Improving rankings on SERPs is your major goal for digital marketing. For this, it is essential to conduct a competitive SEO analysis regularly. Such an analysis helps you to learn where your competitors rank. It also helps to know what keywords they are using to rank high.
But What is competitor analysis?
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What is Competitor Analysis in SEO?
Competitor analysis in SEO is a thorough process of identifying the websites of your competitors that are ranking higher than your website on SERPs. This analysis is crucial to get insights on ways to improve your SEO strategy. An SEO competitor analysis is the same as you might have done for your product development or marketing strategy.
Why is a Competitive Analysis Important for SEO?
The importance of SEO competitive analysis is simple. You need it to keep track of where your competitors are spending their time and resources to rank higher on SERPs than you. This analysis will also help you understand how they respond to industry trends. Such an analysis is your tool to uncover your SEO strategy’s strengths and weaknesses by comparing it to your competitors’ strategies. The results of this analysis help you target high-impact keywords.
How to do a Competitive Analysis?
Now the question comes how to do a competitor analysis? It is a thorough process with several steps as explained below.
Identify your Competitors
Starting on a competitive SEO analysis involves a strategic approach, with the original stride becoming the identification of the competitors. So, how do we identify competitors? Instead of relying on memory, an extensive method involves enumerating indirect and direct competitors.
Strong competitors align closely with your products or services, like organisations in the same sector or niche. For example, if you operate as a kitchen supply retailer specialising in can openers, fellow retailers featuring similar products will be looked at as direct competitors. On the other side, indirect competition might not sell related products but compete for exposure on online search engine results pages (SERPs). These encompass an extensive spectrum, which ranges from informational energy sources to social networking platforms, as well as content hubs or maybe specific bloggers.
After the competitor landscape is delineated, delving into keyword analysis becomes pivotal. By querying high value keywords, you may unravel the SERP dynamics and also recognise the players dominating the rankings. This exploration typically uncovers unexpected contenders overshadowing your online presence.
Identify Important Keywords
By this point, you may be able to comprehend the keywords pivotal to steering a constant stream of organic traffic. To unlock the search intent embedded within competitors' content via careful keyword research is a transformative step. It furnishes insights into the rationale behind the targeted queries as well as the particular search intents they endeavour to satisfy. Understanding the reason why competitors gravitate towards certain topics unveils not just the gaps in the content but also illuminates avenues for improving pre-existing written content and seizing upon overlooked angles.
Essentially, scrutinising competitors' keyword techniques does not only unravel keyword opportunities; it fosters a greater understanding of thematic nuances and market dynamics. Equipped with this understanding, you will be able to craft a nuanced content strategy that not merely amplifies the online presence but additionally positions you smartly in the competitive landscape.
Research your Competitor’s SEO Strategy
Another important step for SEO competitive analysis is to understand the SEO strategy of your competitors. You must look for the following.
- Their strengths and weaknesses
- Ways to capitalize on their weaknesses
- Ways to follow their strengths
- Where your competitors are outperforming you
- Ways to get rid of your weaknesses
One key point to remember while performing SEO competitor analysis is to never assume anything. You must organise your work and then analyse and compare your strategies with your competitors’. Analyse the following points to understand your competitors’ SEO strategies.
Top-performing content
The first step is to look for the top-performing content of your competitors. For this, use Google and trusted keyword research platforms. This will help you identify the pages and articles that are majorly contributing to the high ranking of your competitor’s website. Now, compare this content with yours and see how they match up. It will provide you with a deep understanding of which queries of your audience you must target and which are irrelevant.
Content Marketing Strategies
Another crucial step is to identify the marketing strategies used by your competitors. Start noticing crucial factors of their content and distribution strategies. This way, you will be able to identify the type of content they are focusing on, like long-form blogs, glossaries, or short articles. Additionally, you must also keep track of the content format your competitors are using. Is it mostly written content, or are they also focusing on infographics and videos? They will most probably use different content forms to rank high on SERPs. Now, pay attention to the quantity of content your competitors are posting regularly. You must also make a note of the content length and quality. These factors will significantly help you determine how your content can rank better. This is because such analysis will help you make your content more meaningful, understandable, and high-quality. Such quality content gets easily recognized by Google, and it will rank your website higher on SERPs.
SERP Strategy
Are they using FAQs schema in their articles? Do they appear in featured snippets? Do you see them in image carousels? Knowing about their exact position will allow you to adapt to the strategy that is working the best for them.
Use all the information you get from the above data to enhance your content and soon you will be seeing your website ranking higher than your competitors. However, these are not the only steps to follow for competitor analysis. Experts use several other ways for a thorough analysis.
Also Read: How SEO Impacts Your Business: Unveiling the Power of Online Visibility
Bottom Line
Reading this post must have helped you understand how to do a competitor analysis and why it is important. It is a critical step to enhance your ranking on SERPs and organic traffic. However, such an analysis is a thorough procedure that requires time and expertise. So, contact us today to help you with this.
