How-To Guides SEO

How to: A Hierarchical Guide to Competitor SEO Research

by Vinamra Singh

Understanding your competitors’ SEO strategies is crucial for staying ahead in the digital landscape. This hierarchical guide outlines the steps and resources you can use to conduct effective competitor SEO research.

I. Defining Your Competitors:

  • Identify Key Competitors: Start by listing the businesses you consider your main competitors in the online space. Don’t just focus on direct competitors; consider indirect competitors who might be targeting the same audience.
  • Analyze Search Overlap: Use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or SimilarWeb to identify websites that rank for the same keywords as you. This reveals competitors you might not have considered.

II. Analyzing Competitor Website Structure and Technical SEO:

  • Website Crawl: Use a website crawler like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or DeepCrawl to analyze your competitor’s website structure, identify broken links, and uncover technical SEO issues.
  • Mobile Friendliness: Check their mobile responsiveness using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.
  • Page Speed: Analyze their page speed using Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. Pay attention to Core Web Vitals.
  • HTTPS and Security: Verify they have a secure HTTPS connection.
  • Robots.txt and Sitemap: Analyze their robots.txt file and sitemap to understand which pages they are (or aren’t) allowing search engines to crawl.
  • Schema Markup: Check for schema markup implementation using Google’s Rich Results Test.

III. Keyword Research and Content Strategy Analysis:

  • Keyword Gap Analysis: Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz Keyword Explorer to identify keywords your competitors are ranking for that you’re not. This reveals opportunities you might be missing.
  • Content Analysis: Analyze the type of content they are creating (blog posts, articles, videos, infographics), the topics they cover, and the quality of their content. Look for content gaps you can fill.
  • Content Performance: Use social media analytics tools to see which of their content pieces are performing well in terms of shares and engagement.
  • Backlink Analysis of Content: Analyze which websites are linking to their top performing pieces of content.

IV. Backlink Profile Analysis:

  • Backlink Analysis: Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Majestic to analyze the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing to your competitors’ websites.
  • Anchor Text Distribution: Analyze the anchor text distribution of their backlinks. This can reveal their keyword targeting strategy.
  • Link Building Strategies: Try to understand the types of websites they are getting backlinks from (e.g., directories, guest posts, forums). This can give you insights into their link building strategies.

V. On-Page Optimization Analysis:

  • Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: Analyze their title tags and meta descriptions to understand their keyword targeting and messaging.
  • Header Tags (H1-H6): Examine how they are using header tags to structure their content and incorporate keywords.
  • Image Optimization: Check if their images are optimized with descriptive alt text.
  • Internal Linking: Analyze their internal linking structure to see how they are distributing link equity throughout their website.

VI. Social Media Analysis:

  • Social Media Presence: Analyze their presence on different social media platforms.
  • Engagement Levels: Look at their engagement levels (likes, shares, comments) to see what type of content resonates with their audience.
  • Social Media Strategy: Try to understand their social media marketing strategy.

VII. Rank Tracking:

  • Keyword Tracking: Use rank tracking tools to monitor their keyword rankings over time. This helps you understand which keywords they are targeting and how their rankings are changing.

VIII. Tools and Resources:

  • Ahrefs: Comprehensive SEO suite with tools for keyword research, backlink analysis, competitor analysis, and site audits.
  • SEMrush: Similar to Ahrefs, offering a wide range of SEO and competitive analysis tools.
  • Moz: Provides tools for keyword research, rank tracking, and site audits.
  • Screaming Frog: Website crawler for technical SEO audits.
  • SimilarWeb: Provides insights into website traffic and audience demographics.
  • Google Search Console: Essential for monitoring your own website’s performance and identifying technical issues.
  • Google PageSpeed Insights: Analyzes website speed and provides recommendations for improvement.

By following this hierarchical approach and utilizing these resources, you can gain valuable insights into your competitors’ SEO strategies and use that information to improve your own SEO efforts. Remember that competitor research is an ongoing process, so make sure to regularly monitor your competitors’ activities to stay ahead of the game.