($99 to $129/month) will cover most needs.
Should I target the same keywords as my competitors?
Only if you can create something genuinely better or different. If a competitor has a Domain Rating of 80 and yours is 25, going head-to-head on their strongest keywords is a losing strategy. Target their weaker keywords, find gaps they’ve missed, and build your authority gradually.
What’s the difference between SEO competitors and business competitors?
Your business competitors sell similar products or services. Your SEO competitors rank for the keywords you want to rank for. They often overlap, but not always. Directories, media sites, and even government portals can be SEO competitors without being business competitors.
How long before I see results from competitor keyword research?
Expect 3 to 6 months for new content to gain meaningful rankings. Pages targeting lower-competition keywords may rank faster. Pages targeting competitive terms in Singapore’s dense verticals (legal, medical, financial services) may take 6 to 12 months. Consistency and quality of execution matter more than speed.
Ready to Find the Keywords Your Competitors Are Profiting From?
If this process feels like a lot of work, that’s because it is. Done properly, competitor keyword research takes 15 to 20 hours for the initial audit alone. But the payoff is a content strategy built on evidence rather than guesswork.
If you’d rather have a team that does this daily handle it for you, we run full competitor keyword audits as part of our SEO engagements at Best SEO. We’ll show you exactly where your competitors are vulnerable, which keywords represent real revenue opportunities, and what it’ll take to outrank them. Reach out for a no-obligation consultation and we’ll walk you through what we find.