Are your competitors stealing your business? If so, you’re not alone. Studies show nearly 25% of all companies lose revenue to their competitors each year.
Now, you might say there are plenty of tactics or strategies you can implement to keep competitors from seizing your business: more products, better service, and improved marketing. And you’d be right.
The problem is, you might already be doing all of these things and still not be seeing the positive results you want!
Never fear! We’ll help you one-up your competitors in a way that’s truly effective. Keep reading to learn how you can use competitor keyword analysis to improve your business and optimize your online content.
Finding Your Competitors
Online competitors can be very different from those in the real world due to the nature of the digital world. In terms of organic search, some of your most formidable local rivals may not be digital rivals at all.
What distinguishes search competitors from those in the business world? Search competitors are websites that rank for similar keywords to that of your website.
Your first need to know is: Where you are ranking against your competitors on the search engine results page (SERP)? A simple Google search query in relation to themes within your industry will easily reveal the best players in your field.
Identify What Your Competitors Are Targeting
Following your selection of the competitors you wish to outrank, it is now time to investigate their SEO tactics. A competitor keyword analysis is the first step in this process. You can use this method to identify the keywords that your competitors are using to gain an advantage on the search engine results page (SERP).
Your entire SEO strategy should be built around keywords. Your target audience is going to use certain terms and phrases when searching for products or services like yours, so identifying these is key to success. If you don’t use relevant keywords, even the best content won’t bring in traffic. This is why keyword research is absolutely crucial in SEO.
Keyword research can be done in two steps. First, use keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword Planner to find potential keywords to target and prioritize.
However, simply using these phrases in your content won’t get you the most optimal results. Each keyword should be validated by looking at the overall competition for that keyword.
Identify What Your Competitors Are NOT Targeting
While it’s important that you target the same keywords and long-tail keywords that your competitors are using, it’s also important to identify the gaps in their keyword strategy.
For example, if you’re looking at Colorado Springs SEO efforts and your competitors are on the same street as you but they fail to target local keyword phrases, there’s your gap!
Try to incorporate the industry-relevant keywords that your competitors have missed but keep in mind they should still be relevant to your business.
Develop a Keyword Strategy That Supports Your Business Goals
This brings us to one of the most important parts of the competitor keyword analysis process. After you have reduced your list to only include relatively low-competition keywords, It is now time to delve deeper.
Start by removing the keywords that have no bearing on what you’re offering. You are now left with a list of more specific keywords that are simpler to rank for.
Your keyword research isn’t complete, though. Now run a Google search for each keyword that is still on your list. Look at the first few results. Determine each page’s overall domain authority and the number of inbound links it receives. You are up against some tough competition if your domain authority is high and your link profile is robust.
Examine the information on these pages from the viewpoint of the user. Check to see if it fully satisfies the user’s search criteria. In addition to your overall brand persona and strategy, look at the website design, mobile responsiveness, and page speed. Any gaps here represent untapped possibilities that you could take advantage of.
Even your keyword research should be based on your brand’s identity and how you present yourself as a brand. You should reevaluate the website or the keywords if it is not consistent with the brand.
Monitor Your Colorado Competitor’s Keyword Strategy And Performance
One of the key elements to making sure a competitor keyword analysis works for your business is to NOT assume that once it is done, it is done. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
As your digital branding is ever-moving and ever-adapting, so are your competitors. Digital marketers who offer SEO services will tell you that it is never complete. One performance review of your SEO efforts can confirm if you need to change direction or slightly tweak your strategy. (Is this supposed to be a performance review push? If so, I would say something about “performance reviews can easily be accomplished through a partner digital marketer.”)
The same goes for using your competitor’s keyword analysis. Think about it this way – over the course of a year, your competitors may launch two new products that are in direct competition with yours. But if you weren’t monitoring their keywords on a regular basis, then you might not know that their website is performing better for those keywords than yours is. Continued monitoring of their keyword and SEO efforts will not only help you with your own but also keeps your eyes open to what their businesses are doing within the industry.
Overall Keyword Strategy Success
If you’re searching for a successful competitor keyword analysis, then you need to remember these things:
- Your keyword strategy is ongoing and never set in stone
- Continued monitoring is key to your success
- Always optimize your website’s SEO to allow keyword strategies to succeed
Your website’s design and layout are a fundamental part of your overall SEO strategy and are also a crucial part of your keyword strategy success. It doesn’t matter how informative or revolutionary your competitor’s keyword analysis is if the rest of your SEO strategy is failing. You must align your competitor’s keyword analysis and SEO strategy in order to yield good results.
Luckily, you’ve found the place that can help you reach your keyword AND SEO goals. Contact us now to find out more.