Does your business face stiff competition in the target market? You might have created a website and invested in a marketing campaign. But, you have still found it difficult to drive the organic rank of your site. If you have skipped the step for competitor research, your SEO campaign will not be effective.
What keywords have your competitors chosen for their websites? How many do-follow backlinks do they have? To learn more about your competitors, you should spy on their marketing activities. However, it does not mean that you have to copy their strategies. The data obtained from research will help you optimize your tactics.
Classify your online competitors
Your competitors can be classified into:
Direct – This includes the most powerful competitors who are selling similar products or services.
Indirect – Some companies sell items that may be substitutes for your products. Your products/services should fulfill a customer’s needs.
Make a list of around 10 competitors relevant to your industry or business.
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Identify your competitors’ keywords
Many competitor analysis tools allow you to spy on keywords used by your rivals, but you can also contact an SEO agency for advanced insights. When using a tool, you’ll need to input a competitor’s website URL, and the tool will automatically show the keywords for which the website is ranked. Filter the keywords based on the criteria like:
- Position
- Location
- Search volume
- Word count
The best tools allow you to identify the paid and organic keywords chosen by your competitors.
Subscribe to newsletters: Become a social media follower
As a subscriber to your competitor websites, you will learn how your rivals have created articles on trendy topics. What’s more, it lets you know their latest updates and newly released products. You should also follow the social media pages of your competitors. Detect the weak sides of your competitors and grab the opportunity to beat them.
Visit your competitors’ websites:
Most businesses run retargeted ads to turn more leads into your customers. Those who have visited their sites find their ads on social platforms and other sites. So, you may also visit your competitors’ sites a number of times. Explore various pages and take any action. You will then find display ads and social ads within a few weeks. Analyze a few things when the ads appear.
- How did your competitors design the ad?
- What is the gap between the date of your website visit and the appearance of retargeting ads?
- Did the ads promote a particular product or a page?
Assess backlinks
Which sites are linking your competitors’ websites? If you link your website to a high-authority site, it will increase the number of visitors. So, backlink monitoring is a part of your strategy for competitor research. Look for the best opportunities for link building and determine the link’s value. More backlinks will help you increase your domain authority.
So, these are some ways to spy on your strong competitors. Connect with the best professionals for competitor analysis. They choose the right approach for optimizing your strategies.
