Follow the Money
You know what's better than guessing which keywords convert?
Looking at which keywords your competitors pay money to advertise on.
If someone is spending $15 per click on a keyword, they've done the math. That keyword makes them money.
Now imagine ranking organically for that same keyword. Same traffic. Zero cost per click.
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How to Find Competitor PPC Keywords
SEMrush and SpyFu are the best tools for this. They show:
A competitor who's been running ads on the same keyword for 12+ months? That keyword PRINTS money. They wouldn't keep paying if it didn't.
What to Do With This Intel
High CPC keywords you can rank for organically: Prioritise these. Every organic click saves you the CPC cost. Our guide on CPC analysis shows you how to evaluate these opportunities.
Keywords they advertise on but don't rank organically for: Double opportunity. Weak organic presence means you can rank AND take their paid traffic.
Ad copy language: The words they use in ads reveal what messaging converts. Use similar angles in your organic content.
The ROI Math
Competitor bids $10/click on a keyword with 2,000 monthly searches.
You rank #1 organically and capture 30% of clicks = 600 clicks/month.
That's $6,000/month in equivalent paid traffic value. From one page.
Multiply that across 20 keywords and you see why competitor PPC analysis is worth your time. This is the kind of strategic thinking we cover in our ecommerce SEO strategy guide and B2B SEO strategy pieces too.
Start Doing This
SEO Checkup helps you integrate competitive analysis into your SEO workflow. 113 tasks. Free. No credit card. 30 seconds.