Over the past five years, I’ve been creating content for some of the most successful content-first brands. And if there’s one thing that all their content marketing strategies have in common, it is a solid content gap analysis.
Think about it. Every time you look up a topic, you will find hundreds of blogs that are just slight variations of each other. What really helped me and my clients win was this: focusing on what no one else was talking about.
In this blog, I will walk you through the step-by-step process of doing content gap analysis and explore best practices to do it right.
Table of Contents
A content gap analysis involves comparing your current content against your competitors‘ content, your audience’s search intent, different stages of your customer journey, and market trends and opportunities.
In simpler terms: It’s finding the “gaps” in your content strategy where you could provide more value that others aren’t already providing.
Why is content gap analysis important?
There’s often a disconnect between what we think our audience needs and what our content actually talks about.
As marketers, we may rely on assumptions about the challenges to address and topics to cover. But more often than not, we have and can be wrong.
Content gap analysis gives a solid direction for your content roadmap, helping you focus on what really matters to your audience.
Here’s why content gap analysis matters.
1. Improves Search Engine Rankings
This goes without saying: meaningful content that matches search intent boosts search engine rankings, giving you a competitive edge.
For example, while working with an AdTech company, I discovered that dynamic creative optimization (DCO) was a relevant but underexplored topic for them. Very few competitors had addressed it, but the available content lacked depth.
With the help of keyword research tools, I found questions like “Does DCO use cookies?” and phrases like “Programmatic creative vs dynamic creative optimization” that were frequently searched.
The existing content didn’t address these queries, creating a clear gap for us to fill.
Over the next few months, we created in-depth content around these topics, which improved our ranking and drove relevant traffic.
2. Gives You First-Mover Advantage
You know what’s even better than addressing the pain points of your audience? Being the first ones to do it.
Content gap analysis helps you gauge your audience’s unmet needs. And be the first one to provide unique value. It has benefits beyond just increased traffic, such as:
- Backlink opportunities. High-quality, first-mover content is often cited by others trying to cover the same topic later. This means your content becomes a reference point, earning you valuable backlinks that boost domain authority.
- Increased visibility. When you’re the first to address a trending or underserved topic, search engines reward you. You’re more likely to dominate the top rankings because there’s little to no competition.
- Thought leadership. You establish your brand as a thought leader in the space.
3. Builds Trust And Authority
Content gap analysis goes beyond just filling empty spaces in your content assets.
When you pay attention to the cracks and crevices, you can offer something truly valuable. It’s about understanding not just the “what” your target audience is searching for but the “why” and “when” behind it.
Edward White, head of growth at Beehiiv, attests to this:
“Newsletter monetization is a hot topic in my industry, but most guides lacked actionable steps for creators starting from scratch. We dove in, wrote detailed, step-by-step content, and saw a 69% jump in new visitors within weeks. It also gave us credibility in the long term.
These efforts not only brought more readers but kept them coming back. We saw a 45% bump in time spent on our site, proof that filling those gaps wasn’t just smart: it was effective.”
This “fill the gap” approach not only helps you offer value to your audience but also allows you to establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche.
This can be favorable for your conversions, as 70% of C-suite executives stated that thought leadership led them to reconsider their current vendor relationship.
4. Attracts High-Intent Traffic, Ready To Convert
You know what has really worked for me? Using content gap analysis to nail BOFU (Bottom-of-the-Funnel) content.
At this stage, people are close to deciding, but they often have those final hesitations no one else seems to be addressing. When I step in with content that tackles those doubts head-on, I am helping them take the final step to convert.
How To Do a Content Gap Analysis
There are multiple ways to do content gap analysis based on your goals. From my experience of conducting content analyses for some of the top brands, I’ll take you through what I usually follow. (Before we get going, you might want grab this free gap analysis template to help you structure your process.)
Step 1: Figure out where your audience hangs out.
One of the biggest mistakes I see businesses making during content gap analysis is diving directly into keyword research.
