K | Keyword Gap Mini-Audit — Find the Keywords Your Competitors Are Winning With

Find the missed opportunities hiding in plain sight.

When your website isn’t ranking the way you expect, it’s rarely because SEO “isn’t working.”
It’s almost always because your content is targeting the wrong keywords — or not targeting enough of them.

This shows up in dozens of ways.
A page might be optimized for broad phrases like “car rental,” but the renters searching for “SUV rental in Austin” never find you.
Or maybe you’ve focused on one or two main terms and overlooked high-intent, local phrases that your competitors rank for every day.

The good news is that fixing this doesn’t require a full SEO rebuild.
A Keyword Gap Mini-Audit will show you which terms are missing from your strategy — often in less than 15 minutes.

In Drive Results, I emphasize that rental agencies win when they build visibility across two SEO fronts:

• Organic SEO — showing up for general queries, vehicle types, rental categories, and informational searches.

• Local SEO — capturing searches tied to geography (“car rental near me,” “SUV rental Toronto,” “RV rental Banff”).
  

Both depend on choosing the right keywords for your fleet, your location, and your renter intent.
That’s why this mini-audit matters.

What Is a Keyword Gap?

A keyword gap is the set of keywords your competitors rank for — but your site does not.
These are the searches sending renters to someone else’s website instead of yours.

A keyword gap audit answers three simple questions:

• What searches are driving traffic to competing rental agencies?

• Which of those searches could (and should) be driving traffic to you?

• Which missed keywords are the fastest, easiest wins?
  

When you identify the searches you’re not ranking for, you uncover the exact pages, content, and opportunities your site is missing.

Why Keyword Gaps Matter for Rental Agencies

Most independent rental agencies believe they’re already targeting the important phrases — but SEMrush almost always tells a different story.

Here are real-world examples:

• Car Rental in Toronto
  Ranking for “Toronto car rental” is good — but if your competitors rank for “minivan rental Toronto” and you don’t, you’re invisible to families and groups ready to book.

• RV Rentals
  Ranking for “RV rentals Ontario” doesn’t help travelers searching “motorhome rental Banff.”
  You lose the trip-planning audience that’s closest to booking.

• Exotic Rentals
  Ranking for “Ferrari rental” is a start — but missing “convertible rental Miami Beach” means losing tourists who are actively searching for your fleet.
  

These aren’t theoretical gaps.
They’re revenue leaks.

When you fill the gaps, you attract renters with clear booking intent — the ones most likely to convert.

How to Run Your Keyword Gap Mini-Audit

Below is the exact process we use inside FLEET SEO, taught in a simplified format so any agency can do it.

Step 1: Gather Your Competitors

Identify the top 3 competitors in your region. Include both:

• Local independents

• National chains ranking in your city
  

Examples for Toronto:

• City Car & Truck Rental

• Enterprise Toronto

• Discount Car Rental
  

Add your website to the list.
SEMrush compares all of you side-by-side.

Step 2: Open the SEMrush Keyword Gap Tool

Go to: SEMrush → SEO → Keyword Gap

Enter:

• Your domain

• Competitor 1

• Competitor 2

• Competitor 3
  

Select:

• All Keyword Types

• Organic as the source (ignore paid for this audit)
  

This shows the real ranking landscape.

Step 3: Export the Data

Once the comparison loads:

1. Click Export

2. Choose CSV

3. Save the file as KeywordGap-[Month-Year].csv
   

This export contains:

• Competitor rankings

• Your rankings

• Search volume

• Keyword difficulty

• Intent categories
  

You’ll plug this into our free SEMrush template next.

Step 4: Load the Data into the SEMrush Template

Open your Keyword Gap Mini-Audit Template.
It includes three automated areas:

• Shared Keywords
  Searches you and your competitors all rank for.

• Missing Keywords
  Competitors rank — you don’t appear anywhere.
  This is where the gold is.

• Weak Keywords
  You rank outside the top 20.
  These are the fastest wins because Google already sees your page as relevant.
  

Paste your CSV into the Raw Data tab. The sheet automatically sorts everything for you.

Step 5: Filter for Local Intent

Local intent keywords are the most valuable for rental agencies.

Use filters to pull terms that include:

• Your city

• Your airport

• Neighborhoods or suburbs

• Local landmarks

• Fleet types (SUV, 12-passenger van, cargo van, Jeep, convertible)

• Rental intent modifiers like:
  “near me,” “airport,” “daily rental,” “best price,” “long-term rental”
  

These create your Local Opportunity Keywords.

Example:

• “SUV rental Austin”

• “van rental Oahu airport”

• “cargo van rental Brooklyn”

• “convertible rental Miami Beach”
  

If your competitors rank for these and you don’t — you’ve found immediate opportunities.

Step 6: Review Search Volume and Difficulty

Inside the template, you’ll see:

• Search Volume (SV): how many people search each term

• Keyword Difficulty (KD): how hard it is to rank
  

Focus on the sweet spot:

• SV 50–1,000

• KD below 60
  

These keywords are:

• High enough volume to matter

• Low enough difficulty to win

• Intent-specific

• Usually tied to a rental-ready audience
  

These form your “quick win” list.

Step 7: Assign Content Actions

Each keyword should be attached to one of three actions:

1. Add it to an existing page

Example:
Add “SUV rental Austin” to your main SUV rental page.

2. Create a new landing page

Example:
“Cargo van rental in Tampa”
“Convertible rental Miami Beach”

These pages capture renters with strong geo + fleet intent.

3. Use it in Google Business Profile or blog content

Example blog titles:

• “Best SUV rentals in Austin for family trips”

• “How to pick the right cargo van for your move in Tampa”
  

This improves both SEO and local discovery.

Quick Win: Download the Free SEMrush Export Template

We built a plug-and-play Google Sheet so you don’t have to:

• Build pivot tables

• Sort competitor data

• Interpret keyword difficulty

• Figure out intent categories
  

Just paste in your CSV and the sheet instantly shows:

• The keywords your competitors outrank you for

• Which ones you’re missing entirely

• Which ones are high-intent local opportunities

• What actions to take next
  

It’s visual, simple, and built specifically for independent rental agencies, using the exact SEO methods taught in Drive Results.

How This Fits into the Drive Results Framework

In Drive Results, I describe SEO as a long-term compounding asset for rental agencies.
But compounding only happens when your SEO targets the right renters.

If your keywords don’t match:

• your fleet

• your regions

• your renter intent

…Google simply won’t connect renters with your website.

The Keyword Gap Mini-Audit fixes this by connecting your SEO to real search demand — not assumptions. It prevents wasted effort and redirects your strategy toward terms that actually drive bookings.

This is how you turn visibility into predictable growth.

Your Next Steps

1. Download the Free SEMrush Export Template and Template Guide.

2. Enter your agency and competitors.

3. Identify missing and weak keywords.

4. Choose 3 to fix this week.

Each improvement helps renters find you faster — and book sooner.