Keyword and content gap analysis (cloud)
Cloud rules for keyword and content gaps: the searches competitors rank for and the topics your site does not cover, from live search data.
Gap analysis compares your site against live search demand data: what people search for, what competitors rank for, and which of those topics your site doesn’t cover. Both rules read a result the cloud service produced before the rules ran, report at info severity with a weight of 1, and flag anything above 500 monthly searches as high volume. They are research output rather than defects, which is why they barely move a score.
Run only these rules
squirrel audit https://example.com --rule-include gapsBoth rules are opt-in cloud rules: they need you signed in and cost 25 credits each per audit. Right now neither one runs, even when enabled as shown under Enable gap analysis: both are marked disabled in the rule source, and the rule loader drops disabled rules before it reads any enable list (#1067).
Where to start
These carry the highest severity and weight in the category.
- Content gaps: topic clusters your site does not cover: A content gap is a cluster of related searches next to what you already rank for. squirrel groups the demand and reports the uncovered clusters.
- Keyword gaps: terms competitors rank for and you do not: A keyword gap is demand your competitors capture and you do not. squirrel compares your ranking footprint against theirs using live search data.
Rules
| Rule | What it flags | Severity | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content gaps: topic clusters your site does not cover | A content gap is a cluster of related searches next to what you already rank for. squirrel groups the demand and reports the uncovered clusters. | info | Site-wide |
| Keyword gaps: terms competitors rank for and you do not | A keyword gap is demand your competitors capture and you do not. squirrel compares your ranking footprint against theirs using live search data. | info | Site-wide |
Enable gap analysis
Both rules are opt-in:
[rules]
enable = ["gaps/keywords", "gaps/content"]Key terms
- Content gap analysis: Finding the topics and queries a site’s audience searches for that the site does not yet cover. The related rules are disabled and do not run.
Related categories
Content checks the pages you already have: thin pages, duplicates and stale dates. Agent experience checks whether AI crawlers and agents can reach and read them.
Learn more
- Best generative engine optimization tools, sorted by the job each one does
- Website audit tool
Options
Both rules accept the same options:
[rule_options."gaps/keywords"]
country = "US" # ISO country for search data
language = "en" # language code for search data
competitors = ["competitor.com"] # up to 5 competitor domains