Building a website is exciting. You’ve just entered an elite club with about 400 active members and you’ve got a shiny new we domain to show off to the world. But you might have noticed something: your website isn’t showing up on Google.
Now you’re thinking about what to do next. The answer is simple: see what your competition is doing.
Running an SEO competitor analysis report will help you understand what your competition is doing to rank highly on Google, and it will give you insights into how you can improve your own website.
Here’s how to create and use an SEO competitor analysis report.
What Is SEO Competitor Analysis?
One way to ensure that your website is well-positioned in search engine results pages (SERPs) is by looking at what other sites are doing and then emulating these strategies.
So, competitive analysis is a way of identifying your most successful competitors and using the elements of their strategies to inform how you run yours.
When Should You Conduct an SEO Competitor Analysis Report?
Experts estimate that the Google algorithm changes at least 500 times a year. Of course, many of these changes are minor and don’t affect how sites are ranked. But if your site’s ranking has dropped precipitously for no known reason, it could be because Google has made a big change to its algorithm.
But you can’t tweak your SEO strategy every time Google changes its rules. It’s impossible. So, it’s worth taking the time to conduct a competitor analysis at any stage of your business.
Remember, a successful SEO campaign hinges on many factors, including search engine algorithms and competitor behavior. Regular SEO competitor analysis will help you spot weaknesses in their strategy—and capitalize on them!
How to Run an SEO Competitive Analysis Report
The first step is to make a list of your competitors. If you’re working with a client, ask their marketing team or stakeholders for help.
Focus on sites that rank highly—or have the potential to do so—for keywords related to your business’s main areas of interest and any significant additional ones. Use this information to create a spreadsheet with each competitor’s website, social media links, and page views. Next, choose one of your favorite SEO competitor analysis tools to give you a report.
This will help you see which keywords the site is ranking for and how well it’s performing overall. Look here for more ways to run an SEO competitor analysis report.
Creating these reports by hand is a tedious, time-consuming task. It’s better to leave it to software.
Build Better SEO Strategies
Your SEO competitor analysis report will help you create a better digital marketing strategy. You don’t always have to beat your competition. Ranking on the same page with them can still earn you traffic.
You can find more SEO tips in our marketing blogs. You’ll be surprised at how much more traffic you can generate when you have a solid marketing plan.
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