What is it and how to do an SEO competition analysis

We know how important it is for any strategy to carry out a competitor analysis. In the online and digital environment, if there is an analysis that cannot be missing, that directly influences our strategy and that we should not miss, it is the SEO competition analysis.

But, how can we do an SEO competition analysis without dying trying? What does it contribute to our strategy? What tools can we use to achieve it?

Next, I share a few tips on how the analysis of your SEO competitors can help you to achieve a good strategy that boosts your organic traffic.

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Why do an SEO competition analysis?

Competitors have always been the turning point in all strategy creation. Therefore, the basis or redefinition of our ideas are always largely thought about what exists in the market and who is covering these needs.

The same thing happens in the digital ecosystem: when you create a website or an ecommerce, it is very important to know who your competitors are. You must know what they do, how they do it and if there are faults on their website, to improve the experience that users have on yours.

That is why we usually say that an analysis of the competition is more than recommended, but the truth is that it must be mandatory to understand what market we are treading on.

Next, we are going to reveal and explain the pros of the SEO competition study, but we will also navigate step by step on how we can interpret or understand the data that appears along the way during that investigation.

So the first thing that should come to mind is to try to understand what the competition is doing and what value it offers to our potential customers.

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To ensure that this is done in this way, we will always have in our Top of mind – “the magic words” : What does the competition do and what does it offer our customers? Maintaining our competitive advantage is part of the goal.

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We need to maintain our competitive advantage

Identify actions = expands the vision of the strategy.  

The SEO competition analysis of the competition allows us to know what is working for them and what they normally offer to users; This will allow us to expand our ideas to ask ourselves: what do my clients expect from me? What products do they want to find on my website? What need do they want to cover?

This analysis and reflection will also allow us to internalize which errors we do not want to fall into in order to offer a better user experience and which we see as regulars in the competition.

Understanding what the weaknesses and strengths of our competitors are is vital to guide our marketing actions towards success.

The threat of competition is real, it is something that will always be there and that we must monitor regularly, in order to have ideas of what the best practices are but, above all, because it is very useful for detecting new opportunities.

But this, is it possible to apply it in our SEO strategy? The answer is of course!

And once again, the magic words are: monitoring and analysis , because protecting your space in the digital environment is the goal, but increasing and impacting more users to expand your target and your segment is also.

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Yes, organic matters, and a lot! = SEO positioning

Now, it is important to carry out a SEO competition analysis to know how much desire and effort our competitors put into their SEO positioning strategy. But first let’s remember what SEO means in the life of any ecommerce, website or product that lives in the digital ecosystem.

SEO is defined as the set of techniques used to improve the organic positioning pursued by a website in search results or SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) and that seek to influence organic positioning factors.

These factors can be grouped into on-page SEO factors , that is, internal positioning factors that depend solely and exclusively on one and, on the other hand, off-page SEO factors , which are external positioning factors and that, therefore, they do not depend on oneself.

An example of an on-page SEO factor could be the quality of a website’s content, while an example of an off-page SEO factor could be the number of inbound links from external sites that a website gets due to its popularity, content, etc.

In summary, whenever we think about SEO positioning we must keep these key points in mind:

• Indexability: that they find us.
• Semantics: that the content by which we are categorized is appropriate.
• Guidelines: that we comply with Google’s guidelines to always come out in that position that we sometimes call “TOP”, that is, the first search results.

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How to identify our SEO competition? Where to start?

Well, the answer is very easy: on Google .

Start by doing a search for the main relevant terms, going through the funnel of your buyer / user person.

Let’s think then, what companies stand out in these searches? Do not dismiss those direct competitors with little content creation activity, because they can also show up in search results; remember that they also compete for the same segment and seek to gain, just like you, market share.

At this point, SEMrush ; is a platform that allows you to do a general analysis of your domain.

For example, it presents us with a SEO competition analysis to find out the main competitors of our domain, the main domains that compete for the keywords with which we position ourselves, how many keywords they have indexed, how many keywords our competitors have in common with us and the main content competitors of our domain.

SEMrush offers a vast amount of highly valuable data to build this competitor analysis.

I have already identified my competitors, and now…?

So, the question is: what do we need to do once the competitors have been identified, what should we do so that this synergizes with the development of the SEO strategy and thus be able to stay in the first search results in Google.

Here’s what you need to know about your competitors:

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1. Traffic analysis is definitely the next step

Analyzing the traffic sources of your competitors is the first step, without a doubt. This will help you broaden your vision of the marketing strategy you have at the moment.

