August 26, 2024
You know the saying “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”?
Well, we could simply apply this principle into the world of business and SEO particularly.
It’s a well known fact that staying ahead of the competition is something every business strives for.
So the first thing you’d want to do is conduct a competitor analysis.
That way you can discover the strengths that set you apart and pinpoint your weaknesses, so you know what to work on.
In today’s article we will focus on that exact thing – the process of successfully researching your competition in order to outperform it.
Let’s get to it!
The Importance of a Competitor Analysis
Before proceeding further, it is crucial to have a clear understanding of what a competitor analysis entails. During this process, you thoroughly evaluate your competitors to gain insight into their SEO strategies.
This involves examining their keywords, backlinks, landing pages, and content to identify their strengths and weaknesses, which you can leverage to your advantage. Following this process, you will have a clearer understanding of which keywords are effective and which are not.
By leveraging insights gained from this analysis, you can make effective adjustments to your website, resulting in higher SERP rankings.
The competitor analysis lets you gain:
- Better understanding of your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
- Improved insight into the market trends
- Deeper understanding of your audience
- Valuable insights about your competitors
- Concrete steps to improve your SEO
Running your Competitor Analysis
Below, I will walk you through all the necessary steps you need to take to research your competition and to make the needed adjustment to your strategy:
Step 1: Prepare Your Competitor Analysis
Preparation is half the battle. In this case ask yourself a couple of important questions before starting the analysis:
1. Which aspects of my competitors’ online presence influence their customer flow?
For example, a restaurant owner may examine the accessibility and visibility of a competitor's physical location, whereas a security company owner may be more concerned with how the audience discovers the competitor's website.
2. Which tools will I use for this analysis?
There are a variety of online tools that you could use. The most popular ones include Ahrefs, Semrush, SE ranking and Screaming Frog. You could also use a combination of these for maximum effect.
Their prices can vary from:
- Ahrefs subscription ranges from €89 a month for small businesses to €899 a month for large enterprises.
- A Semrush subscription starts from €129.95 a month for smaller teams going up to €499.95 a month for large agencies.
- A SE ranking subscription ranges from €39.20 a month for individual professionals to €180 a month for large enterprises.
- Screaming Frog has a free version and a paid version which costs around €180 per year.
Some of these tools might be a little expensive, but luckily Google offers some free alternatives, such as Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner.
3. What are my KPI’s?
These could be the amount of backlinks, the click-through rate, the keyword strategy, etc. If your website doesn’t perform well in these aspects compared to your competitors, then it is time you evaluate your strategy.
4. How often should I conduct a competitor analysis?
A rule of thumb is to do this twice a year for better results. Although, depending on your specific niche and competition, you could also choose to do this once a quarter.
5. What would I like to accomplish with this analysis?
Is it finding market opportunities? Perhaps more visibility on the SERP? Or maybeyou would like to introduce a new product to the market? Whatever your goal is, having a plan containing the aspects above and following through it will significantly improve the quality of your analysis.
Step 2: Index Your Competitors
It’s a good idea to create a list of your competitors and organize them based on their services or products. The next step would be to Identify the differences and similarities between you and your competition.
Determine who are your direct competitors and who caters to the same audience as you. Analyzing a diverse range of competitors will help you develop a comprehensive understanding of the market.
Step 3: Do a Keyword Research
The foundation of a great SEO strategy is using the right keywords. The more relevant to your content the keywords are, the bigger the chances are that Google would rank you higher in search engines. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush are great for the purpose of doing keyword research.
In this step, it’s important to note that you should also focus on researching your keyword gap analysis. You can use Ahrefs’s Content Gap tool to spot the keywords that your competitors rank for and you’re missing, and try to outperform their efforts.
Step 4: Analyze the Competitors Website and Strategy
Another thing to consider is the strategies your competitors use to engage their customers and retain them. Start from going over their website. What is their tone of voice? How do they communicate with their readers?
Moreover, explore factors such as website structure, user experience, content quality, and landing pages. Take detailed notes on your findings and write down interesting ideas that might pop up during your research. Once you identify your strengths and weaknesses compared to your competitors,, you'll have a clearer understanding of what your website needs to attract customers.
Step 5: Check the Competitor Backlink Profiles
Backlinks are another essential aspect of successful SEO practices. They’re also important when it comes to authority and trustworthiness of a website and you would definitely want to have that. Google ranks websites on that base, so prioritizing backlinks is a good practice.
Another thing to consider is quality over quantity backlinks, as poor-quality backlinks can harm your SEO. When conducting a competitor analysis, assess your competition’s backlinks. Majestic is a good tool to streamline this process and identify areas for potential improvement for your website.
Step 6: Evaluate the Competitors’ Social Media Presence
Social media gives lots of room for creativity and inspiration. Consider evaluating your competitors’ branding approach. How do their customers engage and interact with it? Take notes of any ideas that might pop up of how you can improve your presence there as well. Analyze the strategies of your competition and the effectiveness of their content to help you build a better social media plan.
Step 7: Transform Insights into Concrete Actions
Last but not least, establish a clear plan for applying all of the ideas you gathered during your research. Execute these systematically, step by step, to ensure smooth implementation and monitor their impact on your website's performance to adjust strategies whenever and wherever needed.
Conclusion
We know for a fact the world is ever evolving and with it, more and more businesses open up to offer new solutions or products and fill certain niche gaps. Which is why relying solely on making a sale, just because you believe that your product is the best out there, isn’t always going to be enough.
It’s important to know where you stand and that what you offer is indeed unique. And to do so, you need to research brands that operate in your niche and excel beyond their efforts.
Head of English Markets
Justin Turner is the Head of English Markets at Seeders Zwolle. With a background in online marketing and a passion for helping businesses grow, Justin leads a team dedicated to delivering results for clients. His expertise in SEO, content marketing, and social media strategies ensures that Seeders' clients receive top-notch service and achieve their marketing goals.
