Agencies that take this perspective on their clients’ competitors can achieve significant advantages, particularly in the realm of SEO strategies. SEO is a crucial element that contributes to a business’s overall success, and it’s remarkable how much clients’ rankings can be enhanced by analyzing their competition.
In this guide, we will explore various strategies that can help agencies gain insightful perspectives on their clients’ rivals and boost their organic search rankings.
What Is SEO Competitor Analysis?
SEO competitor analysis is a strategic approach in digital marketing aimed at evaluating and comprehending the search engine optimization methods utilized by your rivals (or your clients’ rivals). This process entails a thorough investigation of various factors influencing a competitor’s online visibility and search rankings.
It involves an in-depth look at their SEO tactics, determining what strategies are effective for them, and pinpointing opportunities for your clients to leverage. Essentially, SEO competitor analysis comprises an evaluation of key components such as:
1. Keywords:
Identifying the keywords and phrases for which competitors are ranking, their search volumes, and their effectiveness in ranking for those terms. Generally, if a competitor is successful with a relevant and popular keyword, your clients will likely want to rank for it too.
2. Content:
Analyzing the type, quality, and frequency of content that competitors produce to uncover any content opportunities. This covers blog posts, articles, videos, and other content formats that contribute to their SEO achievements.
3. Backlinks:
Evaluating the number and quality of backlinks pointing to competitors’ sites. This offers insights into their link-building strategies and the authority of their websites.
4. Website Structure and User Experience:
Reviewing the technical aspects of competitors’ websites, including site architecture, navigation, mobile responsiveness, page load speeds, and overall user experience.
5. Social Signals:
Exploring how competitors utilize social media platforms to enhance their SEO initiatives and connect with their audience.
6. SEO Performance Metrics:
Employing tools to monitor competitors’ rankings for targeted keywords, traffic levels, click-through rates, and other pertinent SEO statistics.
The objective of SEO competitor analysis is not merely to imitate competitors. Instead, it’s about gathering insights into industry trends, spotting weaknesses in your clients’ strategies, and discovering opportunities for innovation and competitive edge.
This systematic analysis helps SEM account managers make well-informed decisions, tailor their SEO approaches to their clients’ requirements, and effectively navigate the competitive digital environment.
Why is SEO Competitor Analysis Important?
Conducting an SEO competitor analysis is vital for elevating your websites to the top positions in search results with the ultimate aim of surpassing the competition.
The goal is to uncover the keywords for which your competitors are ranking (or, in the case of client campaigns, to analyze their competitors’ rankings), pinpoint weaknesses or opportunities, and leverage these insights for your benefit.
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of your website in comparison to competitors. For example, if you discover a competitor’s site has slower loading speeds, you can focus on enhancing your site performance and user experience to outshine the competition.
Additionally, analyzing competitors’ backlinks can reveal valuable information, such as industry-leading resources and effective keywords to target.
For instance, if you operate a dental practice, helping you surpass your rivals necessitates targeted dental SEO strategies tailored for their local market. Implementing a local digital marketing strategy that focuses on optimizing your presence in local directories—like Google Business Profiles, Yelp, and others—can be particularly effective.
Ultimately, a comprehensive competitor analysis allows you to pinpoint areas where you can capitalize on your website’s strengths against their competitors’ weaknesses while addressing any vulnerabilities your client may have. Together, these insights will guide the SEO strategies you implement for your clients.
How to Run an SEO Competitive Analysis?
An SEO competitive analysis is an exercise in creativity that, at the same time, demands solid analytical skills. It should be noted here that it’s almost impossible to predict what ranks Google will give to any particular page. Of course, going through a competitor’s SEO strategies is sure to be useful, but keep in mind that the ranking is never static, and this should not be your take-home lesson from the study.
Major steps you should stick to:
Step 1: Identify Competitors
As previously mentioned, engage in discussions with your client and carry out your own research to pinpoint competitors in their sector. This multi-faceted approach to competitor identification may produce an extensive list, which can complicate analysis. Your objective is to distill this down to a focused list of their top 5-10 competitors based on search engine rankings.
To start, converse with your clients to gather their insights on who they perceive as their competitors. This ensures that you cover all bases without overlooking a significant player.
Next, create a compilation of websites that rank highly for your client’s priority keywords. Utilize tools like Google, STAT, Semrush, or Searchmetrics to evaluate how your client compares to their competitors.
Additionally, conduct Google searches for relevant keywords to identify top-ranking businesses. You can also use the search query “related:” followed by your client’s URL to discover websites Google deems similar. While this method tends to be more effective for well-established sites, it’s still a valuable strategy to consider.
Make sure to assess both the number of keywords associated with each domain and the overlap in keywords. The greater the number of shared keywords between your client and another website, the stronger the competition. However, it’s equally important to recognize which competitors your clients should avoid targeting.
For instance, while they might rank for similar keywords, it’s futile to compete with large, unrelated sites like Wikipedia, major news outlets, or leading retailers for high-volume keywords.
Once you’ve gathered all potential competitors, consolidate the lists, eliminate duplicates, and filter out those that are irrelevant or uncomparable.
Ultimately, you should arrive at a refined list of 5 to 10 strong, direct competitors to focus on.
