How to use competitor analysis to develop an industry-specific SEO strategy
Success in an online business isn’t just about providing great services or offering quality products. It’s also about standing out from the crowd. Competitor analysis can help you do that.
By evaluating your competitors’ keyword strategies, backlink profiles, and overall SEO tactics, you can identify gaps in your SEO plan and improve your rankings.
What is competitor analysis and why is it important for an SEO strategy?
Competitor research is an important process in digital marketing that allows you to examine the SEO tactics of your top organic competitors. It involves assessing the key factors that influence a competitor’s online visibility and search engine rankings.
Competitor analysis in SEO involves evaluating competing websites to identify their search engine optimization strategies. This process will allow you to compare your performance with your competitors. The knowledge you gain can help you:
- Copy and adapt your competitors’ winning approach.
- Capitalize on your weaknesses to gain an advantage.
- Identify gaps and opportunities you have missed.
- Build an action plan for successful industry-specific SEO.
Key aspects of competitor analysis for search in specific industries
Effective SEO competitor analysis evaluates many important factors. You can read about the main ones below.
Evaluating competitors’ visibility in systems
Evaluating visibility allows you to get an idea of how effectively competitors conduct search engine optimization. The higher the visibility and the higher the rating, the more SEO traffic a competitor can generate.
You can check the visibility of competitors in search results in various programs, for example, Semrush, Serpstat, SpyWords, Ahrefs, Topvisor, Similarweb, and MegaIndex.
Competitor content analysis: strengths and weaknesses
Analyzing the type, quality, and frequency of competitors’ content, including blogs, videos, and articles, opens up opportunities for creating your own highly effective content. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors will help you identify opportunities to improve your own site.
Competitor backlink analysis
The process of studying the links pointing to your competitors’ sites will help you identify their link building strategies. Assessing the quantity and quality of your competitors’ backlinks will help you find opportunities to build or improve your own link profile.
Comparing technical aspects of competitor sites
Assessing the technical aspects of your competitors’ sites involves examining various factors that affect performance and user experience:
- analyzing competitors’ site architecture;
- navigation;
- mobile optimization;
- page speed.
A competitive advantage can come from addressing weaknesses, such as slow load times.
How to conduct competitor analysis in a specific industry?
A competitor analysis plan for a specific industry consists of several steps.
Choosing the right competitors for analysis
The main goal here is to look at the market through the eyes of the customer and create an up-to-date list of players with whom you are competing for attention, orders, and loyalty. Start with Google queries, check Google Maps and local directories, and explore marketplaces and aggregators.
Using data collection tools
To effectively collect the maximum amount of data on direct competitors, it is recommended to use competitor analysis tools such as Serpstat.
Use a variety of methods to obtain general information:
- Study resources manually.
- Read reviews of companies’ work.
- Analyze resources using special services,
- Check out competitors’ pages on social networks, etc.
Try to understand the reasons why a client chooses a competitor’s site to improve usability, service level, and support team work on their resource.
Identifying important keywords and topics
If a competitor ranks well for a valuable keyword, you should aim to compete for these terms:
- Keyword analysis: Study what keywords your competitors use and what search queries bring users to your site.
- Optimize existing content: Update old content by adding new keywords and improving its structure. Make sure your content is useful, relevant, and aligned with your customers’ needs.
How to use the data you’ve gathered to improve your SEO strategy?
The data you’ve gathered from competitor analysis should be used to optimize your content, improve your site’s authority, and fix technical issues.
Content optimization and keyword strategy
Identify the main topics of your business, then select a few valuable keywords for each topic. These will be useful for creating more relevant content. The keywords should be included in the title, description, body, and URL.
Increasing site authority with Backlinks
Backlinks play a key role in improving your site’s authority. The more quality links your site has from other authoritative resources, the higher your search engine rankings will be.
Technical Improvements based on competitor analysis
It’s important to fix any technical issues and errors that were identified during the analysis. You may need to:
- Improve your site’s loading speed.
- Optimize your site for mobile devices.
- Create a logical and understandable site structure.
Use the free Google Search Console tool to see your site in search results and optimize your site.
Evaluate results and adjust your strategy after competitor analysis
Monitoring methods include:
- Regularly review key performance indicators such as sales, market share, and customer satisfaction.
- Feedback from consumers and employees to understand what is working and what is not. This way, you can find ways to solve problems.
- Adjust your SEO strategy based on the data and changes in the market.
Conclusion
Competitor research helps you determine what tactics contribute to their success, where their weaknesses exist, and how you can capitalize on these opportunities. Andflint is an SEO company for high-risk industries such as adult SEO. The company’s specialists develop and implement effective SEO approaches for businesses that produce sustainable, positive results.
