Outranking the Giants: An E-commerce Keyword & Backlink Gap Analysis
Client: A mid-sized e-commerce store in the competitive “outdoor gear” niche.
Challenges We Faced
The client had a great site but was “stuck” on page 2, losing all high-intent traffic to giant retailers and affiliate blogs:
Stuck on Page 2
They were ranking #15-20 for their most valuable “money” keywords, like “best hiking boots” and “4-person tents.”
Ineffective Link Building:
Their previous strategy was “guesswork,” and they weren’t acquiring links from high-authority sources.
Low Domain Authority
Their Domain Rating (DR) was 30, while competitors (like REI and review blogs) were all DR 70+.
Missing “Comparison” Keywords
They had no content targeting “product vs. product” keywords, which their competitors were winning.
Steal Your Competitor’s Keywords
“Tired of being stuck on Page 2? Our SEO Keyword Gap Analysis will find the high-value keywords your competitors are ranking for.”
Our Approach – How We Solved These Challenges
Full Competitor Identification
We identified their true digital competitors, which included review blogs and media sites, not just other e-commerce stores.
SEO Keyword Gap Analysis
We used Ahrefs to run a Keyword Gap Analysis against their top 5 rivals. This uncovered 500+ high-intent “best of” and “review” keywords they were missing.
Backlink Gap Analysis
This was the key to our competitor analysis services. We analyzed the backlink profiles of their top 3 competitors and found 200+ high-authority domains (tech blogs, outdoor magazines) that linked to them but not our client.
Customized Action Plan
A “Top 10” list of high-authority sites to get links from.
A “Top 20” list of new content to create based on the Content Gap Analysis.
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) | 30 | 48 | +18 points |
| Rankings for “best hiking boots” | Page 3 (#28) | Page 1 (#4) | +24 spots |
| Organic Traffic (to “gap” content) | 0/mo | 18,000/mo | +18,000/mo |
Free Competitor Backlink Audit
“Not sure why your stores aren’t ranking? Claim a Free Multi-Location Audit and let our landing page optimisation company find your errors!”
Advice for Marketers & Brand Owners
- Your SEO competitors are not just your business competitors. The blogs and review sites ranking above you are your real target.
- A Backlink Gap Analysis is your link-building roadmap. It takes the guesswork out and gives you a clear list of sites to target.
- Don’t just build links; build a better link profile. Our competitor analysis services focus on matching the quality and relevance of your competitors’ links.
Extra Factors That Made It Work
- The Backlink Gap Analysis provided a “hot list” of link targets that we knew were effective (because they worked for the competition).
- Using Ahrefs and SEMrush was essential for gathering this level of data.
- The client was quick to execute on the 20 new content pieces we identified in the Content Gap Analysis.
