a single source, nothing corroborates it

Build the seed list from what already ranks

Pull the top-ranking terms of existing content sites in your space, then filter hard: three words or more, 500 to 5,000 monthly searches, brand names stripped out. Score the competitors you find by position rather than by how many rankings they hold, awarding ten points for a first place down to one for a tenth, because presence and prominence are different things.

The method

1. 01

   Build an informational keyword set by pulling the top-ranking terms of existing content sites in your space, then keeping only phrases of three words or more at 500 to 5,000 US monthly searches with brand names stripped out.

2. 02

   Score competitor visibility by position rather than by counting rankings: award ten points for a first place down to one for a tenth, and treat a featured snippet as the first organic result.

What it returned

• 400,000

  That filtering took Glen Allsopp from roughly 400,000 keywords to 326,218, of which 250,000 were analysed. Question stems used included where do, how should, how much, when is, and the best.

• 200

  Forbes turned up in 200 more results than Healthline did yet scored fewer points, because Healthline held 2,000 more top-three placements.

Sources

• The State of Content SERPs: A 250,000 Keyword Analysis - Detailed.comGlen Allsopp · detailed.com · The 250,000 Keywords We Analyzed · 2023-10-04