How to Perform Competitor Analysis

If you plan to effectively bring your website to the top of search engines, research 3-5 competitors' websites on the first page of search results to determine the strategy of website promotion among competitors.
This does not mean that you need to copy it. The best tactic is to conduct a detailed competitive analysis and use the strengths of your competitors to create your own strategy that will bring your site to the top.

Why conduct a competitive analysis?

Based on the results of the study, you will determine:

• what effective promotion methods the competitor uses;
• what strategies the competitor does not use.

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How to identify competitors

You can identify top competitors in different ways. The first one is to manually select several top sites using search results and priority queries, and the second is to use special services (Serpstat, Ahrefs, CheckTrust, SE Ranking, etc.).
Let's take a look at the sequence of determining the top competitors using the Serpstat service:

• insert the link of your site in Serpstat;
• study the top sites of the search results (the sites with the largest number of key phrases in the "General key phrases" column are your main competitors, and a high indicator of the "Visibility" column shows the likelihood that competitors are using a smart promotion strategy).

If you have a regional project, you should study regional sites first. We also recommend not looking at sites with diverse topics, even if they are the leaders in search results.
For example, if your site sells TVs, you should first of all study sites that also sell TVs. Sites dedicated to one topic rank better, so don't look at multidisciplinary sites that sell TVs, smartphones, and other electronics. If your site fully meets the client's needs (in this case, the client needs a TV), the likelihood of promoting the site to the TOP is higher.

If your site is young, the Competitors column will most likely contain only websites of weak competitors, so don't focus on them. In this case, we recommend using the statistics of the top search engine results pages.

How to conduct a competitive analysis

Age of the competitors' website

The first step is to determine the age of competitors' websites using the Whois service. Search engines trust older sites with more information about them more. Take this fact into account when building your strategy and work on other details (website loading speed, modern design, link promotion, and relevant content).

Attendance

SimilarWeb can be used to recognize:

• website traffic for a month with a history of dynamics;
• traffic sources;
• Failure rate.

Studying attendance allows you to:

• identify the leading sites with the highest traffic;
• determine from which channel this traffic was received (paid advertising, organic traffic, social networks).

Indexing of pages

In the search bar, write "site:" and enter the website address. This is necessary to compare the results of the manual check (through site) with the number of pages that the service has identified. The most common reasons for poor rankings are: missing or duplicate metadata (H1, Title, Description headers), duplicate content, lack of a form with contact information, unclosed unnecessary pages from indexing (sorting, filters, pagination pages).

Semantic core

We study the semantics of competitors' websites using Serpstat. The sequence is as follows:

• specify the website and search engine;
• in the left menu, select "SEO analysis" and "Site tree";
• look at the key queries for which sites are ranked;
• export data (button in the upper left corner);
• compare it with the key queries for which your site is ranked (in the left menu, select SEO Analysis - Domain Comparison - enter your site and the competitor's site, click Compare).

After comparing your website and the competitor's pages, you can draw the following conclusions:

• which site has the maximum number of key phrases;
• which pages of your website can be optimized;
• what can be added to the site;
• what products the competitor sells better.

Website structure

Evaluation of the website structure will help you determine the vector of movement to optimize the structure of your website. Study:

• the quality of the website structure;
• the logic of building websites;
• pages that are in the top;
• the presence of meta tags.

Контент

Break down the pages of your competitor's website into 5 types: main page, categories and subcategories, product cards, blog pages, and other top pages. When studying the main page, categories and subcategories, analyze:

• volume of texts;
• whether the site has images and lists;
• how readable the content is;
• the number of keywords (spam) in the texts;
• text linking.

When checking the content of product cards, pay attention:

• informative description of goods;
• the volume of card descriptions;
• whether the product description is unique;
• whether there is any other useful content (video reviews, customer testimonials).

When analyzing a blog, determine:

• how often articles are published;
• how long the blog has been running;
• average character length;
• type of content in the blog: company news, useful information for the target audience.

Read also:  AI for SEO of online stores: How to use artificial intelligence for optimization

Meta information

When evaluating meta information, you should break down the site by page type (as you would when analyzing a content strategy). Pay attention to the following details:

• whether there is keyword stuffing in the title, description, H1;
• what meta-information is used;
• what USP is used in the meta information;
• whether micro-markup is used.

