Even with incredible focus on your own strategy, you need competitor analysis to round out your SEO preparation. It arms you with details that can feed your decisions and guide your priorities. SEO competitor analysis is not just about keeping tabs on your rivals; it's about uncovering the secrets to their success and using that knowledge to propel your own website to the top of search results.
Understanding your competition isn't just helpful—it's absolutely essential for crafting a winning SEO strategy. In this guide, we take a look at how to use SEO competitor analysis to your advantage at multiple stages of your campaign.
Understanding SEO Competitor Analysis
SEO competitor analysis is the process of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the websites you're competing against in search engine results pages (SERPs). That analysis covers various aspects such as keyword usage, on-page SEO, content strategy, backlinks, and technical SEO.
But why does this matter to your SEO strategy? Simply put, it provides a roadmap to success. By understanding what works for your competitors, you can:
- Identify opportunities they've missed
- Avoid strategies that aren't yielding results
- Set realistic goals based on industry benchmarks
- Stay ahead of industry trends
Remember, you're not operating in a vacuum. Your success is relative to those around you. Getting people to find your site organically relies on outperforming others. This is why competitor analysis is an indispensable tool in your SEO arsenal.
Identifying Your SEO Competitors
Before you can analyze your competitors, you need to know who they are. This isn't always as straightforward as it seems. Your SEO competitors might not be the same as your business competitors. I want to be very direct: just because you haven’t heard of them doesn’t mean a thing to your audience. If they appear during the course of a search, they could be taking traffic from you. They’re the competition.
Here's how to identify them:
- Start with a list of keywords relevant to your business
- Perform searches for these keywords
- Note which websites consistently appear in the top results
<aside> 💡 Alternate shortcut: type your website into an SEO competitor analysis tool like SpyFu and get a list of organic competitors in just one step.
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As you run through this exercise, think of different types of competitors:
- Direct competitors: Businesses offering very similar products or services
- Indirect competitors: Businesses targeting the same audience but with mostly different offerings
- Replacement competitors: Also called “phantom” competitors, these give customers and alternative to your product or service. Think of neck roller tools when you search “chiropractors.”
<aside> 💡 Tip: Replacement competitors might reach searchers through ads instead of organic results. That still makes them a threat. Search your keyword in SpyFu to find advertisers that could be taking your potential audience.
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Tools to Find Your Competitors
Several tools can help streamline this process:
- Google Search Console: Provides insights into which websites you're competing against for specific queries
- SpyFu: Specializes in SEO competitor analysis with rank comparisons and history
- Moz: Great for on-page SEO and keyword analysis.
With these tools, you can quickly build a comprehensive list of your SEO competitors, especially the ones you would have missed.
Analyzing Competitors' Keywords
Once you've identified your competitors, it's time to dig into their keyword strategies. This is a major step, because it tells you exactly how they are connecting with the same audience you are trying to reach.
When you research your competitors’ SEO keywords, you want to note their big successes as well as their apparent misses. All of that information will prove valuable.
To find your competitors' top-performing keywords:
- Use tools like SpyFu, Ahrefs, or Moz to analyze their organic search traffic
- Look for keywords with high search volume and low difficulty
- Identify long-tail keywords that reveal what audiences want to find
Understanding Keyword Difficulty and Search Volume
Keyword difficulty indicates how hard it is to rank for a particular keyword. High search volume means more potential traffic but often comes with higher competition. Balancing these factors is key to choosing the right keywords.
Get New Ideas from Your Competitor’s Best Keywords
One strong SEO practice is to build up your keyword list with related terms. This works for you in two ways. A string of related terms can turn into a well-structured outline for an article. Imagine building on one major topic but then having a map to relevant subtopics that people want to learn about. This helps you deliver well-rounded, authoritative content that builds your credibility. By targeting related terms in your outline, you are forced to dive deep into a topic. This keeps you from putting out thin content and ensures a better final product.
The other way that related terms benefit you is by churning out ideas for original content. You can plan videos and write content to cover searches that might stem from the original keyword. If your competitors have good authority in a general topic, this is a good method to challenge them on multiple SERPs.
How to Find Your SEO Competitor’s Best Keywords
You can use SpyFu’s keyword tool to find related keywords. Look for the Questions feature to single out keywords that reflect what people are asking about. Addressing those with a video of your article is a good way to tackle both of the methods we just listed.
Remember, the goal isn't to copy your competitors' keyword strategy directly. Instead, use it as guidance and inspiration as you create your own unique approach.
Examining Competitors' On-Page SEO
On-page SEO optimizes the page through header formatting, titles, descriptions, and everything that helps readers and search engines understand what your content is about. Analyzing your competitors' on-page SEO can tell you how they see view their content and the searches they are trying to target with it.
If you remember earlier in this guide we mentioned that SEO success is relative to the competitors around you. Your competitors’ on-page SEO gives you a direct look at what you are up against. That clues you into any ways you might need to strengthen your own content.
Key On-Page SEO Factors to Analyze
- Titles and Meta Descriptions: These elements are critical for SEO and user click-through rates.
- Headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.): Proper use of headers improves readability and SEO.
- Content Quality: High-quality content is essential for ranking well.
