A Guide to SEO Competitive Analysis

A Guide to SEO Competitive Analysis

Working in a competitive environment is beneficial for both individuals and businesses. Competition pushes us to improve and step outside our comfort zone, motivating us to maintain our qualities while creating new ones. The same principle applies to the world of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for removals companies. Crafting your own unique strategy is important, but analysing your competitors to do so is fundamental. Today, RemovalsPal guides you through the process of SEO competitive analysis and how it can grow your business.

8 Key Steps to SEO Competitive Analysis

Before we delve into application, let’s define what SEO competitive analysis is.

SEO competitive analysis involves researching the SEO efforts of your competitors, analysing them in detail, and using this information to create or enhance your own strategy. Factors such as content, links, advertising channels, keywords, and website performance are crucial elements to consider. Now, let’s go through the actual process.

1. Identify Your SEO Competitors

Understanding your competition is essential for any business, and this includes defining your SEO competitors. Note that your SEO competitors might not always be the same as your direct business competitors. For instance, companies outside your niche might rank for the same keywords you do.

By definition, your SEO competitors are the ones that rank on the first pages of search results for the keywords you are targeting. Identifying these competitors is as simple as typing in the keywords you want to rank for and reviewing the results on the first few pages. More advanced methods involve using keyword research tools that analyse your competition for you.

2. Evaluate the Difficulty of Ranking for a Keyword

Assessing your niche and the keywords you wish to rank for is a crucial starting point before any serious SEO efforts. Set aside on-page SEO modifications and link-building strategies for now, and focus on evaluating the chances of ranking for certain keywords using SEO competitive analysis.

Each industry has keywords that are difficult to rank for due to the high amount of investment, resources, and time required. Small removals businesses with no prior SEO experience should be realistic when choosing keywords to target. Analyse your competitors’ domain authority, domain country and age, search engine indexing, business listings, backlink profile, current rankings, traffic volumes, and social media profiles to understand where you stand.

3. Explore Other Potentially Profitable Keywords

Use TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) analysis to evaluate and upgrade your existing content with keywords your competitors use. This approach helps you identify additional target keywords, some of which might have low competition, providing an opportunity for you to rank higher.

TF-IDF measures how often a keyword appears on a page (term frequency) multiplied by how often a keyword is expected to appear on a page (inverse document frequency). This can reveal synonymous keywords and phrases that appear in top search results but are missing from your content, allowing you to improve your existing content or create new pages/posts.

4. Include On-Page Optimisation and Content in Your Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis tools such as SEMrush offer valuable insights into your competitors’ on-page optimisation and content strategies. Look at the frequency of content publishing, types of content, targeted keywords, metadata, content structure, internal linking strategy, word count, image quality and optimisation, and use of formatting elements like bold/italic text and bullet lists. By understanding these elements, you can make your content more engaging and optimise it for better search engine rankings.

5. Explore the Extent of the Backlink Profile of Your Competitors

A company’s backlink profile is both a crucial ranking factor and a way to generate more website traffic. Analyse the backlink profiles of competitive businesses in your niche to determine which websites they link from. Reach out to those websites to negotiate earning links to your own site. This analysis can help you build a list of quality websites from related industries, leading to new linking opportunities and higher rankings.

6. Examine the Structure and User Experience of Competitors’ Websites

User experience (UX) is a major focus for Google, with each update placing more emphasis on engaging your target audience effectively. Examine your competitors’ websites to gain insights into their web development and design efforts. Look at aspects such as click-through ratios, page traffic, heat maps, PageRank distribution, and calls to action. Use this information to upgrade your own website, ensuring it is fast, responsive, and easy to navigate.

7. Explore Competitors’ Social Media Tactics

Social media plays a significant role in SEO. Use social listening tools to determine how much your competitors invest in their campaigns and track mentions of your website on different platforms. Focus your research on the types of social media networks used by competitors, their posting schedules, audience engagement strategies, and the content with the most engagement.

8. Track Competitors’ Paid Advertising Budgets and Tactics

If competitors still have the upper hand despite your SEO and social media efforts, shift your analysis to their paid advertising strategies. Try to match their budget and bidding efforts for keywords, but if that is not feasible, focus on improving the quality of your paid ads. Analyse the content, banner ads, and scheduling of competitors’ ads to outmatch them in terms of quality.

Save Time on SEO Competitive Analysis with Professional Help

RemovalsPal understands the competitive nature of the removals industry. With our expertise in digital marketing for removals companies, you won’t need to spend time mastering your competitors’ strategies. Our team is here to do it for you.

Contact us today to schedule a free marketing analysis of your website and learn how you can enhance your SEO efforts and outperform your competitors.