The Ultimate Guide To Do A SEO Competitor Analysis – 2024

SEO is a huge and fast-moving field. One update from the search engine can send your site into the depths of the SERPs, or if you play it right, you can always appear at the top. But with so many websites out there, over 1billion+ to be precise, one certainly feels a little lost on what to do when every piece of advice feels the same, and results don’t get to you. Well, you can just copy the smart kids’ homework, like in school, or, in this case, spy on the ones at the top. 

What are they doing exactly to get to #1? That’s where SEO competition analysis comes in. A little spying, a little analysis & there you have it, the playbook your competition uses. In this blog, you’ll get a step-by-step guide to outrank your competition by doing a solid SEO audit. Let’s dive in!

How to Perform a Competitor SEO Analysis

First things first, you should understand who you are competing with. It is easy, make a Google search with your main keywords. Those websites that come on the first pages are your direct competitors. Despite this, it is crucial to remember that your online competitors might differ from your real-world ones.

Analyze Their Keywords

Tools needed: you might use Ubersuggest or SEMrush for this.

What to look for: you need to watch the keywords they rank for. Pay special attention to those that you haven’t considered. There are also high-volume keywords and special niche ones. Do they target both?

Action steps: Make a list of them and evaluate the quality of your content. Can you spot any gaps? Fill them with high-quality content!

Dive Into Their Content

Evaluation Criteria: Quality, variety, engagement.

Quality: Is their content well-written, informative, and valuable to the reader?

Variety: Do they use different content types (blog posts, videos, infographics)?

Engagement: This is where you determine how your brand’s content has been perceived. In this, comments, shares, and likes on the posts presented will be a clear indication that indeed you are doing something right.

Action Steps: Look for content gaps or topics that have not been covered comprehensively. This is your opportunity to trump them with richer and more comprehensive content.

Examine Their Backlink Profile

Tools Needed: Ahrefs, Majestic SEO.

What to seek: both in quantity and quality of the backlinks. If quality, then these links would have to come from authoritative places. Are reputable websites linking to them, or have they earned such links?

Here are the steps you need to take:

Identify the high-authority sites in your niche that you should possibly reach out to for backlinks. You should strive to establish superior content or offer something of value to the resources that could earn these naturally.

Check Out Their Site Structure and User Experience

What to Look For: Is their site easy to use? How fast does it load? Is it mobile-friendly?

Action Steps: Use Google Pagespeed Insight to see how well their site works and find places where it could be better. Make sure your site is easy to use and works on phones.

Observe Their Social Media Presence

What to look for: How active are they on social media? What do they share, and how does their audience engage with it?

Action Steps: Work on creating a higher engagement social media strategy; what gels with the shared type of audience and how unique value can be brought to the table.

Technical SEO

What to look for: Identify things that hold your site back from peak performance with the assistance of a few tools that can analyze your site’s technical SEO. It would include checking for site speed, broken links, and mobile friendliness.

Action steps:

Have the website technically sound. Resolve any issues that may, directly or indirectly, influence your search engine rankings or affect the user.

Pitfalls to Avoid with SEO Competitor Analysis

There’s something to be said about seeing what makes a successful competitor tick and then doing everything they do. However, while imitation is the highest form of flattery, it is also the lowest form of permanent success. Your competitor may have a different audience, voice, or even an industry they represent that will put your counterparts at a disadvantage. Instead of copying, consider the rationale behind the decision and how it can be implemented into your framework.

Overlooking the Bigger Picture

Focusing solely on keywords and backlinks can lead you to miss other crucial aspects, such as user experience and technical SEO health. Remember, SEO is multi-faceted. Ensure your analysis and subsequent strategy adjustments encompass a holistic view of SEO, including content quality, site structure, and user engagement.

Ignoring the Power of Branding

Relying only on keywords and backlinks may cause you to overlook vital factors such as user experience and technical SEO health. Don’t forget that SEO is many-sided. Your analysis and strategy adjustments should give a complete picture of SEO, including content, technical parameters, the quality of your backlink profile, site structure, and user engagement. 

Failing to Keep Up with Changes

Their brand success directly impacts the performance of their SEO against your brand. Your brand voice, content style, and audience interaction all directly affect your online presence. Without proper consideration or thinking of what to do with your brand and how it is perceived online, what you will get is an inconsistent strategy that may probably be out of touch with the perception people are getting.

Neglecting Your Data

It’s worth noting what your competition is doing; however, do not lose the focus of your analytics. From this data, you can draw the place of good performance and the improvement areas. Make sure you’re keeping track of competitors’ insights but are always basing your strategy on your unique data and insights.

Wrapping Up: Implement and Monitor

With all this intelligence collected, the moment has come to act on it. Update your SEO strategy according to the newly found insights, and, most importantly, keep track of the results very closely. SEO is not a one-time process; it needs constant attention and changes.

Always remember that the main idea of competitor SEO analysis is not to clone everything that your competitor is doing but, rather, it’s for you to understand the lay of the land and, from there, find your unique path to success. Use this information well to carve a niche in your domain and, of course, grab the world with a storm with your perfected SEO practices.

Knowledge is truly powerful in SEO and, like in life, if you know what it is they are doing right, you can make very sound decisions concerning what you could do to better your own site’s SEO and online presence. Throw on your detective hat and analyze—it’s time to start climbing those SERPs!