Whether you are running a brick-and-motor business or a creative digital marketing agency, you need to develop a solid strategy in dealing with ever-changing search engine ranking factors. Competition research is the foundation of the new way of ranking to the top search results.
SEO Competition Analysis
Competition analysis is one of the most valuable strategies to adopt and implement because it works and will continue to work in the distant future. SEO landscape has changed over the years, it’s no longer enough to build a high number of links for you to rank to the top. Content quality is the new standard for anyone who wants to rank higher.
As a digital marketer, striking a balance between content marketing and link building can be tricky. It helps to find out what your competitors are doing right for you to adapt and remain relevant. There are several ways to spy on your competitors but SEO competition research tools are the most effective.
SEMRush Intelligent Competition Analysis Tool
SEMRush is innately the best tool that every digital marketer should consider using for spying on competitors and collecting valuable competition data. SEMRush is a collection of all SEO tools in one place with advanced features to help you generate SEO reports fast. Here are ten ways you can use on SEMRrush to outrank your competitors.
1) Find the Right Keywords – Keyword Research
One of the most valuable tasks in competition analysis is keyword research. Before you begin ranking for a keyword, it helps to identify the competitors. SEMRush provides you with an excellent keyword research tool that helps you identify potential keywords in your niche and the best part – it helps you to view the keywords your competitors are ranking. Keyword research is the fundamental input for successful SEO strategy.
2) Find Your Paid Search Competitors – PPC Research
Pay per click advertising provides digital marketers with a reliable way of dominating the search results for targeted keywords. One of the most common challenges of PPC is targeting the right keywords for a high return on investment. A trial and error approach to PPC can be ineffective and ultimately expensive. SEMRush gives you the ability to find out your paid search competitors, track down their ads and even generate PPC keywords ideas for your advertising.
3) Quality Content is Key Quantity Isn’t Everything – SEO Content Templates
It’s been proven time, and again that quality content is a critical pillar in ranking to the top of search results in any niche. It is no longer the quantity but the quality of the content you publish on your site. SEMRush helps you to identify the potential keywords and also in creating content templates for effective on-page SEO. The SEO content templates tool analyzes your top competitors’ pages and generates a content template that you can use on your site.
4) Know Your Competitors’ Strength – Organic Research
SEMRush is a tactical tool for spying on the top organic keywords that your competitors are ranking. This tool lets you know the strength of each competitor and potential keywords that you can outrank. The strength of SEMRush lies in its advanced filter that allows you to search competitors’ keywords based on a broad range of parameters.
5) Comprehensive Backlink Analysis – Link Building Research
SEMRush has an innovative backlink analysis tool that helps you to quickly generate in-depth backlink reports. You can quickly view all competitors’ backlinks, referring domains, the age of backlinks, anchor text, do-follow or no-follow status, image backlinks, and domain extensions like .edu, .org, .com.
6) Track Top Competitors – Organic Competitors
Keeping your eye on competitors helps you learn new techniques that employ and you can implement some to boost your ranking. SEMRush has an effective site tracking tool that allows you to add the site to the dashboard and you can track the whole site. This includes tracking specific pages, subdomains, site folders, and HTTPS pages ranking.
7) Compare Your Performance to Competitors – Backlink Profile Comparison
SEMRush has an immensely powerful backlink comparison tool that allows you to compare the backlink profiles of up to five domains. This tool is suitable for tracking your top five competitors’ backlink profile to help you adjust accordingly. You can check individual site backlinks and also sort out backlinks using the advanced filter.
8) Traffic Competition Analysis – Traffic Analytics
The traffic analytic tool lets you analyze the traffic of competing sites. The tool allows you to add competitors for traffic data comparison. Traffic analytics lets you view the traffic sources, unique visits, total visits, pages visited, bounce rate, traffic rank, the average duration of visitors, and geo-distribution of competitors’ traffic.
9) Find Out Your Local Competitors – Local SEO Research
If you are optimizing a site for location-based keywords, SEMRush provides a reliable local organic research tool. SEMRush allows you to research organic keywords based on geographical location. This tool helps you to narrow down to specific keywords that work for your local competitors.
10) Display Advertising & PLA Research Tool
Display Advertising Tool in SEMRush helps you to quickly generate video marketing ideas for your campaigns. The tool aggregates YouTube data particularly video advertisements. It provides you with valuable keyword data from top advertisers. PLA research tool lets you analyze keywords for products ads on Google Shopping Ads. This is a resourceful tool for identifying target keywords for specific products ads.
Bottom line
Reinventing your overall SEO strategy necessitates you pay keen attention to every move your competitors make – SEMRush gives you leverage to carry out comprehensive competition research. It’s imperative you invest time now in the strategies that work now and in the future. As always, we’d love to hear from you about your experience with SEMRush and what works best for you.
