Doing SEO and keeping up with the good keywords positions is a challenging task by itself. But, what if you want to go further and dominate your niche completely? In order to do that, you need to understand what your competitors are doing right – and adapt their methods for your own website.

Why is competitor analysis important?

Your competitors are your biggest source of inspiration when it comes to SEO. If you want to be on top of the SERP, you need to understand what your opponents are doing and how they manage to achieve great results. Also, by conducting a competitor analysis, you can discover new opportunities for your website and business. As competitor analysis is all about analyzing your competitor’s moves, you can take advice from a digital marketing consultant who will understand what will work for you. Here are some tips on how to conduct a competitor analysis for SEO purposes:

1. Benchmark your SEO score first:

You need to know where you stand before you can start improving your position. Use a tool like SEMrush to get an overview of your website’s SEO health. While auditing your website, focus on the following aspects: Once you have a good understanding of your competitor’s website, it’s time to analyze their content. Don’t miss out on important opportunities by failing to do a competitor content analysis.

2. Identify improvement areas and fix them:

Check if your competitor is ranking for keywords that you are not. Make a list of those keywords and start working on optimizing your website for them. Check for all the technical SEO aspects like website speed, mobile-friendliness, etc., and improve them. Once you identify and fix these issues, it becomes easier for you to perform competitor analysis and replicate the needful changes.

3. Check competitor’s backlink profile:

Links are one of the most important ranking factors. Check your competitor’s backlink profile to see where they are getting links from. You can use a tool like Moz to check the link profile. After analyzing their backlink profile, try to get links from the same websites. This will help you in increasing your website’s ranking.

4. Check their strong and weak keywords:

You need to know your competitor’s strong and weak keywords to outrank them. Use a tool like Ahrefs to find out their top keywords. Make a list of all the keywords and check where you are ranking for those keywords. If you are not ranking for some of the keywords, start working on them. You will find a lot of opportunities to improve your ranking by analyzing the competitor’s keywords.

5. Monitor their activity on social media:

Social media is a powerful platform that can help you in improving your website’s ranking. Check what kind of content your competitor is posting on social media and how often they are doing it. Identify the gaps in your content strategy and work on them. Try to post fresh and engaging content regularly to attract more visitors to your website.

6. Conduct a SWOT analysis:

Once you have gathered all the necessary data, it’s time to conduct a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a powerful tool that helps you in identifying your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. It also helps you in understanding the opportunities and threats in your industry. This information is very valuable and can help you in formulating an effective SEO strategy.

7. Discover your competitors’ winning strategies:

After analyzing all the above factors, you will have a good understanding of your competitor’s SEO strategies. Now, it’s time to learn from their success and apply the same methods to your own website. With the help of these tips, you can easily conduct a competitor analysis and improve your website’s ranking.

8. Keep a track of their progress:

It’s important to keep a track of your competitor’s progress so that you can make necessary changes in your own SEO strategy. Use tools like Google Analytics to track their progress. This will help you in understanding the changes that they are making in their SEO strategy and how it is impacting their ranking.

9. Use Google AdWords:

Google AdWords is a great way to find out the keywords that your competitor is bidding on. You can use this information to improve your own keyword strategy and get ahead of your competitor. Most people don’t see Google AdWords as a competitor analysis tool but it can be very helpful if used correctly.

10. Closely observe their content:

One of the most important things in SEO is content. You need to closely observe the type of content your competitor is creating and the method they are using to promote it. Identify the areas where you are lacking and work on them. Try to create better and more engaging content than your competitor.

Wrapping up!

These were some of the most effective tips that you can use to do a competitor analysis. By following these tips, you can easily identify the areas where you need to improve and formulate an effective SEO strategy to outrank your competitors