Only 23 percent of a competitor's keywords are worth chasing

Only 23 percent of a competitor's keywords are worth chasing
Keyword-gap exports overstate the opportunity. We filtered 3,000 competitor keywords through realistic relevance and difficulty screens.

— Total gap keywords exported: 3,000
— Off-topic or branded: 41 percent
— Out of difficulty range: 36 percent
— Genuinely actionable remainder: 23 percent ▇▇▇▇▇

Most of a gap report is noise the competitor ranks for by accident or brand, not a strategy you should copy. So what: never plan from a raw gap export. Cut branded and off-topic first, then difficulty, and you are left with a quarter of the list that actually maps to your authority.

Benchmark of the week: roughly 1 in 4 competitor keywords survives a real relevance filter.