Crack the Code: How Competitor Analysis Can Supercharge SEO

In the world of search engine optimisation (SEO), keeping an eye on our competitors is key to staying ahead in the game. While building our own SEO strategy is important, it’s equally crucial to analyse what our competitors are doing. 

Competitor analysis helps us identify the strengths and weaknesses of other businesses in our industry, giving us valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t. By performing an in-depth SEO competitor analysis, we can refine our approach, identify opportunities, and ultimately improve our own search engine rankings.

In this article, we’ll explore how to perform an effective competitor website analysis, including how to assess their keywords, traffic, and overall SEO strategy. We’ll also provide examples to help make the process easier to understand.

Why Competitor Analysis is Important for SEO

Understanding what our competitors are doing in the digital space can give us a significant advantage. By analysing their SEO efforts, we can discover opportunities that we may have overlooked and spot areas where we can outperform them. 

Whether it’s finding untapped keywords, improving our content strategy, or identifying gaps in their backlink profiles, SEO competitor analysis helps us refine our own strategy to stay competitive.

Moreover, competitor analysis allows us to learn from our competitors’ successes and failures. By studying their strengths, we can replicate what’s working, and by identifying their weaknesses, we can avoid making the same mistakes. This process ultimately leads to better rankings, increased website traffic, and higher conversions for our business.

Steps for Effective SEO Competitor Analysis

1. Identify Our Top Competitors
The first step in any SEO competitor analysis is identifying our main competitors. These aren’t just businesses that offer similar products or services; they are also the websites that compete for the same keywords in search results. 

We can start by searching for the main keywords we are targeting and seeing which websites appear on the first page of Google. These are likely to be our main SEO competitors.

For example, if we run a travel agency in Malaysia, we might search for terms like “best travel agency in Kuala Lumpur” or “affordable holiday packages Malaysia” and note down the top-ranking websites.

2. Analyse Competitor Keywords
Keyword competitor analysis is one of the most important parts of an SEO strategy. By understanding which keywords our competitors are targeting, we can uncover new opportunities and adjust our own keyword strategy. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz allow us to input a competitor’s website and see the keywords they rank for, their search volumes, and how competitive those keywords are. 

If we find that our competitors are ranking well for certain high-value keywords that we’re not yet targeting, we can incorporate those keywords into our content strategy. On the other hand, if we notice they are missing out on certain long-tail keywords (e.g., “eco-friendly hotel packages Malaysia”), we can capitalise on this gap by focusing our efforts on those specific terms.

Example: Let’s say our competitor, TravelCo, is ranking for “luxury Bali resorts” but is not targeting “affordable Bali resorts.” We can focus on optimising our content for the latter keyword to attract a broader audience.

3. Assess Competitor Content Strategy
The quality and relevance of content play a major role in SEO success. We should take a close look at the type of content our competitors are creating and how often they are publishing new material. Are they using blog posts, guides, videos, or infographics? How in-depth is their content? Are they answering common questions that users search for?

By performing a competitor website analysis, we can see which types of content are performing well for them. We can also identify areas where their content falls short. For instance, if we notice that a competitor’s blog post is ranking well but lacks depth, we can create a more detailed and informative version to capture that search traffic.

Example: If a competitor has a popular blog post titled “Top 10 Malaysian Beaches,” we could create a more comprehensive guide, such as “The Ultimate Guide to Malaysia’s Hidden Beach Gems,” offering more insights, images, and tips.

4. Perform Competitor Traffic Analysis
Knowing how much traffic our competitors are receiving can help us gauge how well their SEO strategy is working. Competitor traffic analysis tools like SimilarWeb or SEMrush allow us to estimate the amount of traffic a competitor is receiving and where that traffic is coming from. This includes organic traffic (from search engines), direct traffic (people typing the URL directly), referral traffic (from other websites), and social traffic (from social media).

By analysing their traffic sources, we can better understand where to focus our efforts. For example, if a competitor is driving a large portion of their traffic through referral links, we might want to explore link-building opportunities to boost our own referral traffic.

Example: If we discover that our competitor gets significant traffic from travel bloggers linking to their articles, we could consider reaching out to similar bloggers to feature our content and increase our backlinks.

5. Evaluate Competitor Backlinks
Backlinks (links from other websites to ours) remain one of the most important factors in determining a site’s authority and ranking potential. Conducting a competitor backlink analysis can reveal where our competitors are getting their backlinks from and help us identify high-quality link-building opportunities.

Tools like Ahrefs or Majestic allow us to see which websites are linking to our competitors. We can then reach out to those websites with our own high-quality content to secure backlinks. This approach helps improve our site’s authority and can lead to higher search rankings.

Example: If a popular Malaysian travel magazine is linking to our competitor’s “Top 10 Honeymoon Destinations” article, we can create a similar, but more comprehensive article and pitch it to the same magazine to gain a valuable backlink.

6. Monitor Competitor On-Page SEO
We should also review the on-page SEO practices of our competitors. This includes examining their use of title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, internal linking, and image alt text. By understanding their on-page optimisation techniques, we can ensure our own website is just as well-optimised, if not better.

Example: If a competitor consistently includes their target keywords in their title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags, we should ensure that our pages follow similar best practices. However, we can also go one step further by creating more engaging meta descriptions that encourage higher click-through rates.

Example of a Competitor SEO Strategy in Action

Let’s assume we operate an online store selling eco-friendly products in Malaysia. Our top competitor, EcoGoods, ranks well for several important keywords like “eco-friendly kitchenware Malaysia” and “sustainable fashion Malaysia.” 

After conducting a thorough SEO competitor analysis, we notice that EcoGoods isn’t ranking for certain long-tail keywords like “affordable eco-friendly skincare products Malaysia.” This presents an opportunity for us to target those keywords and create content around them, such as blog posts or product pages.

We also notice that EcoGoods is getting significant traffic from backlinks on popular eco-conscious lifestyle blogs. By reaching out to those same blogs and offering guest posts or product reviews, we can build similar backlinks and drive more referral traffic to our site.

Conclusion

Conducting a thorough SEO competitor analysis is essential for staying competitive in the online marketplace. By analysing our competitors’ keywords, content, traffic, backlinks, and on-page SEO, we can identify opportunities to improve our own strategy and gain a competitive edge. The insights we gather through competitor website analysis allow us to refine our SEO efforts, increase organic traffic, and improve our search engine rankings.

References:
https://www.semrush.com/blog/competitive-analysis/
https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-competitor-analysis/