I always take a step back and ask: where does my audience actually hang out? It’s good to understand where they feel comfortable airing their struggles, asking real questions, and honestly, just sharing their frustrations.
Take Reddit, for example. For an SEO SaaS brand, I spent hours lurking in forums like r/seo and r/bigseo.
This is where I discovered recurring topics like frustrations with Google’s Core Updates and how agencies struggle with reporting ROI to clients.
This gave me clarity on common challenges, needs, and the solutions my target audience is actively hunting for.
During my conversation with Peter O’Callaghan, the head of marketing at ScrapingBee, he shared a similar thought:
“Most brands ignore user-generated content platforms such as Reddit or niche forums, but these are goldmines for identifying overlooked pain points. For example, while researching ”web scraping challenges,“ we found recurring threads about IP bans on Reddit.
Our blog addressing this issue, combined with a step-by-step solution, became one of our most popular pages, resulting in a 45% increase in leads within six months.”
Pro tip: Don’t just listen; engage! If you spot a question that aligns with your expertise on these online platforms, offer a thoughtful answer. This builds trust and positions you as an expert even before they land on your blog.
Step 2: Identify your keyword gaps.
The next step is to assess the existing keyword strategy. This involves understanding how well your content aligns with what your audience searches for.
Benchmark Against Competition
I usually start by identifying the topics and phrases my audience is actively searching for. Keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, or Ahrefs are my go-to here.
Here is an example of a keyword gap analysis that I conducted comparing ClickUp and its competitors, Smartsheet and Asana:
This generated a list of shared organic keywords between the three businesses, which is over 32,000.
For a more focused analysis, I filtered for top-ranking pages, click positions, and competitors and filtered them by their rankings.
This helped me benchmark against top-quality content that’s already ranking high. It also enabled me to understand what’s working for my competitors — such as keyword strategy, depth of content, user intent alignment, etc.
Pay Attention To the Missing Keywords Section
What I‘ve found most effective is using the Missing Keywords section to identify keyword gaps. This section reveals keyword opportunities for which your competitors rank, but you haven’t targeted.
Here is what I found in the Missing Keywords section — a very crucial insight for my keyword gap analysis. The following represent an untapped potential to drive traffic:
- For the keyword “Smart goals,” Smartsheet ranks #5, and Asana ranks #7, but ClickUp has no visibility despite the term generating a massive 201,000 monthly searches.
- The phrase “What are smart goals” has 8,100 monthly searches, and both Smartsheet and Asana dominate the rankings (#9 and #10).
Weak Keywords Are Your Low-Hanging Fruit
Next, I look at weak keywords, those where ClickUp ranks but falls behind competitors. These are low-hanging fruit because we already have some visibility and just need to work our way up.
For instance:
- For “daily schedule template,” ClickUp ranks #26, while Smartsheet ranks #7, pulling in most of the traffic from the 5,400 monthly searches. I’d focus on improving and optimizing content for this keyword to climb up the rankings.
- For the term “project proposal template,” ClickUp is way behind at #54, compared to Smartsheet (#5) and Asana (#3). With 4,400 monthly searches on the table, I’d refine my strategy and target this keyword to close the gap.
After this research and assessment, I have a solid understanding of the content that holds potential. These keywords represent opportunities to improve existing content to better meet search intent and audience expectations.
Pro tip: Your content works best when it matches where your audience is in their buying journey. Look at the intent behind each keyword, whether it’s informational (I), navigational (N), transactional (T), or commercial (C), and then create content aligning with that intent.
Need more help with keyword research? Here’s a detailed step-by-step guide on how to conduct keyword research and rank higher.
Step 3: Run a comprehensive content audit.
Now, it’s time to assess where your content currently stands.
A thorough content audit will help you identify where your existing content falls short, what’s outdated, and what needs improvement. This step ensures that your strategy is rooted in data, not assumptions.
Here is how you can conduct your content audits.
Define Your Goals
No two content strategies are created equal. Be crystal clear on your goals: are you optimizing for quality traffic, engagement, or conversions?
