At the beginning of every Search Engine Optimization (SEO) project, we gather as much information as possible from our clients about who they are, what goods and services they offer and who they believe are their biggest direct and indirect competitors. Gathering insight on our client’s competitors helps shape our SEO narrative and allows us to strategize keywords and content changes.
Conducting in-depth competitive research is recommended to establish your brand’s search authority. Competitive research is more than just knowing where your competitors rank on search engines such as Google; it’s about analyzing your competitor’s digital presence with a critical eye and knowing where to invest your energy to outrank your competitors in search results. Here are 5 ways our competitive research can help you maximize SEO.
Fill Missing Gaps in Content
Google’s algorithm is smart; it displays results of a specific search query it believes is most accurate and valuable to the searcher. While plugging in keywords on the backend of a site has value, having quality content that is relevant and keeps users on the page for longer is what Google’s algorithm looks for. The amount of time a user spends on your site is a sign to Google that a page is actually relevant to that specific search query. That’s why an SEO audit and technical fixes is not complete without taking into consideration of existing content. By critically looking at your competitors’ content, we can extrapolate content that would be beneficial for your brand to build or refine on your own site.
Focus on Keywords You Share in Common with Competitors
Using SEO tools, we can examine keywords you share in common with your competitors and decide what keywords are worth paying attention to. We can shed light on how your brand compares to competitors by learning which search queries you both rank in the top 100 Google search results. Common keywords shared by competitors can also tell you for which keywords your competitors out-perform you (and how closely you rank).
Implement Keywords That Your Competitors Are Using
As part of our competitive research, we can identify unique keywords that your competitors are using for which your brand is not currently showing up in search engine results pages (SERP). Keywords that two or more of your competitors are using that you are not using can be a huge loss in potential audience. Ensure your brand starts including these keywords on your site and in future digital marketing initiatives to remain competitive.
Examine How Well Your Competitors Are Doing on Keywords That Actually Matter
As we generate a keyword list and refine the list with you, we can evaluate how well your competitors are capitalizing on keywords that actually matter (AKA queries your target audience is actually using to search for the products and services you offer). It’s important to remember that just because your main competitors are using specific keywords to talk about their products and services doesn’t mean it is worth your budget to imitate. We can help determine what is actually worth your time as part of SEO.
Create a Strong Keyword List that Rivals Your Competitors
Using all the information we gathered and analyzed, a keyword list refined by categories that are unique to your industry can be used to help your brand's SEO and drive organic traffic to your site. As a final step, we cross-reference this list with your competitors to ensure that we are using only the most searched and most valuable keywords. Whether we are implementing SEO on the backend (inserting page titles, descriptions, image tags, etc.) or using these keywords in your remarketing or social ads, you can be sure that there’s research behind everything we do.
Flywheel Strategic is currently offering a completely free SEO audit for businesses interested in working on increasing their ranking in Google and other search engines. Give us a call and ask us how our thorough competitive research can help you boost your SEO ranking.