SEO and Competitive analysis ...why it’s so important.
SEO is not like the RONCO Food Dehydrator we all used to watch on infomercials— you cannot simply set it and forget it. A successful SEO practice is a constant work in progress.
To be successful in SEO, like anything else in life, you must be proactive. Proactive SEO work means not only working with your web site on an ongoing basis but understanding your competition’s SEO strategy as well, and then improving yours accordingly.
“By knowing what your rivals are doing in their SEO and social media space, not only will you have a better knowledge of their online marketing strategy, but you can also emulate what is working for them, and generate internal ideas to stay proactive,” says Loren Baker, Editor in Chief of successful web advocates the Search Engine Journal
Competitive analysis is a critical element to SEO marketing, and without it your website could quickly fall behind. Having an analysis done for your business is vital because it provides quantitative results of what is and isn’t working, it can manage your expectations, it keeps you up-to-date with new SEO tips and tricks, and it gives you the ammunition you need to stay one leg-up on your competitors …thus keeping YOUR web site ahead in the rankings!
The process of competitive analysis means asking introspective questions about your website in order to improve your marketing techniques. A competitive analysis can answer exactly why you are (or aren’t) receiving the results you had hoped from your SEO work.
To complete a competitive analysis you need to:
- Analyze the competition’s sites in terms of online presence, design, and usability.
- Review their current SEO structure
- How are their title tags, and their content? Are they PAYING for placement?
- Research the effectiveness of their keywords versus your keywords
- Find more recommended, relevant and unique keywords to get the ahead of the competition.
- Compare their use of inbound links, calls to action and indexed pages with your own.
- Summarize findings in step 1-5 and create actionable items that you can stick to getting done.
The information received from a competitive analysis will give you a benchmark on where you stand versus your competition. The CRITICAL information it will give you is your roadmap on how to be the best and rank the highest!
