TF-IDF Explorer

TF-IDF Explorer method under Keyword Research allows finding topically relevant keywords that are most frequently used by your top-ranking competitors. To harvest the keywords, RankTracker analyzes the top SERPs and reverse-engineers the ranking pages to collect keyword ideas. The method is great for competitive research and finding the keywords neglected by you but used by your SEO competitors.

To try the method, go to Keyword Research > TF-IDF Explorer.

To harvest the competitors' pages, RankTracker will use the 3 top search engines (desktop only) from given project preferences; you can manage them under Preferences > Preferred Search Engines in each project individually.

Enter seed keywords and adjust search settings

Type in your seed keyword(s), hitting Enter after each.

Optionally, unfold the Advanced Settings menu to:

• Enter negative keywords
• Exclude the keywords already present in your project
• Choose the target country for checking Keyword Difficulty

Run the search

The top-ranking competitors' pages are being gathered directly from the search engines in real-time. This type of search is not covered by the Safe Query Mode; for the task to run successfully, make sure you have the Show Captcha option enabled for the advanced type of queries. You can find the setting under Preferences > Search Safety Settings > Captcha Settings. 

Hit the Search button and make sure not to skip any re-captchas throughout the task if they pop up.

Manage results

Allow a few moments for RankTracker to analyze the SERPs and gather the keywords from ranking pages, then find the list of extracted keywords in the workspace table. See the TF-IDF stats and the number of competitors using each keyword.

Additionally, SEO/PPC data is being analyzed for the found keywords at once.

You can manage the keywords through the context menu by selecting and right-clicking on them to:

• Move keywords from Keyword Research to the Target Keywords module
• Add tags
• Remove keywords from the module
• Set color markers
• Copy the data to Clipboard
• Update metrics for selected keywords

You may also change any search settings and run a brand new search.

Finally, you may sort the data in the workspace by setting up custom filters, and adjusting the list of visible columns; or quickly export the data to CSV.

After you save and close the project, or change the settings to run a new search, all the keywords left in the workspace will be automatically moved to Keyword Sandbox.