It is true, you cannot access the data that Google Analytics offers you from your competitors, but there is a tool that can help you obtain that data in order to make sense of it and interpret it.

SEMrush gives you the opportunity to study and use traffic analysis to get an accurate estimate based on the data of the number of visits and the devices your traffic data comes from. (This section found within the SEO Toolkit is super useful and valuable for evaluating your competitors. For example, write the domain you want to analyze and start seeing the results).

2. Know your audience

Knowing your audience will allow you to discover new opportunities.

Using Google Analytics you will be able to determine where most of your visitors come from; The interesting thing is that you can expand this information since SEMrush allows you to see the direct traffic, referral traffic, search engine traffic or social networks of your competitors.

Having an overview of this data will allow you to detect what brings more traffic to your competitors. Reviewing bounce rates and average session lengths is a good indicator of whether your website is interesting to users. The longer the user/customer stays on the website, the higher the conversion rate can be.

SEMrush allows you to analyze the traffic sources of your competitors , which helps you understand what strategy they use to attract more visitors; in this way you can try to draw what actions they take to achieve that retention.

SEMrush also allows you to expand information on your competitors ; for example, how many users go to your competitors page. This will allow you to segment more easily.

Next, I leave you an image in which you can see how many users visit both your website and that of your competitor.

And in the main pages section you can evaluate which is its main content and the list of most visited URLs.

3. The study of keywords is the second key and decisive step

Keyword research is essential; It is the pillar that supports a quality SEO strategy.

The keywords allow you to maintain the relationship with your audience, they are the ones that demonstrate and decant the demand of the users. The study of keywords helps us to be able to identify what unknown and recent segments exist around you. Good keyword analysis helps you get relevant traffic.

But keyword research is much more than redirecting users from search engines to your website; It can also be useful at another level of marketing efforts, such as creating relevant content.

The intentionality of the users is one of the most valuable assets in the digital ecosystem, thinking like a user will always help us to provide relevant results; this is how the search algorithms applied by search engines also work; deciphering intentionality is a hidden treasure.

4. Organic Search… Yes, search volume matters, and a lot!

It is important to know that the higher the search volume, the greater your opportunity to compete.

If the number of results is not very high, it will be easier for you to reach the first search results, but it is always advisable to think about whether those keywords are the ones you want to position yourself for, if they make sense with your strategy and, furthermore, if these are not seasonal.

Knowing the volume handled by your competitors is important for two things:

1. The first is knowing what keywords are ranking for.
2. The second is that they show you which ones are promoting and for which they gain more visibility. SEMrush can help you in this SEO competition analysis, which will provide you with data on organic search with a sample of the average monthly volume of searches for the keyword in the database. The number of results indicates how many URLs appear in the search results.

Selecting keywords that have a lot of search volume and little competition adds a lot of value to the strategy in the face of competitors.

It is also interesting, facing the competitors, that Long-Tail Keywords strategies can be established , they are super useful to attract traffic, they help us to draw and represent the search of a potential client and who knows very well what he wants; On the other hand, a generic keyword does not represent a defined search.

You can also estimate the difficulty to rank better for certain keywords. You can evaluate, for example, 100 keywords and get their score based on their authority of the first 20 domains. You can find all this in the Keyword difficulty section.

5. Keywords and more keywords

It is important to know that, for each market segment, there is a group of keywords and if they enjoy the privilege of being among the best positions in the main search engines, then these are the ones for which they make the greatest effort on their website.

This point is very interesting, since sometimes you tend to discover competitors that you had not noticed were there, those that are hidden but exist. Some of them we call secondary.

For this reason, you are very interested in knowing what your keywords are, because you will have to take them into account when evaluating the keywords of your competitors.

What is the web structure of your SEO competition and what is it for?

The web structure of a site is one of the turning points to gain an advantage over your competition.

The structure that web pages have, from the way in which their menus, categories and everything that implies the user’s navigation and their experience are designed, form part of and affect what is called usability .

Therefore, the web structure is important because it is the way in which the content is displayed on our website and it drives on two fundamental axes and pillars:

1. Positioning = SEO.
2. Usability = UX.

So why will it be important to see what your competitors are doing in this regard?

The answer is: because it will give you ideas about what strengths you have, but also to look introspectively, that is, what you can improve for the user to get them to browse your website, give them relevant content and call their attention. attention to move and dive within the categories.

