Picture this: you’ve spent hours creating the perfect blog post, but when you go to check your analytics, you find that it’s barely getting any traffic. Meanwhile, your competitors are raking in leads and conversions. What are they doing differently? The answer lies in competitor analysis.
By understanding the strategies of your competitors, you can identify opportunities to differentiate your own content and improve your search engine rankings. After all, an essential key to succeeding in today’s digital landscape as a business is to have a strong content and SEO strategy.
However, where do you start? The process of competitor analysis can feel overwhelming and time-consuming, or even unnecessary, but it doesn’t have to be. In this three-step guide, we’ll show you how to conduct a competitor analysis in a way that’s easy and actionable.
We’ll walk you through the process of identifying your competitors, determining keyword gaps, and incorporating effective keywords into your content strategy. Are you ready to beat the competition and dominate search engine results? Keep reading!
A. Identify your Competitors
The first step in a competitor analysis is identifying who your competitors are. These are the websites and companies that rank well for the keywords you’re targeting, and they’re the ones you’ll need to keep an eye on as you develop your strategy.
One smart way to achieve this is to start by searching for your main keywords on Google and taking note of the top 10-20 websites that appear in the search results. However, this only gives you an idea of who you might be up against. It does not match the insight you would gain from tools like the Eye10 Industry Checker, which gives detailed reports on the websites that are currently ranking for the result you are targeting.
All you have to do is to enter your website URL as well as up to five keywords that you are trying to rank for. The Industry Checker tool first displays your current status: the monthly search volume that each keyword attracts, as well as your website’s rank in the location specified.
Next, you would find the list of your five main competitors as well as their domain rating and their estimated traffic volume. This puts things into perspective and clarifies how your website stacks up against your competitors’.
The images below are the results of searching for the competitors of Investopedia.com when it came to finance and investment-related keywords. Investopedia never ranks outside the top ten for any of the keywords in the United States and therefore demonstrates a strong position, compared with its competitors, which include Yahoo! Finance, Reuters, and CNBC.
B. Determine Keyword Gaps
Once you’ve identified your competitors, the next step is to determine keyword gaps. This means finding the keywords that your competitors are ranking well for, but that you’re not currently targeting. By identifying these keyword gaps, you can adjust your strategy to include these keywords and potentially improve your search rankings.
To determine keyword gaps, most site owners use a keyword research tool such as Google Keyword Planner. Enter the URL of your competitors’ websites and check the list of keywords that they’re ranking well for. Then, compare that list to the keywords you’re currently targeting and make note of any gaps.
However, again, the Eye10 Industry Checker takes things a little further by automatically showing you where keyword gaps exist and the keywords you should be targeting to take on your competitors. You don’t have to compare keyword lists like you would have had to if you were using a different tool.
For example, say you wanted to find the keyword gaps between Under30CEO, a popular site for young entrepreneur content, and its competitors. A simple Industry Checker analysis shows that Under30CEO should perhaps produce more content around defining entrepreneurship.
C. Incorporate Effective Keywords
Once you’ve identified your competitors and determined keyword gaps, the next step is to incorporate effective keywords into your content strategy. This means creating content that is optimized for the keywords you’ve identified as being important to your competitors and that you’re currently not targeting. This can be achieved through two principal methods:
Optimize your existing content: You can start by optimizing your existing content with the keywords that you’ve identified in your competitor analysis. This will help you to improve your search engine rankings for those keywords and attract more traffic to your website.
Create new content: You can also create new content that targets the keyword gaps you’ve identified. This could include blog posts, infographics, videos, or anything else that is relevant to your target audience.
More so, when incorporating keywords into your content, it’s important to place them strategically to maximize their impact. This includes placing keywords in the title, subheadings, and throughout the body of your content – without stuffing your posts with keywords, as that can get your website penalized by Google. Additionally, you should also make sure to use keywords in your meta tags and descriptions, as these elements play a key role in how search engines rank your content.
For this final stroke, beyond the identified keyword gaps, the Eye10 Industry Checker also displays similar keywords, from which you may draw a list of the ones that are relevant to your website. Whatever you do, though, remember to use them in a natural way and avoid keyword stuffing, which can harm your search rankings.
The image below is from checking writing-related keywords for Reedsy Blog via the Industry Checker.
Conclusion
Over the years, competition for search engine ranking has become fiercer. Only the truly excellent, and those who can outsmart their competitors, stand out. Understanding your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses enables you to develop a content and SEO strategy that sets you apart from the competition.
By identifying keyword gaps, and incorporating effective keywords into your content strategy, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website. Remember that competitor analysis should be a continuous process and you should always be on the lookout for new opportunities to improve your content and SEO strategy.
With tools like the Eye10 Industry Checker, Competitor Research, Keyword Planner, and more, these processes have been streamlined. Register now to automate the processes and effectively stay ahead of your competitors.
FAQ
How often should you conduct competitor analysis?
The frequency of competitor analysis will depend on your industry and the level of competition, but it is generally recommended to conduct a thorough analysis at least once a year and to keep on monitoring the market and your competitors' activities.
What are some potential challenges of competitor analysis?
Potential challenges of competitor analysis include obtaining accurate and up-to-date insights about competitors’ keyword optimization efforts, determining which competitors are most relevant to your website, and effectively using the information to make strategic decisions. Eye10 simplifies this process by presenting insightful data on keyword gaps, domain authority, and keyword similarities.
Why does the Industry Checker only display 5 competitors?
The Eye10 Industry Checker results show you how you can align your content strategy in ways that have already worked for the biggest names in your industry or niche, whether they are SEO competitors. For more information on websites that compete with you directly in terms of SEO and keyword optimization, use the competitor research tool.
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