Tools like Screaming Frog can crawl your competitors' websites and help you identify their on-page elements. Look for patterns in how they structure their content, use keywords, and optimize their pages.
Titles and Meta Descriptions
Pay close attention to how your competitors craft their titles and meta descriptions. Are these different ways to describe the keyword? Related phrases? Use these insights to improve your own meta elements, making them more compelling and click-worthy.
Content Structure
Examine how your competitors structure their content. Notice the language they use in their headers. Is their page skimmable and easy to understand or maybe too light and not fleshed out enough? It’s also a good time to determine if images on the page help tell your story better.
Analyzing Competitors' Content Strategy
By analyzing your competitors' content strategy, you might uncover a shot at creating better, more engaging content that resonates with your target audience.
Start by asking these questions:
- What types of content are they producing (blogs, videos, infographics)?
- How frequently do they publish new content?
- Which pieces of content are performing best in terms of rankings and engagement?
- What topics are they covering that you haven't addressed yet?
Use tools like BuzzSumo or Ahrefs' Content Explorer to identify your competitors' most shared and linked content. This can provide valuable insights into what resonates with your shared audience.
Identifying Content Gaps
A good exercise in content analysis is identifying content gaps–topics that your competitors aren't addressing adequately. These gaps represent opportunities for you to create unique, valuable content that can help you stand out in the SERPs.
Remember to approach a “content gap” on a site level and on a page level. On a site level, a relevant topic that isn’t covered would be a gap. One a page level, a gap is a subtopic of the article that doesn’t get much coverage.
For instance, look at an article of theirs. What kind of information do they touch on but never drill into? Going much deeper can be a huge opportunity for you to grab. This competitive intel helps you consider new ideas that aren’t getting the attention from them or from you. You can offer an explainer video or a new infographic to answer questions you hadn’t thought of.
Remember, the goal isn't just to create more content, but to deliver well-explained, thorough information that is valuable to your audience.
Backlink Analysis
Backlinks still factor heavily into SEO success. They act as votes of confidence from other websites, signaling to search engines that your content is valuable and authoritative.
Learning who your competitors get links from can tell you how active they are in building links. Or, it’s a clue into how other businesses see them as an authority.
To conduct a backlink analysis:
- Use tools like Ahrefs or Majestic to examine your competitors' backlink profiles
- Look at the quantity and quality of their backlinks
- Identify the types of content that are attracting the most links
- Note which websites are linking to your competitors
Pay attention to:
- Domain Authority (DA) of linking sites
- Anchor text used in backlinks
- Context in which the links appear
This analysis can help you identify high-quality websites that might be open to linking to your content as well. It can also inspire ideas for link-worthy content that you can create to attract similar backlinks.
Technical SEO Analysis
Unlike the topical elements that you optimize on a page by page basis, technical SEO forms the foundation of a well-optimized website. It might seem like there’s little to leverage from your competitor’s technical issues, but it can’t hurt to be prepared. These are important factors to have dialed in on your own page. Should your competitor fall short, you will know that the preparation you did gave you a slight edge.
Key technical SEO factors to examine include:
- Site speed
- Mobile-friendliness
- XML sitemaps
- Robots.txt file
- HTTPS implementation
- Structured data markup
Tools like Google Search Console and GTmetrix can help you analyze these factors.
Common Technical SEO Issues
Watch out for these common technical SEO problems:
- Slow page load times
- Duplicate content
- Broken links
- Improper redirects
- Missing or poorly implemented structured data
By addressing these issues on your own site while your competitors struggle with them, you can gain a significant advantage in search rankings.
Analyzing User Experience (UX)
User experience has become increasingly important in SEO. Not only has Google marked it as a ranking factor, it’s also good for your audience. User experience impacts how visitors interact with your site. A positive experience can lead to higher engagement, lower bounce rates, and better conversions.
Key UX factors that impact SEO include:
- Page load speed
- Mobile-friendliness
- Intuitive navigation
- Clear, readable content
- Proper use of whitespace and visual elements
Tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights and Mobile-Friendly Test can help you analyze these factors. Compare your site's performance to your competitors' and look for areas where you can improve.
Social Media Presence and Engagement
While social media signals aren't direct ranking factors, they can indirectly influence SEO by driving traffic, increasing brand awareness, and potentially leading to more backlinks.
Analyzing Competitors' Social Media Strategies
Look at the platforms they use, the type of content they share, and their engagement metrics. This can help you refine your own social media strategy.
Tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social can help you track and analyze social media performance. Use these insights to refine your own social media strategy and find ways to better engage with your audience.
Putting Competitor Insights to Work
Now that you've gathered all this valuable information about your competitors, it's time to put it to use. Here's how to leverage these insights to improve your own SEO strategy.
Create an Action Plan Based on Insights
Develop a step-by-step plan to implement the changes needed to improve your SEO. This might include optimizing on-page elements, creating new content, or building backlinks.
Monitor and Adjust Your Strategy
SEO is an ongoing process. Regularly monitor your performance and adjust your strategy based on new insights and what you find about your competitors.
Regular competitor analysis should be an ongoing part of your SEO efforts. By staying informed about your competitors' strategies and the broader industry trends, you'll be well-positioned to maintain and improve your search engine rankings over time.
