SEO competitor analysis is analysing the SEO strategies that your competitors are leveraging to rank higher in SERP. This would include deciphering their links, content, on-page SEO techniques, and other tactics. This helps to discover unique SEO optimisation opportunities that you may have not previously touched upon.
How often should you perform Competitor Analysis?
SEO competitor analysis can often be overwhelming due to the sheer efforts that go into it. It is not a one-day task and requires some time to analyse and come up with an adequate strategy.
In order to save time and efforts, we would recommend performing SEO competitor analysis quarterly. You can adhere to a time frame that best fits your needs.
Why is Competitor Analysis Important?
Competitor analysis in SEO helps you in taking a deeper look at your industry as a whole and determining the gaps in the industry that you can fill. You can determine where your competitors stand, compare it to where you stand, and leverage the information gathered to drive your business. Your business might even be ranking in the top 5 results on the search results for the most relevant keywords in your domain. However, you will always have a website trying to edge your ranking and take over it by capitalizing on the weaknesses in your website.
When thinking about how to perform competitor analysis, it is crucial to determine the exact takeaway you’re looking for. Competitor analysis in SEO can be used for many purposes, like preparing a roadmap to determine what your competitors are doing better than you. Maybe they’re on featured snippets or have a better community. These things can only be determined through a comprehensive analysis of your competitors.
Types of SEO Competitor Analysis
We have collated some important competitor analysis techniques to help you strengthen your search engine optimisation results:
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Keyword Gap Analysis
This is a technique which involves studying the keywords for which your competitors rank. The main idea here is to look out for keywords that your competitors are ranking for, but you aren’t. Make a list of such keywords and align your SEO strategy focusing on these keywords. To perform this activity, you can use a tool such as SEMRush
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Content Gap Analysis
This is a technique that involves the study of different types of content that your competitors produce. This will give you an insight into how to prepare your content strategy.
Backlink Gap Analysis
This technique involves the study of competitors’ backlinks to determine how strong their backlink profile is. Backlink analysis, also known as link gap analysis, is a fundamental competitor analysis technique. If your competitors have a high-quality backlink profile, ranking above them may be difficult.
Website Architecture Analysis
Website architecture plays a significant role in your site’s rankings as well as user experience. The design layout, the CTA’s all contribute towards getting conversions. If your competitors’ website has a better UI and design, they are more likely to perform better in all aspects of the digital marketing funnel. You may want to spend some money to get the most out of your design language.