In this way, you will take him by the hand towards the action, which is: buy or register. If we want to convert, our web structure must be optimal.

The advice to evaluate how your competitors are in this regard is easy. As easy as the answer: browse and ask yourself the basic questions that all users ask ourselves:

• Do I easily find what I want?
• Is the product review interesting?
• Does this category make it easier for me to access my product?
• Is it fast?

Therefore, the lack of categories, tags, internal content links that are related or the absence of the famous breadcrumbs, leave you, without a doubt, at a disadvantage compared to your competitors.

All this will guide the user, will invite him to return to be a regular on our website; we want to build loyalty, we want them to always come back, but we also want to attract new players in this game.

All of the above goes hand in hand, coexists under the ecosystem of the web structure and must be complemented, because it is not just about being found, it is about giving you the best experience you can have, giving you quality throughout the journey.

When you analyze other websites, pay attention to certain details such as the content and how is the usability. SEMrush offers super practical tools in this regard, useful for you to detect these shortcomings or errors in your competitors.

A good structure for SEO makes a difference

Each URL indexed in Google of our domain, is one more possibility that they find us in some search; That is why the more indexed URLs you have, the more potential traffic you are likely to have.

To achieve this, it is important to use internal linking to give authority to main landings. You should also know that Google assigns a crawl time to your website. Anything that is difficult to reach, it is very likely that it will not be indexed.

It is very important to ensure that Google is able to reach the last corner of the web. A good web structure will allow us to take advantage of our competitors, because a good web structure will allow the “bot” or spider to crawl our entire web.

Imagine this as if we were giving Google clues so that it understands the importance of the journey and that it knows that we are a website.

Here, a few recommendations:

• Breadcrumbs.
• Comprehensive and well-structured navigation menus (bullet lists).
• Subcategories in view on category pages.
• “Transversal” landings to create more URLs.
• Subir sitemap a Google Search Console.
• Clean layout and good performance, both on the page and on the server.
• Avoiding duplicate content.

Remember that Google knows everything. So think that, if you have, for example, a blog and many topics tend to repeat themselves, Google will think about which of all of them is the one that should be positioned. Therefore, it is always advisable not to have similar content so that it is not “cannibalized”.

Why is it vital to analyze the content strategy of your SEO competition and how can it be done?

There are a couple of essential things, to which we must pay special attention if we want to track the strategy used by our competitors. Always think:

• usual channels.
• Type of content they use the most.
• The frequency of your shipments.
• What kind of themes do they use?

The content strategy plays a fundamental role in your conversion funnel; Without these clear and well-developed channels, let’s just say you won’t be able to attract them, let alone retain them.

And, how to get to that SEO competition analysis of a content strategy of your competitors?

It is easy. Let’s start by recapping those little things we need to pay attention to.

1. What are your usual channels?

Check if it has a presence on social networks, if it is on YouTube, if it uses Linkedin for example, if it conducts webinars.

The idea is that you can figure out which channels get the most traffic and thus perhaps understand where you should focus your efforts to be more competitive and which segments you are attacking.

2. Type of content they use the most

Study what type of content they promote on each channel; With this you will understand a little more where they put more effort in their content planning, for example: blogposts, webinars, videos, templates, reviews, tutorials, ebooks, searches, tools, case studies, interviews, etc.

It is important that you pay attention to the frequency of their releases: if they release new actions on the channels weekly, daily, monthly. If the newsletters are sent consecutively… This also speaks a lot about how they distribute that work.

3. What kind of themes do you usually use?

At this point it is ideal to think about how they balance the selection of topics, what type of categories they use more, if they speak more about the product or service.

They can also be more dynamic if they allow, for example, to interact with users and go on demand, that is; For example, if they are blogs that know their audience so well that they impact them with content on certain trending topics.

It is also interesting that you evaluate the behavior of users , if they leave comments or likes, feedback, if that environment is dynamic.

Also see if they do it randomly and it doesn’t make sense with what they offer because, if so, point to you. The correct content creation practices consist of generating synergies on your added value, the advantage you offer. Let’s say there must be a common thread .

We will see this later in the backlinks section because that concordance is important.

Say yes to quality… This is a golden rule!

Taking the time to analyze the good practices of content creation is something that should be done before starting.

Everything goes together; These practices result in Google positioning us better, they help to ensure that there is an order in our structure, that the user is given relevant content, that there is frequency and freshness in the content, that there is previously a keyword analysis study, a good writing, a good image that is also attractive, and that all this is oriented to your user / buyer persona.

