Content gap analysis that ends in a content plan.

What a content gap analysis includes

A content gap analysis asks one focused question: what do your real competitors rank for that your site does not? Keyword research looks for opportunities across the whole market. A gap analysis compares you with a specific set of 3 to 5 competitors: companies selling the same offer to the same buyer, in the same region and price range. A keyword only makes the list if at least three of them rank for it.

Then the real work starts. We label every gap by what the searcher wants (research, compare or buy), group the gaps into topics, weigh how hard each one is to rank for against what it is worth to your business, and turn the top gaps into 30-50 one-page brief outlines in a prioritised 6-month plan. We also list the pages that already rank in positions 11-30, because they can win faster than new content.

Why companies choose LASEO for SEO gap analysis

The spreadsheet is the easy 20% of the work. The value is in the judgement: which competitors count, which gaps lead to high-margin pages and which only attract people looking for information. LASEO does exactly one thing, SEO, and our strategists make those calls every day. We combine several sources, including Ahrefs, Semrush and Google Search Console, so the gaps you close bring in revenue, not impressions.

Brands like Philips, Bang & Olufsen and MADAQ trust LASEO with their organic growth, and 98% of our clients stay. Once publishing starts, a monthly scorecard shows which gaps are closing, and our SEO copywriters can write the pieces if you want. The method is documented in your own tools, so you can repeat the analysis every year without us.

Content gap analysis for AI search

More and more buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews before they click on anything. When a competitor covers a topic and you do not, AI tools have nothing from your site to quote on it. Closing that gap gives them a page to read and quote, written as a clear answer to the question your buyer asks.

With AI SEO we make your pages easy for AI tools to read and quote, and get your brand mentioned in the places AI draws its answers from. We test the questions your buyers ask and track how often AI tools mention your brand, next to your Google rankings.

Content gap analysis, explained honestly

Content gap analysis sits between keyword research and content strategy. Keyword research finds new opportunities in the wider market. Content strategy decides how your pages fit together. Gap analysis is the focused step in between: what your site is missing compared with a specific set of competitors, ranked by what is worth fixing first.

Gap analysis vs keyword research

Keyword research is broad and exploratory: what could we target across the whole market? Gap analysis is focused and comparative: what do these 5 competitors rank for that we do not? Different inputs, different outputs. Most teams need both, but they are not interchangeable, and mixing them up usually produces a generic keyword list with no competitive logic behind it.

How many competitors to compare against

Three to five real competitors is the sweet spot. Two gives too little signal; ten adds too much noise. We define a real competitor as someone selling to your buyer in your region and price range, not just a site with a high authority score in your category. A keyword only counts if at least three of those competitors rank for it.

Why sorting by search intent is the real work

An unsorted gap list is dangerous. It mixes high-volume information searches (which bring traffic but rarely revenue) with low-volume buying searches (which bring revenue but never enough traffic to look impressive). Marketing teams pick the high-volume information gaps, write 50 blog posts, and wonder why nothing converts. Labelling every gap by intent prevents that mistake.

Can you do a content gap analysis yourself?

Yes, if you have an Ahrefs or Semrush licence and you know what you are looking for. The tools are straightforward. The judgement is where most DIY efforts fall apart: choosing the real competitors, sorting by intent, and weighing difficulty against business value. If your team has the time and the senior judgement, do it in-house. If not, hire it out for one or two rounds, then bring it back in once the method exists.

How often to run a gap analysis

Once a year as a baseline, plus before every big content push or product launch. Search results shift every quarter; the gaps that mattered eighteen months ago are not the gaps that matter today. We also re-run it for a single topic whenever a competitor publishes a major content hub next to your core offering, because that usually means the search results are about to change.

What the output should actually contain

A real content gap analysis delivers five things: a clean list of candidate keywords with search volume and difficulty, an intent label on every row, a topic map, a prioritised 6-month plan, and 30-50 one-page brief outlines for the top gaps. If you only get the spreadsheet, you got the easy 20% of the work. The plan and the briefs are where the value is.