For example, imagine your goal is to optimize Bottom-of-the-Funnel (BOFU) content. In that case, you should audit your website to improve conversion-focused pages, such as case studies or product/service comparisons.
Create an Inventory
Make an inventory of all blog posts, guides, landing pages, and any assets that need an audit. You can use site audit tools like Screaming Frog or SEMrush for a comprehensive crawl of your entire website.
I also use Google Analytics for detailed performance metrics. It helps you systematically analyze your content assets and track every detail.
Here is my proven checklist for a systematic content analysis.
Create a master spreadsheet listing all content assets:
- Blog posts and guides
- Landing pages and service pages
- Resource materials and downloadables
- Product pages and comparison pages
Document essential metadata for each asset:
- URL and publication date
- Primary keyword and secondary keywords
- Content type and format
- Target audience
Track performance metrics:
- Organic traffic and search rankings
- Time on page
- Bounce rates
- Conversion rates
- Backlinks
- Social shares
Categorize content by:
- Stage in customer journey (awareness, consideration, decision)
- Business objective (lead generation, sales, brand building)
- Content format (case studies, how-to guides, comparison posts)
- Target audience persona
Flag critical areas:
- Duplicate or cannibalized content
- Broken links and technical issues
- Outdated information and statistics
- Missing meta descriptions or titles
Highlight opportunities:
- Identify content that can be repurposed into different formats
- Flag thin content that can be expanded
- List topics with good engagement but limited insights
- Map competitor content gaps you can fill
Analyze, Map, and Strategize
Now comes my favorite part: comparing your data analysis with your audience insights. This is your big moment of truth.
I follow this strategic framework:
- Import the audience pain points and keywords from Steps 1 and 2.
- Cross-reference your existing content with the pain points and keywords.
- Identify topics your audience cares about but you haven’t covered yet.
- Note down topics that your competitors have addressed but you haven’t.
- Highlight areas for content upgrades and development.
Want to dive deep into understanding how you can map and strategize your content creation? Here is a detailed video with free templates:
Pro tip: I recently stumbled upon Rival Flow, an AI-powered content gap analysis tool that streamlines the audit process. Instead of manually looking for gaps, it compares your blog posts with the top three ranking SERP pages and provides actionable insights.
While I’ve only tested it briefly for a client, the early signs are promising. Like all things SEO, it’ll take time to see real results.
Step 4: Bridge the gap.
Once you have the strategy all laid out, I move on to taking action.
Refresh High-Potential Pages
Focus on pages that are on the brink of ranking success (positions 5–15).
The goal is to enhance their relevance by improving readability, adding up-to-date information, and aligning the content closely with user intent.
Be sure to replace outdated stats, references, and examples with fresh, more relevant ones. According to a recent Contentoo-HubSpot study, refreshing content has proven to increase traffic and conversions while lowering content production costs by over 80%.
Create New Content
For obvious content gaps, create fresh, targeted content: blogs, guides, or videos aligning with the specific pain points of your audience. This is your opportunity to capture relevant high-quality traffic.
Here is an interesting take that Jocelyn Chan, the global marketing communications manager at TrusTrace, shared in the Contentoo-HubSpot study.
She said: “I think repurposing and repackaging content is the best way to scale out your content marketing efforts. You put a lot of time and energy into creating content, and it’s equally as important to put energy into distributing it by packaging the information in different formats.
Also, not everyone likes to read, or listen to a really hyper podcast host, so repetition of your message in a diversity of formats can go a long way.
Always apply Pareto’s rule: spend 20% on creating something new and 80% on repackaging and distributing.”
Collaborate With Your Team
The best content comes from a 360-degree understanding of your customers’ struggles and needs.
I’d say, whenever possible, collaborate with the sales, product, and customer success teams to curate and align content with business goals.
Track and Iterate
Finally, the whole point of content gap analysis and bridging that gap is to provide value to your audience. That means constantly tracking performance to ensure your strategy is hitting the mark or needs adjustments.