The study will allow you to arm yourself with good strategies for customizing meta information on your website.

Link profile

For research, use Ahrefs or Serpstat websites. You can compare the number of referring pages and domains, anchor list, types of links used by the competitor for promotion, and the region of referring domains. You will learn:

• ways to promote competitors' websites (natural or spam);
• whether the competitor uses a differentiated link building strategy;
• whether the competitor uses regional domains, if so, which ones.

You can read more about evaluating the link profile of competitors in our article.

Linking

Check whether the analyzed sites have manual or automatic linking in the texts of category pages, product cards, or blog posts. Also note that very often, product card pages link to tag pages created for certain characteristics.

Store adaptability for mobile devices

Mobile First is one of the main trends in the SEO world. The Google search engine takes into account the mobile version when ranking websites. The percentage of users and purchases from a smartphone is growing every year. In some niches, more than 70% of users visit websites from mobile devices. Therefore, even if your competitors' websites are not adapted for mobile devices or do not have a mobile version, we recommend paying special attention to it.

Study of regionalism

If competitors have several versions of their websites for different regions, they most likely have separate pages for the queries of a particular region. This factor may be the reason for the large coverage on competitors' websites.

Page load time

You can use one of the following websites to check your website's loading speed: Google Pagespeed Insigh or GTMetrix. Test the main page, categories, subcategories, product cards, and blog pages. We recommend checking the mobile and desktop versions of the site.
Analyze the following data for both mobile and web versions of your site:

• percentage of optimization;
• server response time.

Include in your promotion strategy efforts to increase the speed of loading pages if they are slow.

Activity in social networks

Look at the social media accounts of your competitors. Pay attention to the popularity of posts and user activity (comments, reposts). This way, you can quickly determine which social networks are suitable for promoting your business and implement them into your strategy.

How to apply the results of competitor research to your website

The only thing left to do is to structure the information obtained, identify the strengths of competitors, and incorporate promotion methods into your strategy. For a clear competitive analysis, you need to structure all the information you have received into a table. The table can be compiled as follows:

If this option doesn't suit you, use any arbitrary form that will help you draw objective conclusions. Describe your decisions for each stage of the analysis, what needs to be implemented to not only catch up, but also take the leading positions in search results.

Where to order a competitive analysis?

If you want to get a high-quality and objective competitive analysis, it is important to turn to professionals who have experience and in-depth knowledge in this area. In Kyiv and other major cities, there are many agencies specializing in market research and strategic consulting. When choosing a company, pay attention to the following aspects:

• Experience and reputation: Find out how many years the company has been on the market and what results it has achieved for its clients.Experience and reputation: Find out how many years the company has been on the market and what results it has achieved for its clients.
• Approach and methodology: Different companies use different methods of analysis. Make sure that the vendor you choose offers a customized approach based on modern tools and methodologies.Approach and methodology: Different companies use different methods of analysis. Make sure that the vendor you choose offers a customized approach based on modern tools and methodologies.
• Case studies and testimonials: Check out examples of completed projects and customer reviews. This will help you assess the level of professionalism and reliability of the company.Case studies and testimonials: Check out examples of completed projects and customer reviews. This will help you assess the level of professionalism and reliability of the company.
• Cost of services: Prices for competitive analysis can vary depending on the complexity of the project and the chosen contractor. It is important to find a balance between the quality and cost of the service.Cost of services: Prices for competitive analysis can vary depending on the complexity of the project and the chosen contractor. It is important to find a balance between the quality and cost of the service.

By contacting Idea Digital Agency, you will receive a detailed market analysis that will become the basis for the successful promotion of your business.

Conclusions.

Competitive analysis is an integral part of the preparatory work for promoting your page. After the analysis, you will be able to determine:

• main competitors;
• strong methods of promoting competitor sites;
• which promotion methods are better not to use;
• which strategy is better to apply to achieve results.

Read also: how keywords are clustered

If you don't know how to conduct a competitive analysis on your own, contact our agency. We will help you analyze and develop your business with the help of website promotion services.