If you’re running a small business, you’ve probably heard that SEO and keyword research are important. But let’s be honest — most of us don’t have hours to spend learning complicated tools or analysing spreadsheets full of data.
That’s exactly why I started using Claude (Anthropic’s AI assistant) to do my competitor keyword research. What used to take me an entire afternoon now takes about 10 minutes — and the results are genuinely better than what I was getting on my own.
In this post, I’ll show you exactly how to do it, including the exact prompts I use. You can follow along with Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini — the approach works with any AI assistant that has web search capabilities.
What Is Competitor Keyword Research (And Why Should You Care)?
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Competitor keyword research is simply finding out which search terms your competitors are ranking for on Google, and then using that information to improve your own visibility. Instead of guessing what your audience is searching for, you’re working from real data.
Think of it this way: if a competitor is showing up on page one for “best business planner for entrepreneurs,” that tells you two things. People are actively searching for that phrase, and there’s a proven path to ranking for it. The question is whether you can do it better.
Why AI Changes Everything for Small Business SEO
Traditional keyword research requires you to learn tools like Semrush or Ahrefs (which can cost £80–£350+ per month), interpret complex data, and spend hours piecing it all together. For a small business owner who’s already wearing 10 hats, that’s a big ask.
AI assistants like Claude can now search the web, analyse your website, identify your competitors, research their keywords, and deliver the results in a formatted spreadsheet — all from a single conversation. No specialist knowledge required.
Here’s the step-by-step process I use.
Step 1: Give Claude Your Website and Ask It to Analyse Your Business
Start a new conversation with Claude (claude.ai) and give it context about your business. The more specific you are, the better the results.
Example Prompt:
My website is [YOUR WEBSITE URL]. Please search for my top competitors and give me the search terms they rank for. Give me the top 50 keywords, organised by category, with competition level and which competitors rank for each one.
Claude will visit your website, understand what you sell, and use that context to search for competitors in your space. It doesn’t just look at direct competitors either — it’ll find blogs, marketplaces, and content sites that rank for the same keywords.`
Step 2: Ask Claude to Identify Your Competitors by Category
If your business has different product types or target audiences, it helps to break your competitors down by category. For example, if you sell both physical and digital products, your competitors might be different for each.
Example Prompt:
Can you break down my competitors into categories? For example, for my business I’d like to see competitors in [category 1], [category 2], and [category 3]. For each competitor, tell me their website, what they sell, and why they compete with me.
This gives you a structured view of who you’re really competing with online — not just the brands you already know about, but the ones actually taking your potential traffic.
Step 3: Get the Top 50 Keywords (With Context)
This is the core of the process. Ask Claude to research what keywords your competitors are ranking for and present them in a way that’s actually useful — not just a raw list, but with categories, competition levels, and relevance scores.
Example Prompt:
Based on the competitors you’ve found, give me the top 50 keywords they rank for that are relevant to my business. For each keyword, include: the category, search intent (commercial or informational), competition level (high/medium/low), which competitors rank for it, and how relevant it is to my business. Please create this as a spreadsheet I can download.
Claude will search the web, cross-reference your competitors, and generate a downloadable Excel spreadsheet with all 50 keywords organised and colour-coded. This alone would typically cost you hours of manual research or a monthly subscription to an SEO tool.
Step 4: Ask for a Keyword Strategy
Having a list of keywords is great, but knowing what to do with them is even better. Ask Claude to prioritise the keywords and create an action plan.
Example Prompt:
Now create a keyword strategy for me. Group the keywords into clusters, prioritise them by quick wins vs long-term goals, and tell me exactly what content I should create for each group. Include what type of page to create (blog post, landing page, comparison guide) and any SEO tips for each.
Step 5: Get Claude to Write the Content Too
Here’s where it gets really powerful. Once you have your keyword strategy, you can ask Claude to create the actual content — blog posts, landing page copy, meta descriptions, social media posts — all optimised for your target keywords.
Example Prompts:
“Write me a blog post targeting the keyword [KEYWORD]. Make it helpful, practical, and include a call to action for my product.”
“Write SEO-optimised meta titles and descriptions for my top 10 product pages using these keywords.”
“Create a LinkedIn post about [TOPIC] that drives traffic to my blog post.”
You can go from zero research to a fully developed content plan and drafted content in a single sitting. That’s genuinely game-changing for small business owners who don’t have a marketing team.
Tips for Getting the Best Results from AI Keyword Research
Always share your website URL. This gives the AI real context about your business, products, and current content — rather than working from assumptions.
Be specific about your niche. Don’t just say “I sell planners.” Say “I sell physical and digital business planners for entrepreneurs, including Notion templates and PDF planners for iPad, reMarkable, and Kindle Scribe.” The more detail, the better.
Ask for spreadsheet outputs. Claude can create downloadable Excel files with your data already formatted, colour-coded, and categorised. This saves you hours of manual formatting.
Use follow-up prompts. Don’t try to get everything in one go. Start broad, then drill into specific areas. Ask follow-up questions like “Tell me more about the low-competition keywords” or “Which of these keywords should I prioritise this month?”
Cross-check with free tools. Use Google Search Console, Google’s autocomplete, and “People also ask” to validate the keywords Claude suggests. This combination of AI research plus manual checking gives you the best of both worlds.
Repeat monthly or quarterly. Keyword trends change. New competitors appear. Run this process every few months to stay ahead and find new opportunities.
What This Used to Cost (vs What It Costs Now)
Let’s put this in perspective. Before AI tools, getting this level of competitor keyword research typically required one of the following:
An SEO agency: £500–£2,000+ for a competitor analysis report
SEO tools: £80–£350/month for Semrush, Ahrefs, or similar
DIY research: 8–15+ hours of manual work per quarter
With Claude or a similar AI assistant, you can get comparable results in a single conversation. A Claude Pro subscription costs around £18/month and gives you access to this capability alongside everything else the tool can do for your business.
The Complete Prompt Sequence (Copy and Paste This)
Here’s the full sequence of prompts you can use in a single Claude conversation. Just replace the placeholder text with your own details:
Prompt 1: “My website is [URL]. Please search for my top competitors in [your categories, e.g. Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini] and give me the search terms they rank for. Give me the top 50 keywords.”
Prompt 2: “Now create a blog post about how to do competitor keyword research so I can post it on my blog. Also create a LinkedIn post to promote it.”
Prompt 3: “Write me SEO-optimised meta titles and descriptions for my top 10 product pages based on the keywords you found.”
Prompt 4: “Create a 3-month content calendar using these keywords. Tell me what to publish each week and which keyword each piece targets.”
Final Thought
The businesses that grow fastest aren’t always the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones that use the smartest tools. AI has levelled the playing field for small business owners, and competitor keyword research is one of the most practical ways to put it to work.
You don’t need to be an SEO expert. You don’t need expensive tools. You just need to ask the right questions — and now you have exactly the prompts to do it.
Give it a try today. Open Claude, paste in the first prompt, and see what comes back. I think you’ll be surprised at how much you learn about your own market in just a few minutes.
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