This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
A detail guide to perform SEO Competitive analysis
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
In this world of cutthroat competition, search engine optimization is the only way for a website to grab exposure and get on the top of the list. Most of the online business owner hires SEO experts to get the job done and cover all the aspects of this circle. Vivid research based on the SEO elements will tell you about the current position of your website in comparison to that of the competitors. SEO Competitive Analysis is a must to prepare a fortified online strategy to leave the competitors behind.
SEO Analysis Image
How to perform SEO analysis of competitors?
As per Prempal Singh, an avid SEO expert, researching deeper in this domain will deliver the underlying knowledge of competitors’ strategies and discover the dimensions where you are lacking.
Here is how an SEO analysis is performed considering the contemporary scenario.
- SEO Baseline Score
Before even starting the analysis, the first thing you have to do is to determine the baseline score of your website in terms of SEO components. The points that you have to track, monitor and cover are mentioned below.
- Number of visits every month.
- Visit-to-enquiry along with conversion rates.
- Number of visitors from branded organic and non-branded search.
- Keywords density.
- Word count on each page.
- Page loading speed.
- Quality and number of inbound links.
Do profound keywords research first before initiating the SEO competitive analysis. Once you have covered all the aspects, you will find a proper platform to work on the competitive SEO analysis.
- Identification of competitors
This is the second step that includes the identification of competitors in the industry. The analysis will be done. There is a striking difference between online search competition and direct business competition. It is better to mix things up and consider every dimension. In this case, SEMrush can be used to find the organic competition of your business. You can also use Google Analysis Template for data auditing. Most of the experts use Serpstat to find out the competitors’ list to work with.
- Google Sheets Templates
Scaling efforts is very important. This is where using Google Sheets Template can be very helpful to analyze and scale the results as per the metrics you need to find. The parameters will be set in such a way that you can find out any information needed considering the competitive analysis strategy you have configured. The template will serve as the base to identify and alter considering the information you need. The flexible template will be the platform where you will analyze and compare various statistical figures.
- Backlink analysis
On considering the list of competitors, an analysis is done to find out the websites linking with the competitors but not your online presence. On proper analysis, a backlink gap will be identified that is dragging the rank of your website back.
The SEO expert suggests that this part of the analysis will signify which websites to approach and create a backlink strategy to further gain in the website rankings. The success rate will increase when you create exclusive content for guests. Here, the organic keyword search will prove to be very handy. In this case, Moz Link Explorer can be used as the right tool to find the linking domains.
- Keyword analysis
A comprehensive analysis to find out the keyword gap is very essential for the website. This is where you will have to find out the specific keywords used by the competitors that are exceptionally boosting the page rankings.
Other than adjusting the keywords analysis, restructuring metadata, reconfiguring site architecture, fabricating fresh content, and creating a theme based on the keywords linked with the content can give impressive results. Mapping the keyword strategy will need in-depth keyword knowledge used by the competitors.
- Website page layouts
The website architecture might have some issues that need to be fixed. Check the page layout in order to redefine your SEO strategy and find out the current gaps in the website architecture. You can use BrowserShots and Scribus to find out the layout gaps.
- Verdict
This is how you can initiate an SEO analysis to keep a tap on what the competitors are doing. Find the gaps in your SEO strategy and fabricate a fortified one to implement in the future.