.svg)
In the battle of SERPs, websites are constantly competing with each other for more visibility (which is why we, SEOs, can bring home the bacon - or put the bread on the table for vegan readers).
Indeed, with 200 million websites actively maintained worldwide and 99,000 searches conducted every second, the SEO game is becoming increasingly challenging year after year. Especially for the top 3 results, things are even harder.
To stay ahead, you can’t just focus on your own website; you need to keep a keen eye on the competition, too.
What’s working for them?
Where are they falling short?
And more importantly, how can you use that information to boost your own rankings?
That’s where SEO competitive analysis comes in.
By digging into your competitors' strategies - like the keywords they’re ranking for, their backlinks, their content approach, etc., you can uncover opportunities to do things better (or differently) and get an edge in search results.
In this short guide, we’ll go over the essentials of SEO competition analysis to give you an idea of how you can power up your SEO efforts. Ready? Let’s get started!
What Is An SEO Competitive Analysis?
SEO Competitive Analysis is the evaluation of the strategies of your SEO competitors. The aim is to uncover insights to surpass them and/or improve your own rankings. The process involves analyzing keywords, backlinks, content, and technical SEO to identify gaps, opportunities, and winning tactics.
Why Is Competitor SEO Analysis Important?
Analyzing your competitors’ SEO status can help you to:
- Learn from their successful strategies and refine yours.
- Leverage their weaknesses to your advantage.
- Spot missed opportunities and fill the gap.
All in all, investigating what your ‘rivals’ do helps you build a successful SEO roadmap leading to the top.
When Should You Conduct An SEO Competitor Analysis?
It’s always a good time to look into what neighboring sites are doing.
However, there are some key moments when performing a thorough SEO analysis is highly beneficial - if not necessary:
During Content Planning
What are your competitors doing well? Discover and incorporate it into your content strategy in innovative ways.
After Publishing New Content
Keep track of how your fresh content performs during its first week, first month, and in 3 months' time. Assess visibility surges to ensure you're on the right track.
When Competition Outranks You
When outperformed by another website, don’t despair. Instead, look at it as an opportunity to figure out why and learn from them. Often, this is due to a change in the Google algorithm.
On Sudden Drops
When your pages are nosediving to page 2 (or further down into the abyss of page 3 and beyond), analyzing your SEO and comparing it with that of your competitors usually helps uncover the reasons why.
When Nothing Works
If your pages are ‘stuck’ in the same positions despite your efforts, dig into competitive analysis to spot optimization gaps.
Before New Launches
It goes without saying that, when launching a new product or service, you always check the competition beforehand. This includes their search engine optimization strategies.
If You’re Coveting Top Spots
If you are already ranking on page 1 for a good number of keywords, you are on your way to the top 3 - or even for some featured snippets. So now is another good moment to analyze the SEO of those above you and start heading higher.
Every 3 To 6 Months
Aim to perform a thorough analysis every three to six months to stay agile and responsive to market and SERP dynamics.
How To Conduct An SEO Competitive Analysis Step By Step
Start by identifying your competitors. Check our article: How To Find Competitors Of A Company | Techniques & Tools
SEO Competitor Keyword Analysis
Using SEO competitor analysis tools, you can pinpoint keywords others rank high for but your website doesn't. Try to see how you can drive traffic to your pages for those or similar queries.
Several factors can be at play here. For example, you may already have valuable content for certain keywords but lack topical authority.
When conducting competitor keyword analysis, consider the following:
Relevance
Prioritize keywords that are closely related to your business or that are relevant and interesting terms for your industry.
Long-Tail Keywords
Identify long-tail keyword variations to stand out from the competition. Such terms usually drive more relevant traffic and require less effort to rank for.
Keyword Gaps
This is likely the most effective way to outrank your SEO competitors with ease. Simply identify gaps in their keyword rankings and fill them with some amazing content and diligent on-page SEO.
Competitor SEO Content Analysis
Assessing your competitors’ best-performing content will help you improve your own.
First, determine the content you're competing with and see what you can do better.
Better does not necessarily mean more informative, more refined, etc. It may involve enriching content with more visuals, FAQs, backlinks, and so on.
Pay close attention to elements like:
- Page title
- Meta tags
- Structured data markup
- Number of words
- Readability
- Supporting media
- Content readability
- Internal/external links & anchor texts
Competitor Backlink Profile Analysis
This is a key element to consider when evaluating your SEO competition rankings. Backlinks demonstrate trustworthiness and popularity, provided you are pointed to by respectable websites.
Various SEO audit tools, such as SEMrush and Ahrefs, provide backlink strength and health scores. The higher these numbers, the more Google will favor your pages.
So, if competitors have a more substantial list of backlinks, it will be quite hard to outrank them for the same keywords. So you need to find ways around it until you strengthen your own backlink profile.
You can also analyze your competitors’ backlinks to see how you can form your own backlink strategy.
Technical SEO Competitor Analysis
It’s always worth comparing your technical SEO to that of your competitors.
Key technical SEO elements to analyze your competitors for include:
- Site speed
- Responsiveness
- User experience (UX)
- Accessibility
- XML sitemaps
- Page indexing
- 404s or other errors
- Clean code
No matter how good your content is, modern, well-made sites are always going to perform better in competitive searches. Therefore, ensure that your site remains healthy and up-to-date at all times.
SEO Competitor Reports
When partnering with Atropos Digital SEO agency, you get regular reports on your competition, so you are always up-to-date on where you stand and where you need to put that extra effort.
Plus, you get state-of-the-art SEO services tailored to your specific needs and target audience. The result? Increased visibility, greater engagement, and conversions. Want to find out more? Book a strategy call!
.svg)
-min.webp)
.svg)
