An Ahrefs content gap analysis shows which keywords your competitors rank for while your site does not (yet). It is one of the fastest ways to turn "we need content ideas" into a prioritized roadmap.

Important: a "gap" does not automatically mean "write a new blog post". Sometimes the best move is to upgrade an existing page, fix internal links, or decide a keyword is not relevant to your business.

What is a content gap analysis (and what it is not)?

In practice there are 3 gaps:

A strong analysis combines all three.

When is this most useful?

If you almost never rank in the top 100, the usual order is: technical basics + internal links + a few strong pages, then scale with gap work.

Step 0 - Set scope and market (2 minutes)

Write one sentence: "We use this gap analysis to plan X page types for Y market."

Step 1 - Pick real competitors (avoid noise)

In Ahrefs: Site Explorer -> Organic competitors.

Use it as a starting point, then manual check:

Practical: pick 3-5 direct competitors. Optionally add 1-2 publishers separately for inspiration.

Step 2 - Run the Content Gap tool

In Ahrefs: Site Explorer -> Content gap.

Good starting settings:

Tip: run two versions:

Step 3 - Filter the list into something usable

The raw list is always too big. Filter by:

Do not look at volume only. A keyword with volume 100 can outperform volume 2000 if intent is stronger.

Step 4 - Validate intent and SERP features (10 keywords = 10 minutes)

Open the SERP for 10 candidates (in Ahrefs or Google) and check:

If the top 10 has a completely different intent than what you can/want to create: skip, or build a different page type.

Step 5 - New vs optimize (avoid cannibalization)

For each cluster:

- Yes: optimize (structure, snippet, intent match, internal links)

- No: create a new page

Rule: one primary intent per page. Do not create 3 pages trying to rank for the same thing.

Step 6 - Turn results into a content plan (template)

Build one simple sheet with:

Template:

keyword_cluster | intent | page_type | current_url | new_slug | kd | volume | clicks | business_value | effort | priority | internal_links_from | competitor_urls

Step 7 - Publish in batches and measure

Focus on positions 4-20: that is often the fastest growth.

Common mistakes

Mini checklist