SEO Competitive Analysis - Discover Your Competitors
Although some people believe that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a checklist; it is not so. It is much more than completing a particular task - X to obtain a result - Y which leads to a top rank on page one. SEO is a method that provides the best results for a particular search query. SEO is competitive, for someone to win someone else has to lose, making it a competitive sport.
The best search engine optimization strategies follow a series of steps. The first step of the journey begins when the site is seen. The next step is to make sure the site is understood. The final and ultimate step is when the site is preferred above others.
To Be Seen
A site has to be seen in order to rank. The easiest way to achieve this is to make sure that it is crawled and understood by search engines. Code, security and architecture are major components of “technical SEO“. A software scan can potentially identify thousands of visibility optimization opportunities and this can sometimes overwhelm a team. Many sites concentrate on this step of the journey without continuing to the next phase. Try to determine an appropriate level of investment in visibility, but leave capacity within the organization to get to the next steps because being seen is not enough by itself.
To Be Understood
Putting your site out on the web is an easy task. Getting search engines to understand your site is the most important factor. Generally speaking sites with less organic strength need to focus their story, while sites that have more organic strength can expand their message more broadly. The key to a “focus“ strategy is to ensure that each and every site page is consistent and its aim is pointed at a precise kind of searcher.
Check search engine perceptions by looking at the pages (excluding the home page) that drive heavy traffic to the site. These oft visited pages are your best performing ones and most likely represent the search engines‘ perspective of the most relevant pages on your site. This is the best method to assess search engine perceptions.
To Be Preferred
After being seen and understood, the final step is to increase search engine preference and make your site a preferred source for viewers. Reaching the first page results of a search engine is hard. Keyword phrases can get billions of results. A simple phrase such as ice-cream can generate close to 3 billion options to click on. However, the links on page one get around 90% of the clicks. So, it is essential for your site to take the place of an existing link on page one. Targeting page one sites to unseat and displacing them is the ultimate aim of Competitive SEO.
Competitive Content Builds SEO
Google makes it clear that it’s only goal is to offer the best result for a specific query. Strengthen your SEO by focusing on delivering the better content than what you see on page one and leave the competition far behind.
One way to get to page-one begins by understanding the content on sites that are currently on page-one. Google and other search engines utilize a large number of indicators to determine the authority of a site. Stronger sites have a built-in advantage; however, Google and other search engines are smart and realize that the opinion of searchers is more important than its own. Create exceptional content that searchers will eagerly consume. Google increasingly rewards the site that creates excellent content by giving them a higher ranking; as per searchers consumption of content. Competitive and excellent content always wins, although it may take time.
Competitive Analysis Step-By-Step
Build a competitive content strategy by conducting a competitive analysis. The two types of competitive analyses for a competitive search optimization strategy are Competitive Site Analysis and Keyword Competitive Analysis.
Competitive Site Analysis
The first step to this analysis is to pick similar sites and analyze them. Avoid picking large broad sites such as Amazon or Walmart. Instead pick sites that are similar to your site both in strength and in product breadth. Start building a profile of the strength and weaknesses of the competition. Use SEO research tools to analyze and understand the current successes of the competitors. Look at their SEO
footprint and follow the directions of their growth. Question their strategy and study it to determine whether it is useful or detrimental to their growth and ranking. By studying this, set benchmarks for your site to strive for and reach.
Analyzing Keyword Competitiveness
Carefully study the competitive site and gather a bunch of aspirational keywords. Make sure that these words represent the site. Check on what it takes to come in at number 10. See how competitive the site’s content is when compared with page one sites today. Check out the site you would like to displace and calculate the content that you would have to replace in your site. Most competitive analyses show that the best strategy for keyword competitiveness is an increase in word count which leads to overall word depth. When there is word depth, it is easier to find appropriate answers for more queries.
Conclusion
The best option for reaching page one by a search engine is to have better content for any search query. Whether it is a part of a paid search campaign or is an organic strategy, better content delivers better results for any given search. Chart a plan and deliver page one ranking by understanding the content strategy of sites that have a page one rank today. Building better content for your site generally results in displacing competitive sites. A competitive analysis is the path that will help you to understand what “better” means with regard to the competition.