The goal is simple: close the gaps, deliver value, and drive conversions.
Pro tip: I highly recommend diving into Hubspot’s Content Marketing Workbook if you are looking to take your content marketing efforts to the next level.
The workbook comes with a detailed guide on planning a long-term content strategy, understanding how to extend your content’s value through repurposing, and much more.
Best Practices For Conducting a Content Gap Analysis
Now that we’ve covered the step-by-step process of conducting content gap analysis let’s explore some best practices. These strategies, drawn from my own experience and industry experts, will help you go beyond the basics.
1. Listen, even when they aren’t talking.
Keyword and SEO tools can only take you so far. If you want your content to address real day-to-day problems your audience faces, then you have to actually listen to them.
Matas Dūda, marketing specialist from Omnisend, shared the following advice:
“Listen to your audience even when they’re not saying things outright. At Omnisend, we go beyond reading product and service reviews and look for recurring questions in live chat support conversations and client calls with our customer success managers.
This always reveals issues our content doesn’t answer thoroughly.”
2. Focus on search intent over keyword volume.
Understanding why your audience is searching is just as important as knowing what they’re searching for. Simply chasing high-volume keywords will just lead to traffic that won’t convert.
Sean Begg Flint, founder and director of Position Digital, shared their approach:
“One best practice we swear by is focusing on search intent over just keyword volume. It’s easy to get caught up chasing high-volume keywords, but if the intent doesn’t match your content, you’ll struggle to convert that traffic.
We segment our keyword research into informational, navigational, and transactional buckets and align each piece of content accordingly.
For B2B clients, we often find that highly specific, lower-volume keywords drive better leads because they target prospects who are closer to making a purchase decision.”
3. Don’t be afraid to niche down.
When building your content strategy, don’t feel pressured to cover the broadest, most competitive topics right away. Finding your voice in niche areas can be one way to stand out and attract a dedicated audience.
Experts believe that narrowing your focus can lead to quicker, more meaningful results. White shared this advice with me:
“If you’re just starting out, don’t be afraid to try niche ideas that others overlook. Writing about smaller, focused topics often gets you noticed faster because there’s less competition. Early on, I wrote about newsletter pricing models, hardly a trendy topic then, but it brought in readers who were ready to engage.”
In a similar vein, Mariana Delgado, marketing director at DesignRush advises:
“You don’t always have to compete for high-traffic, broad keywords. Instead, identify untapped opportunities in long-tail queries that address specific use cases and pain points of your TG.
For one of my B2B SaaS clients, instead of competing for the ‘best CRM software,’ we developed material on ‘how to integrate CRM with ERP for manufacturing.’ This increased organic traffic by 40% in six months and resulted in a 25% higher conversion rate since the material addressed niche consumer demands.”
4. Go beyond exact matches.
Most businesses fall into the trap of focusing only on exact keyword matches. One thing we overlook is this: people search in a variety of ways that can lead to valuable traffic.
Recognizing the subtle variations in user queries — such as keyword alternatives, intent shift, and even common misspellings — can open up new opportunities to improve search rankings and boost traffic.
Natarajan Alagappan, founder of LeadWalnut, shared a valuable case in point:
“People search differently than you think. We always assumed users would search for ‘alternatives to [our product name].’ And we only optimized for that. But when we dug deeper using Google Search Console’s Query Filter, we realized many were actually searching for “apps like [our product name].”
We created a dedicated page with “apps like [our product name]” as the primary keyword. And this one small tweak boosted our rankings for this high-intent query and brought in a steady stream of new visitors.”
Bridge Gaps, Build Connections
Content gap analysis isn‘t just another marketing exercise — it serves as your guide to crafting content that genuinely connects with your audience’s needs and pain points.
Now that you understand how to conduct a content gap analysis for your business, my advice would be to stick to the fundamentals. Understand what your audience needs and meet them there.
Ultimately, it‘s not about filling gaps for algorithms — it’s about bridging connections for humans.
