Digital Marketing: A Guide on SEO Competitor Analysis
In order to stay ahead of the competition in SEO, it is important for you to know what they are doing. This involves conducting an SEO competitor analysis. By understanding your competitor's SEO strategy, you can adjust your own plan and stay one step ahead. In this article, we will discuss the importance of SEO competitor analysis, the steps in doing SEO competitor analysis, and the tools that can help you conduct a thorough SEO competitor analysis. Let's get started!
What is SEO Competitor Analysis?
SEO competitor analysis is the process of researching, identifying, and evaluating the SEO activities of your competitors. You can do this by looking at their website, blog, social media presence, and backlink profile. This will give you an idea of what SEO strategies they are using and how successful they are.
An SEO competitor analysis includes studying the links, keywords, content, and other factors used by your SEO competitors in order to incorporate the most effective parts of these strategies into your own SEO plan.
Instead of making educated guesses about the best keywords to target, content to write, or links to generate, you can look at what has previously been successful for others and build on that foundation.
SEO competitor analysis is important because it allows you to stay ahead of the competition. It also helps you identify any gaps in your SEO strategy so that you can improve upon them. Additionally, SEO competitor analysis can help you find new opportunities for keywords and link building.
How to Do an SEO Competitor Analysis
1. Identify your competitors
The first step in conducting an SEO competitor analysis is to identify your competitors. Although it may seem simple, it's crucial to remember that your largest market competitor may not also be your biggest SEO competitor. Smaller businesses may compete in the digital realm much above their size by having strong SEO.
You can do this by searching for keywords related to your business. For example, if you are an SEO company, you would search for "SEO company" or "SEO services." You can also use Google AdWords' Keyword Planner tool to find keywords related to your business.
Pro tip
Group your competitors in these four categories to better identify them:
- Niche players: They are small businesses that have a smaller market and less growth rate.
- Emerging players: These are companies that have started out but are already growing at a fast rate.
- Leaders: These are businesses that have a big target audience and a fast growth rate.
- Established players: These businesses have been in the industry for a very long time, and they have already established their market and audience.
Once you have identified your competitors, this will give you a good starting point for your SEO competitor analysis.
2. Do a thorough page analysis
Once you have identified your SEO competitors, it's time to thoroughly analyze their websites. This includes looking at their website design, blog, social media presence, and backlink profile.
Start by visiting their website and taking note of anything that stands out to you. Is their website well-designed? Do they have a blog? What kind of content do they write about? Take note of anything that makes them different from other websites in your industry.
One thing to pay attention to is the keywords they use. You can use a tool like Google AdWords' Keyword Planner to see which keywords they are targeting. This will also give you an idea of what keywords you should be targeting.
Next, check out their social media accounts. Are they active on all the major platforms? How often do they post? What kind of engagement do their posts get? Finally, take a look at their backlink profile using a tool like Moz's Open Site Explorer. How many backlinks do they have? What websites are linking to them?
By doing a thorough page analysis, you will get a good idea of your competitor's SEO strategies and how successful they are.
3. Find the demographics of those who interact with your competitors
Once you have analyzed your competitor's SEO strategies, it's time to determine their target audience. This can be done by looking at their website traffic and social media engagement.
Tools like Alexa and SimilarWeb can give you an idea of their website traffic. This will tell you where their traffic is coming from and what kind of people are visiting their website.
You can also use a tool like Facebook Insights to see the demographics of those who interact with your competitor's page. This includes information on age, gender, location, and interests.
By understanding your competitor's target audience, you will be able to better target your own SEO efforts.
4. Study the keywords with the highest ROI
The number of keywords you can rank for depends on your competition and your budget. Instead of spreading your efforts thin, it's usually more cost-effective to concentrate on a smaller number of keywords and really dominate them.
Once you have analyzed your competitor's SEO strategies and target audience, it's time to study the keywords with the highest ROI. This can be done by looking at their website traffic and social media engagement.
Tools like Alexa and SimilarWeb can give you an idea of their website traffic. This will tell you which keywords are bringing them the most traffic.
You can also use a tool like Google AdWords' Keyword Planner to see which keywords they are targeting. This will give you an idea of which keywords are giving them the most return on investment.
By studying the keywords with the highest ROI, you will be able to better target your own SEO efforts.
5. Analyze your competitors' on-page content
After you have studied your competitor's SEO strategies and target audience, it's time to analyze their on-page content. This includes looking at their pages' title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and keyword density.
You can use a tool like Screaming Frog to crawl their website and get an idea of their on-page content. This will give you a good idea of their target keywords and how well they are optimized for those keywords.
By analyzing your competitor's on-page content, you will be able to better optimize your own website for the keywords you want to rank for.
6. Check Your Competitor’s Google My Business Listing Page
Make sure your competitor does not have a better Google My Business page than yours. You want to ensure your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are correct and up to date. You also want to add as much information as possible about your business, including hours, pictures, videos, etc.
You can also use Google My Business to see how well your competitor is doing. This includes their average rating and the number of reviews they have.
By checking your competitor's Google My Business listing, you will be able to see how well they are doing in terms of SEO and online visibility.
Tools for SEO Competitor Analysis
SemRush: This is a paid tool that allows you to see the keywords your competitor is ranking for, as well as the ones they are targeting.
Moz Open Site Explorer: This is a free tool that shows you the backlinks of a website. This is helpful in understanding what kind of link-building strategies your competitor is using.
Ahrefs: This is a paid tool that is similar to SemRush, but also includes information on social media and pay-per-click (PPC).
Page Optimizer Pro: This is a paid tool that allows you to enter a competitor's URL and see what keywords they are ranking for.
Google AdWords Keyword Planner: This is a free tool that allows you to see which keywords are being targeted by your competitors. It also gives you an idea of the competition level for each keyword and how much traffic it could potentially bring.
SpyFu: This is a paid tool that allows you to see the keywords your competitor is ranking for, as well as the ones they are targeting.
Majestic SEO: This is a paid tool that shows you the backlinks of a website. This is helpful in understanding what kind of link-building strategies your competitor is
Alexa Traffic Rank: This free tool gives you information on website traffic, including where it's coming from and what kind of people are visiting the site.
Facebook Insights: This free tool shows you the demographics of those who interact with your competitor's page. This includes information on age, gender, location, and interests.
SEO competitor analysis is a crucial part of any SEO strategy. By understanding your competitors' SEO strategies, you can better optimize your own website and improve your search engine rankings. Doing so can improve your chances of ranking higher in search engine results and driving more traffic to your website.
If you want to learn more about SEO competitor analysis or need help conducting one for your business, contact us today! We would be happy to assist you.