AHS Content Gap Analysis — Ahrefs Strategy

Overview

When developing blog content for a client, a useful starting point is the client's own content calendar — but topic lists alone rarely capture the full keyword opportunity. A more systematic approach is to use Ahrefs' Content Gap feature to identify keywords that competitors rank for organically but the client does not. This surfaces topics the market is already searching for that the client's content hasn't addressed.

This approach was applied to ^[1] during a November 2025 planning sync, and it revealed a meaningful cluster of health-condition keywords that competitors were capturing.

The Content Gap Method

Step 1 — Enter the Client's Domain in Ahrefs

Open Ahrefs Site Explorer with the client's domain. Navigate to Organic Competitors to see which sites are competing for similar keyword sets.

Step 2 — Run a Content Gap Analysis

From the competitor list, select one or more competitors and open the Content Gap tool. This compares the competitor's ranking keywords against the client's, returning keywords the competitor ranks for that the client does not.

Key insight: Filter for competitors who operate in the same service category. Competitors who offer adjacent but non-overlapping services (e.g., fire and water damage restoration vs. mold remediation only) will surface irrelevant keywords — these should be skipped.

Step 3 — Evaluate Keyword Clusters for Relevance

Not every gap keyword is worth pursuing. Evaluate each cluster by asking:

• Does the client offer a service or have expertise related to this topic?
• Is there a natural content angle (educational, informational, local)?
• Does the keyword volume justify the effort?

Step 4 — Synthesize Into Blog Topics

Group related gap keywords into a single blog topic where possible. A single well-structured article can target multiple related terms.

AHS Application — Health Conditions Cluster

When running the content gap analysis for AHS against competitors including asbestos.com and similar sites, several health-condition keywords appeared that AHS was not ranking for:

Proposed blog topic: Health Conditions Caused by Mold and Asbestos Exposure — an educational article that covers the range of conditions (respiratory illness, cancer risk, etc.) that can result from prolonged exposure to mold or asbestos. This allows AHS to rank for health-adjacent searches while reinforcing their authority in remediation services.

This topic was identified in the Paul/Seb sync on 2025-11-04. Sebastian noted that while some of these keywords (e.g., "how many people died on 9/11") are not worth targeting, the health-condition cluster as a whole represents a legitimate content opportunity.

Relationship to the AHS Content Calendar

The Ahrefs content gap analysis is meant to supplement, not replace, the existing AHS content calendar (the "Hs Content Calendar"). The calendar provides editorially chosen topics and titles; the gap analysis adds keyword validation and surfaces topics the editorial process may have missed.

Recommended workflow:

1. Start with the content calendar for topic direction.
2. Cross-reference each topic with Ahrefs keyword data to confirm search volume and identify the best target keyword.
3. Use the content gap tool periodically (monthly or quarterly) to identify net-new topic clusters.

Considerations

• Competitor relevance matters. AHS has relatively few direct local competitors, so some competitor domains in Ahrefs will be national or tangentially related. Vet each competitor before using their keyword gap as a signal.
• Health keywords require accuracy. Any article covering medical conditions (mesothelioma, lung cancer, etc.) should be factually accurate and appropriately caveated. These are YMYL-adjacent topics.
• Internal linking opportunity. Health-condition articles can link back to AHS's core service pages (mold remediation, asbestos inspection), strengthening the overall site architecture.

Related

• ^[2]
• ^[3]
• ^[4]
• ^[5]