Last updated on October 21st, 2026
To check a website’s keywords, first decide what you need to know. For a site you own, Google Search Console shows queries that produced impressions and clicks. For competitors, SEO tools estimate ranking keywords. Browser Find and page source show words used on a page; they do not establish its rankings.
| Question | Method | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Which queries bring visibility? | Search Console for your site; competitor SEO tools for other sites | Reported queries for a verified property, or third-party ranking estimates. |
| Which pages cover a topic? | Google site: searches, with a phrase when useful | Candidate pages to inspect; an incomplete discovery view. |
| Where is a word used? | Browser Find and View Page Source | Visible wording or initial HTML, not a ranking measurement. |
Illustrative example: a competitor’s scheduling guide mentions “dispatch software.” Browser Find confirms that wording. A ranking tool may estimate queries and positions for that guide. Data for a property you can access, such as Search Console, can show its reported search impressions and clicks. Keep those findings separate before choosing your next page update.
This guide focuses on investigating an existing website. For the next step, use our content strategy guide to connect relevant topics with useful pages and a publishing plan.
What is the purpose behind searching a website for keywords?
When you check keywords of a website, you’re strategically looking for specific keywords or topic ideas. If you’re looking to check keywords on your website then you’re evaluating performance. Similarly, if you’re checking for keywords on another website, you’re looking for ideas from your competitors. This is one of many common practices in the SEO world during competitor analysis or when looking for opportunities to rank.
The three methods answer different questions. A ranking report, a Google site search, and a search within a page can support the same investigation, but none is a complete substitute for the others.
Why should you analyze a web page for keywords?
Find the keywords of a website to identify high-ranking content
Ranking reports can help you identify pages worth reviewing. Studying competing results is useful context, but copying their keywords or format does not guarantee a first-page ranking.
Compare the task each result helps a reader complete, the evidence it provides, and whether it addresses the same audience as your business. Then inspect the page itself to understand how it covers the topic.
Check keywords of a website to plug keyword gaps
Your audience can use different keywords to search for the same thing. For example, “water filters” and “water purifiers” are closely related keywords that yield similar search results. You don’t want to miss out on a great opportunity to get in front just because of phrasing.
Checking SEO keywords for a website can help you find related keywords and plug any keyword gaps in your own website content. The best content often ranks for more than one keyword!
Find website keywords to discover new keyword ideas
Reviewing a competitor’s topics can suggest useful questions your own content has not answered. Prioritize gaps that matter to your audience and offering, and improve an existing page when it already serves the same need.
How to look for keywords on a website: 3 methods
Start with ranking data to find candidate pages, use search operators to explore a site, and inspect individual pages to understand their wording and structure. Record what each source can and cannot tell you.
Use the findings to build a shortlist of relevant topics rather than a list of words to repeat. Connect that shortlist to your content strategy and the pages that best answer each need.
Method 1: Search websites for keywords with keyword research tools
For your own verified property, start with Search Console’s performance reports and filter to a page before reviewing Queries. Some queries are omitted for privacy. For another site, use a competitor-ranking tool and record the market and date selected.
Tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz can help compare ranking keywords and pages. Their coverage and update schedules differ. Ahrefs describes its organic traffic figures as estimates; they are not the competitor’s analytics or a complete record of every search.
Compare the competitor’s relevant queries with the pages and topics you already cover. A tool-reported gap is a research lead, not proof that you should create a new page or that a keyword will bring qualified customers.
If you need help connecting research with page priorities, our SEO strategy service covers the broader planning work. SaaS teams can also review how product, comparison, and use-case pages fit the buying journey.
Method 2: Check keywords on websites with Google search operators
When doing keyword research yourself, you’re looking to find keywords on a page that you’ve not targeted on your own website and keyword ideas that you haven’t considered yet. You can move on to the next method to find SEO keywords for a website when you've found some.
Using Google’s site search operators is a great way to build upon the data you’ve found with your content gap analysis. What you’ve found so far are keywords that your competitors may be ranking for and that you need to target. Here’s how to move ahead.
Use Google search operators to explore pages that may cover a topic or sit within a particular site section. Treat the results as a discovery aid rather than a complete inventory or a keyword-ranking report.
Let’s see some examples.
Search Google for site:example.com “dispatch software” to explore results from that domain around the phrase. Remove the quotation marks for a broader search. Results may be incomplete; the displayed result count is not a reliable count of all indexed or matching pages.
To explore a section, try site:example.com/blog/ “dispatch software”. Review the returned pages individually instead of treating the search result count as a precise number of articles.
With search operators, you can turn a set of keywords into an actionable plan you can execute. Here’s a more exhaustive list of Google search operators to analyze your competitor’s content.
Method 3: Find SEO keywords of a website with Ctrl + F in page source
With the first method, you looked broadly at your competitors' websites, and with the second, you looked into their website sections like blogs, resources, etc. If you want to get even more granular with the results you found, use Ctrl + F in the page source.
Open the page and use Ctrl+F on Windows or Command+F on Mac to find a phrase in the visible text. View Page Source lets you inspect the HTML initially delivered, including title and description tags. JavaScript-rendered text may differ from that initial source.
You can also analyze how your competitor has carried out on-page SEO and optimized their pages. Further, you can even check that page’s meta descriptions and title tags.
Finding a phrase in visible text, a title, or HTML shows where it appears. It does not prove that the page ranks for that phrase or that Google treats it as the page’s primary keyword. Use ranking data to investigate that separate question.
Further, it’s best to know which pages are worth this detailed investigation to get the most valuable results for the time you invest.
No time to learn how to search a website for keywords? Give Ranq a try!
Start with the question you need answered, then choose the appropriate data source. Keep the source, date, country, device, and page URL with your notes so unlike measurements do not get mixed together. Use the findings to decide which existing pages to improve or which useful topics to investigate next.
Need a plan for the findings? Explore our on-page SEO work and read the on-page review guide for the checks that come after keyword research. Discuss your website with Ranq if you want help prioritizing the work.