Nowadays the internet is inundated with websites, with more than ever before and plenty more to come. As a result, ensuring that you’ve nailed a solid long-term SEO strategy is vital. A good place to start is to understand what your competitors are up to, as you can use this to your advantage and incorporate it into your own business.
Four reasons why competitor analysis is so important in SEO:
1. Understand your target audience
One key factor in the importance of competitor analysis in SEO, is that you’ll be able to identify the terms that your competitor’s website is optimised for, gathering insights that can be used to your benefit.
Plus, if the competitor in question is a larger business the likelihood is that they’ve completed steps such as A/B testing, audience targeting and user research. This is a great opportunity for you to take what they’re doing and apply it to your own strategy, without needing to take on the expense (result!).
2. Source new ideas and opportunities
Secondly, by completing a competitor analysis you’ll also be able to spot new ideas and possible opportunities – perhaps ones that others have missed. You’ll be able to see what is working for them and make sure that you’re doing this too.
On the flip side, as well as identifying what they do that you can tap into as well, you can also use your analysis to highlight gaps. You may notice that your competitors are also missing quite a crucial USP, once spotted you can ensure that you’re the first to implement this.
3. Improve your own strategy
The main takeaway here is that by taking a deep dive into what your competitors are up to, you’re going to be able to improve and enhance your own SEO strategy. From emulating what they do well into your own website and spotting gaps in the market, to discovering keywords that are underutilised – there’s a whole host of reasons as to why this is so important.
4. Outrank your competitors
Of course, by enhancing your own strategy inevitably you stand a better chance of outranking your rivals. As you’ll have been able to identify why they’re currently outranking you and put steps in place to change this.
Want some guidance on how to get started? Contact our SEO experts today for support!