How to analyze competition?

Chupin

Chupin

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Jan 30, 2010
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I'm looking at website that are currently on page 1 for a niche I'm considering trying to rank for. I've put the top 5 non "big-brand" websites into both opensiteexplorer and ahrefs. Both tools showing all the top 5's having under 2k backlinks, not very diverse anchor text, etc.

What am I missing? What do you guys do when researching competition.
 


Besides back links, here is an overview of what I look at for competitive analysis:

  • Internal linking structures. I grade them into my own categories.
  • HTML Titles/H1 on all pages
  • HTML semantic analysis on all top ranking pages
  • Social profiles, activity and reviews
  • Number of pages indexed by Google
  • Number of words per page on top keyword ranking pages
  • Rank the quality of the content
  • Age of websites (not domains)
  • Do the run Ads? If so, what products and keywords? What are the landing pages?

Of course, there are many details that I left unsaid, but this is the general plan that I start with. Usually, by the time I have looked at the number of pages, content quality, back links, social activity - I have a pretty good idea the effort it would take to rank. The other elements help to identify areas where the competition may be vulnerable - or where I am particularly strong.
 
You have to optimize your OnSEO page first and then concentrate about offSEO.
Diversity your anchor texts and your backlinks sources.
 
Chupin said:
What am I missing? What do you guys do when researching competition.
Click to expand...

Normally, I would check out their website and look for the product or service they are offering. I'm also looking out for the factors that makes people want to visit their site and look for a better plan to counter their efforts...

I was able to do this before when I was putting up my own site. My competition is already established and is gaining a decent amount of traffic. So what I did was integrated a tool that would attract visitors from entering my site and negate the bore time where they have to spend looking for ad banners. Fortunately, this tool from OfferDaddy proved to be efficient. And now, I'm able to compete well since I gather more traffic from my offerwall and earn more money in the process...:)
 
Keywords for what they are rankings.
Unique services that your competitors are not providing and you can focus on those services.
Better user interface and design with useful content.
 
Different marketers have different criteria. If you are interested to learn my strategy, please sign up to my Six Figures Coaching Program. Don't you worry this is absolutely FREE of charge. Just add me up on Skype (Skype Username: steinhoffs2000) so we can schedule some time to chat.
 
While doing the competitor research, I focus on: -

1- The keywords they are using and ranking, also the keyword's avg. monthly searches and competition.

2- Domain age, hosting location IP, loading speed

3- Page's content and style, meta title, meta description, anchor text linking within the website.

4- Off-page submission backlink and the type of websites that are used in the backlinks, IP location, backlink domain extension type.

5- Backlinking on No-follow and Do-follow.

6- Anchor link type, whether its done on a keyword or have used synonyms or brand word etc.

Hope that helps.

Cheers!
 
How to Conduct Your Competitive Analysis
Categorize your competitors. ...
Examine your competitor's website & customer experience. ...
Identify your competitor's market positioning. ...
Take a peek at pricing. ...
Problem solve for shipping. ...
Take a temperature check with reviews. ...
Review social media.
 
Identify opportunities to serve newly acquired and prospective customers.
Determine size of the market – identify service gaps and areas for self improvement where competition is exploiting at the moment.
Find the tried and tested ways to cater the target market.
 
Chupin said:
I'm looking at website that are currently on page 1 for a niche I'm considering trying to rank for. I've put the top 5 non "big-brand" websites into both opensiteexplorer and ahrefs. Both tools showing all the top 5's having under 2k backlinks, not very diverse anchor text, etc.

What am I missing? What do you guys do when researching competition.
Click to expand...

When you analyze competition you have to compare against your own site.
You've stated that the competitor sites have under 2,000 backlinks and lack diversity in their backlink profile, then ask "what am I missing"?

We don't know since you didn't provide any stats about your website.
I assume these sites you've looked up are ranking above you, which would lead me to assume further than you have even less backlinks than them, and that is probably what you are missing.

You'll also want to do a content gap analysis between your site and theirs to determine which keyword phrases they are ranking for that you aren't, and develop content around those topics.
This will increase your keyword coverage.

Additionally, you should do a technical SEO analysis on your website and the competitors websites to see if their sites are loading faster than yours, and discover any other issues that might be present.
If their sites don't load as fast as yours, and still rank above you, then it's safe to say PageSpeed is a ranking factor you need to focus on.
 
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Evaluate your competitors' website content.
Pay close attention to their brand.
Find out what website tools they're using.
Monitor competitors on social media.
Look at their pricing page.
Get a picture of their SEO strategy and traffic.
Become a customer.
 
1. create a list of competitors based on a specific keyword.

Arsenkin Tools, Seranking, Ahrefs and PR-CY will be useful. You may also use any other tool that lets you upload a list of top sites or just make a search by keyword in Google.

2.find out which sites link back to them.

You can get a list of backlinks to competitors’ sites using Ahrefs, Backlinkwatch(free), Serpstat, Majestic, or other services.

3.exclude directories;
job hunting sites;
video hosting;
podcasts;
geo services;
social network;
forums;
pdf, doc, pptp hosting services ;
aggregators.
or sites that do not post articles. You can get free links there.

4. Find out guestposting sites and check their spam/niche/price/region etc.
Try to cooperate with them by publishing your guest posts or adding info about your site to the articles. If you want to save your time - use guestposting services(non distribution press-release, but manual placements services)
 
You must first have the appropriate mindset: you want your website to appear when someone searches for terms relating to your niche, business, products, or services on Google. To do this, you must improve your site so that Google considers it high-quality and worthy of being ranked first. This is the essence of SEO (search engine optimization). With a new website and an effective SEO approach, you may get off to a strong start.
Step 1: Conduct keyword research.
Step 2: Optimize pages for the keywords you've chosen.
Step 3: Maintain a high level of speed and performance.
Step 4: Assist Google in finding and indexing your site.
Step 5: Create and optimise content in order to attract more visitors.
Step 6: Use backlinks to improve your ranks.
Ranking your new website is a long-term approach that takes time to produce results but will provide you with high-quality organic (free) traffic for years. Don't be discouraged by the lengthy wait; with the appropriate SEO strategies, your site will ultimately begin to rank and rise in Google's search results.
 
You can also check their overall activities, presence on different digital platforms and social media, paid campaigns they run or they made recently, you can take a look into keywords they are using, for how long they are present online, and so on, as all this information will help you get better insights and base your own strategy on them.
 
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