What Is SEO Competitor Analysis?

Let’s be honest. Two-thirds of all clicks on Google go to the top five organic search results. Designing an SEO strategy, creating outstanding content, and doing technical SEO audits don’t guarantee that your material will be able to grab the attention it deserves. The statistics by the top SEO company in Kerala show that 95% of web pages receive no web traffic from Google.

But who is if you are not benefiting from the search results? Your competitor. While you are having a hard time with website traffic and online visibility, your competitor is all doing the same, and getting better results than you. That’s something SEO competitor analysis can help you with. 

When executed correctly, this strategy will help you create better and more targeted content that reflects on search engine rankings, ultimately bringing more relevant traffic 

Firstly, you need to find

• Your real competitors 

• Their ranking keyword and organic traffic.

Finding Your SEO Competitors 

So, what exactly is an SEO competitor? Your SEO competition is the websites that rank for the same organic search searches that you do. This simply means that your SEO rivals will differ depending on the issue. 

So, before publishing or optimising any page focused on ranking for a given keyword, it's critical to understand who you're competing with.

That is where the first step of competition analysis comes into play. Start with identifying the competitors you may be unaware of. This is a very crucial move to conduct if your website focuses on distinct business sectors and you have multiple rivals across industries.

When to conduct an SEO Competitor Analysis?

With search engine algorithms changing every day and new competitors emerging, there are digital marketers/or SEO experts working relentlessly to outsmart your SEO attempts. Analyzing your competitors on a regular basis to understand where you are, will undoubtedly help you identify areas for development. You can start with that.

Some of the key processes to keep an eye out for while carrying out an SEO competitive analysis are.

• Planning and writing content 

When it comes to planning and writing content check out how you are competitors are doing. SEO competitor analysis can also help you find out how much effort is needed to 

outrank your competitors on certain topics and keywords. Make sure that your content answers its related search queries.

•   Sudden ranking drop 

You can also determine how your competition is outranking you in certain keywords and traffic. 

•  Changes in SERP 

If another competitor's website has overtaken you in SERP results or for a specific search term, you can use the SEO competitor to analyze what can be improved. 

Types of SEO Competitive Analysis
 

Competitive Analysis can be considered a very broad term that includes a multitude of subprocesses and methods. There are mainly three types of competitive analysis 

1. Content Competitive Analysis 

2. Competitor Backlink Profile Analysis 

3. Technical SEO Competitor Analysis 

Competitor SEO Content Analysis 

The experts at Inter smart Solution, the finest SEO service in Kochi point out that Google prioritizes content and websites that are best in giving a relevant and positive user experience. 

If you are able to convey the user's search intent more than your competitors, Google will reward your content with a ranking boost. Once you’ve identified the content you want to outrank for you can try these two methods.

• Fill content gaps 

This means identifying the weakness of your competitor’s content and exploiting it. Like if they are not covering a particular topic, you should try to fill the gap with your content, giving the readers what they are looking for.

• The Skyscraper 

Even though this sounds simple, this method requires a lot of effort. It involves creating an updated and prime-quality version of your competitor’s content. Key matters to consider if you are optimizing your content to outrank your competitor.

• Title

• Meta title

• Meta descriptions

• Format

• Keyword placement

• Word count

• Readability of content

• Page structure

• Infographics/ Q&A

• Supporting Images/ Videos.

Competitor Backlink Profile Analysis

As we all know securing high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites is an integral part of a successful SEO strategy. Consider backlinks as referrals from an authoritative figure from the industry as they have a huge impact on SERP. However, keep in mind that backlinks from low-quality or spam websites might affect your SERP score and harm your overall SEO performance.

Technical SEO Competitor Analysis 

Technical SEO is the final and most known SEO technique. SEO firms review the technical details and compare your competition and ensure you plug any technical SEO gaps that result in your website rank dropping. 

Some of the technical SEO elements to look out for during an SEO competitor analysis.

• Internal Linking

Internal links help both readers and search engines to understand and navigate through your website. They play a crucial role to help the search engine to crawl, understand and index your pages and website.

• Mobile Friendliness

It is definitely weird to ask if your website is mobile-friendly in 2023. If your answer is no, then you are doing everything wrong. Since more than 75% of Google search queries are from a mobile device, every website owner should make sure that their website is mobile-friendly.

• Page Speed

Everybody hates slow internet and buffering. Nobody wants to stay on a website that takes ages to load. According to a study, more than 47 % of visitors expect a site to load within two-three seconds. If your competitor's website offers a much smoother user experience with a good page speed, obviously people will choose that one. 

• SSL Certifications

Search engine gives extreme priority to providing a safe browsing experience to their users. Having HTTPS secure encryption is a Google ranking factor. It will prevent a website from getting a ‘Not Secure’ label in the search results.

• Website Structure 

Site structure is equally connected to search engine crawlers and user experience. An ideal web structure is simple and uncluttered, easy to navigate for its users. Also, an important page should not be more than four clicks away from the home page.