Step 2: Conduct a Competitive Keyword Ranking and SEO Audit
The next phase in grasping the competitive landscape involves identifying which of your client’s competitors excels in SEO.
Perform a thorough SEO site analysis and a keyword ranking report for each competing website to establish benchmarks.
Some key SEO performance indicators to evaluate include:
-
Website Authority and Trust Score: Newer sites with low authority scores will struggle to compete with established sites boasting scores above 50.
-
Number of Indexed Pages: If your client’s site has only a handful of pages, competing against a major player with thousands of indexed pages will be quite challenging.
-
Backlinks and Linking Domains: Relevant, high-quality backlinks are a key factor for Domain Authority and rankings. This underscores the importance of off-site SEO in achieving overall success.
-
Keywords in the Top 10: Knowing your starting position will assist your team in devising a growth strategy. Tools like AlphaRank and other SEO reporting platforms can identify which keywords (as well as your competitors’) are performing well and which are not.
How to Perform SEO Site Audits
Boost lead generation and enhance conversion rates for your clients by executing thorough website audits. Utilize an SEO audit tool to improve your clients’ on-site performance and address technical issues that may hinder their search visibility, such as:
-
Missing titles
-
Duplicate content
-
And more
Each of these technical issues should be prioritized by severity, culminating in a comprehensive site score.
It’s crucial, however, not to limit your efforts to just improving your client’s website. Conducting a competitive analysis will yield valuable insights into industry practices, strategic approaches, and potential gaps in your client’s offerings. For instance, website design and optimization play significant roles in various performance metrics, including bounce rates, conversion rates, and average time on site. Take the time to examine competitors’ websites to understand their design choices and optimization strategies that effectively address customer needs.
Step 3: Conducting a Keyword Gap Analysis for New Opportunities
Utilize a keyword analysis tool to uncover potential keyword opportunities and seek out quick wins. If your client is just a position or two shy of ranking for a specific keyword, direct your efforts toward securing that spot for them. Conversely, if your client isn’t ranking for a keyword that a competitor is, consider the reasons behind this disparity.
Do they possess greater authority due to more backlinks that enhance their rankings? Or do they perhaps have more pertinent content supporting those keywords?
Step 4: Content Analysis and Gathering Inspiration from Competitors
Review competitor content on a page-by-page basis to discern why certain pages outperform your client’s. For eCommerce clients, do they include ‘How-To’ articles that complement their product offerings? Are product descriptions and reviews prominently featured on their site? Compile a list of areas where your client can improve based on competitor strengths or gaps your team can exploit.
Additionally, examining what your client’s competitors are publishing can provide valuable inspiration for new article ideas. While replication is not advisable, use their content as a foundation to build your own content calendar.
Be attentive to which posts garner the most likes and shares. Are videos, infographics, or blog articles creating traction? This insight could reveal additional formats to incorporate into your client’s content strategy.
Also, assess how competitors are promoting their content. Consider if they are maximizing their social media channels, employing email marketing, or engaging in syndication and guest posting. Analyzing their promotional tactics can greatly enhance your approach to promoting your client’s content.
Evaluating Competitors’ Top Pages Data
Different “Top Pages” data can be instrumental in refining your client’s SEO strategy. Investigate these pages based on links, social shares, organic and overall traffic. Identify which types of content succeeded and which fell short.
Look for gaps in their approach and brainstorm ways to bridge them. For instance, if they have successful posts from a few years back that remain outdated, this presents an excellent chance to revamp those ideas for your client’s blog.
The essential task is to scrutinize the competition’s top page performance, learning from both their achievements and their shortcomings, while ensuring that your client’s marketing strategy is tailored to resonate with their unique audience.
Step 5: Analyze Competitors’ Social Media Activity with a Reporting Tool
Social media marketing is a vital component of search engine optimization. It’s often the most effective means to promote new content, engage your target audience, and increase website traffic.
Once you’ve assessed the competition and crafted a strategy for your client, it’s crucial to monitor the results using a social reporting tool to ensure the approach is delivering the desired outcomes.
A social media dashboard simplifies the process of tracking growth across various platforms over time, allowing both you and your clients to pinpoint sources of traffic and conversions, as well as identify areas for enhancement.
After establishing your client’s initial social media strategy, examining their competitors can offer valuable insights for improvement. Take note of the platforms they prioritize, their posting frequency, and how effectively each platform performs. Additionally, analyze how they utilize social media to express their brand and observe how their audience engages with their content.
While drawing inspiration from competitors and learning from their missteps is beneficial, it’s essential to develop a unique social media marketing strategy that aligns with your client’s distinct brand identity.
Summary
Knowing the rivals will help you create the next big thing in this competitive digital world. With a robust strategy for competitor analysis, you will be able to identify what works for others in your niche, what are the gaps between their offerings and yours, and adjust your content marketing, SEO, and social media strategies accordingly. Focus on the metrics, but also on the things that make you one-of-a-kind. As you track and adjust, using competitor insights to your advantage will help you drive on-site traffic while creating permanent growth and engagement for the long haul. Get analyzing today, and watch your traffic—your business—take off in 2024 and beyond!