How to find and track your online SEO competitors

Executive overview

Most keyword research tools are limited by your own seed ideas. Tracking competitors reveals content angles, formats, and backlink strategies you'd never surface alone.

SEO competitors are anyone ranking for the same keywords — not just direct business rivals.

Finding competitors with organic research

• Enter your own domain into SEMrush's Organic Research feature first — it surfaces competitors automatically
• The competitive positioning map shows major players, their traffic levels, and where you fit
• A single site can have tens of thousands of SEO competitors — review the full list, not just the top few
• Look for competitors you wouldn't expect: content sites, SaaS tools, and media properties often compete for the same keywords as service businesses
• Open competitors' profiles to see keywords they rank for that you don't — these are direct content opportunities

Tracking specific competitors as projects

• Create a project in SEMrush for any competitor worth monitoring closely
• Projects let you periodically check their rankings, keywords, and backlink activity without manual follow-up
• Focus on traffic sources and which keywords are actually driving visits

Using position tracking for higher-signal competition data

• Position tracking filters competitors to only those ranking for your most important keywords — higher signal than broad organic research
• Navigate to Competitors Discovery inside position tracking to see this filtered competition map
• Use the Winners and Losers view to spot smaller competitors trending upward — early signals of effective tactics
• A rising competitor is worth creating a project around before they become a serious threat

Zeroing in on head-to-head competitors

• In Competitors Discovery, apply the Top 5 + Smart Zoom filter
• This shows only competitors ranking in the top five for the same keywords where you also rank in the top five
• Domains ranking 50th for a shared keyword are not real competition — this filter removes the noise