Want to learn how to outrank your competitors in search engines? Then you need to know what they’re doing right and wrong. This SEO competitor analysis checklist will help you assess the overall SEO strategy of your biggest rivals and identify their strengths and weaknesses
so you can then begin working to improve on them or come up with something new that they haven’t thought of yet. When done effectively, SEO competitor analysis can be an extremely effective tool in your SEO arsenal. Read on to find out how it works!
Step 1. Identify your competitor
First, identify who your competitors are. Any time you’re looking for information, such as a purchase or some sort of research, you probably have more than one potential source.
While all of these sources may not directly compete with each other in every single aspect (for example, they might be catering to different audiences), they can still be considered competitors.
Start by putting together a list of your top-three competitors and where they rank in terms of traffic and links. This information will come in handy when we look at how many backlinks they have and where they are getting them from.
Remember, do your best to avoid using proprietary information such as exact rankings or traffic numbers when compiling your competitor analysis checklist!
Step 2. Analyze their ranking factors using SEMrush
Once you’ve developed a checklist, use SEMrush (and other relevant tools) to check how your competitor(s) perform on those factors. Answering questions like Does my competitor have off-site SEO links?
and How does my competitor optimize their title tags? are a great way of getting insight into what works for them. Then use that information to identify gaps in your knowledge or approach and fill them in with your own plan.
Step 3. Set up goals with Google Analytics
Set up goals in Google Analytics, where you’ll be able to track how many people have visited your website after reading your SEO competitor analysis. Set up a separate goal for each of your main competitors’ websites.
Setting up goals will make it easier for you to track your progress over time and see which keywords are working best for driving traffic back to your site. Make sure you include their top keyword phrases as part of their landing page URLs, so you can compare how effective they are compared with yours.
Step 4. Determine keyword research opportunities in Google Keyword Planner
Enter all of your competitor sites into Google Keyword Planner, a free keyword research tool provided by Google. It'll spit out keyword search volumes and give you a list of related keyword ideas. At a minimum, enter the first three or four websites that come up in your niche.
Search for common keywords associated with your website (keywords you know are relevant) and see what they're ranking for. That way, if they're already targeting those terms, y
ou can see how competitive it is and also get an idea of potential traffic numbers and landing page topics for optimization ideas. If they don't appear anywhere in Google's Keyword Planner results, ask yourself why not? What could be holding them back from ranking?
Step 5. Identify Organic search traffic opportunities
Review your Google Analytics reports and look for areas where your competitors appear to be doing well. Drill down into those sections of your website and try and figure out why they are getting so much traction in that area.
See if you can replicate their success, especially in those sections of your site with low or no conversion rates, by improving page copy or design, call-to-action buttons, and so on.
Remember, before doing any redesigns you must get all internal stakeholders aligned around a new direction. If you don’t have buy-in within your organization regarding changes, you may never see any improvements from a redesign.
Step 6. Get positive reviews on Yelp, Foursquare, Google+ etc.
Getting reviews from your customers is one of best ways to boost your credibility and create buzz around your business. I recommend getting as many reviews as possible on Yelp, Google+ and Foursquare.
The process is simple — each service allows you to request reviews after a customer has used your service. Each review takes just minutes to write up but it can really make a difference in boosting local awareness of your business and driving more qualified leads.
Step 7. Create compelling content on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest)
One of your main goals should be staying top-of-mind with consumers, which will drive word-of-mouth buzz. It’s important to develop content and creative that keeps your audience engaged, inspired and asking for more.
One of my favorite ways to do that is by curating and creating original photos on Pinterest (I’m @B2BContent in case you want to check it out). The tool is pretty simple – create an account, download the Pin It bookmarklet or install one of their Chrome extensions,
find images around your topics on Google Images or Flickr and pin them. Most importantly – don’t just put any image up, think about how you can use it as a visual aid to help tell part of your story.
Step 8. Optimize videos (Youtube)
Optimizing your videos for search engine optimization (SEO) will increase views and subscribers. All you need is a video hosting platform like YouTube and a little knowledge about optimizing metadata for SEO purposes.
When setting up your video, include a call-to-action in its title that tells people exactly what they should do after watching it (i.e., How to Whiten Teeth at Home). Then in its description section, provide any additional information or website links that supports your business goals or calls to action.
Step 9. Optimize images/photos (e.g., Flickr and Instagram)
If you haven’t added photos or visuals to your website, it’s time. Most social media sites allow you to embed photos and visuals right into your posts, so taking advantage of those capabilities is key.
Flickr is a great site for hosting images (and they offer free hosting), and Instagram allows you to host your own images in addition to serving as a way of sharing content directly from other sites (e.g., Twitter, Pinterest).
It also allows users who don’t want/can’t use a full-blown blogging platform like WordPress/Blogger/Tumblr/etc. an easy way of creating visuals that go with their words.
Step 10. Create engaging infographics (e.g., Visually)
Infographics are a great way to communicate complex information in an engaging manner. As long as your infographic includes data visualizations, it’s likely something that could be shared on sites like Visually or LinkedIn.
These sites have built-in sharing features for infographics and other types of media, so you don’t need to do any additional promotion or outreach yourself.