The good always results in something positive , we want our segment to recognize us, be loyal and buy from us. So, create something of quality.

I insist that it is important to make the journey an experience.

This SEO competition analysis of the content strategy of your competitors will help you draw a little not only the marketing planning they implement, but also to detect opportunities, to have ideas for the creation of content and thus compete with good, quality content and relevant, that places you in the first search results.

Remember that Google knows everything and that it also controls good content practices , with its Panda algorithm , which penalizes if it recognizes the existence of duplicate or poor content.

Analysis of the links / backlinks of your SEO competition. Why is it important to know and how can it be done?

If there is something that can change the course of the history of your website, it is your backlink profile; We already know that backlinks are a fundamental ranking element and much more so if they come from reliable pages of your union.

To carry out a good link building, it is also important to know first-hand that of your competitors , because good opportunities can come from there, but let’s say that it can also set off an alarm about which sites perhaps we should never link to.

Now, let’s say that having good backlinks is a treasure chest with gold in it and you might be wondering why.

It turns out that this is one of the most important factors that exist to be successful in SEO positioning . They are the ones that help us increase the chances of ranking better in search engine results and increasing our traffic.

The backlinks must be natural, authentic and of high value so that they support the quality of our web content; it is important that they come from authoritative sources.

The backlink generation process includes several stages:

1. Detection of opportunities for new backlinks.
2. SEO competition analysis of the quality of your backlink profile.
3. Maintenance of a healthy registry of backlinks, to eliminate those that are toxic in time.

For each of these steps, SEMrush offers a special tool that will help you keep your backlink portfolio in the best possible shape:

You can achieve it… with an Audit

Backlinks  Auditing

Doing a brief backlink audit internally and towards our competitors will allow us to detect new opportunities for link building.

The idea is to keep our backlink profile tidy and meaningful ; This will help us avoid having toxic links and, consequently, we will also avoid Google penalizing us for it.

For some time now, it has been called a bad practice to have too many unreliable resource links. Google penalizes this type of practice with its Penguin algorithm that determines the quality of these backlinks, therefore, it is always convenient to check every 3 or 6 months that our profile is linked to good quality pages.

For this reason, the audits must be recurring to guarantee the health of the website, the monitoring of toxic backlinks, the disavowal of any backlink that was placed without our consent and that harms us, and when to contact the owner of the domain so that it can be done. delete or modify, etc.

This will allow us to once again take advantage of our competitors , because we will be able to enrich our link strategy.

Before carrying out the audit, you can analyze the backlinks you have and, in this way, you will be able to make an assessment of the backlinks you have lost and gained in recent months.

And you can do this in Backlink Analysis , prior to the audit that it is advisable to carry out on your competitors so that you have more information about the point where you are.

Conclusions

Analyzing the competition is vital .

It is a fundamental part of a good marketing plan and today we have tools such as SEMrush , which provide us with data that allows us to broaden the global vision of the sector, know who our clients are, identify their needs or have ideas to project our growth. within the segment.

These platforms become a key piece that allows us not only to analyze our website in the face of the competition, but also to evaluate the results in the face of the competition.

The SEO competition analysis allows us to identify strengths and weaknesses. It is a SWOT that becomes a recurring task, that arises daily when we consider that seeing from an outward perspective is important to begin to reflect on how to manage our basic errors endogenously, to catapult us to the first search results.

It also helps us deconstruct myths, such as the importance of quantity. Certainly, there are no perfect formulas, but if there is something worth trying, it is quality over quantity ; and apply it to any of our content creation actions, for example.

This SEO competition analysis must be a constant, since it is always good for our strategy to have our competitors in the spotlight. And it is that this photograph gives us access not only to maneuver and adjust, but also to redefine our strategy as many times as necessary. We have at our disposal data that tells us what can work and what does not.

The user experience on our website is one of the most important factors ; We must take into account if the content is attractive, if it is relevant, if we show a product with good descriptions, if we bid for good keywords, for example, if we have a good linkbuilding strategy that allows us to bring more traffic to our website, if we have a “healthy” and crawlable web structure for Google.

Because all of the above monetizes, builds loyalty and retains the user, since it is the path to the acclaimed conversion.

This being the case, knowing what our competitors offer is absolutely necessary and that is the only way we will be able to do it better. Think that they will always go to see what the competition offers them, if they do not find something that satisfies their need; and that is covered with quality in our actions.