Don’t Forget Your SEO Competitive Analysis Checklist

Don’t Forget Your SEO Competitive Analysis Checklist

When it comes to SEO marketing, there are so many different things to consider and do that it can be very easy to start operating in a ‘bubble’. While it is great to be focused on your own business, do not neglect to keep on top of what your competitors are doing.

Here is a quick checklist for an effective SEO competitive analysis:

1. Choose Your Competitors Wisely

There is no point analyzing the SEO strategies of a company that isn’t taking your slice of the competitive pie. Choose to do a competitive analysis on companies who are in direct competition with you. If you are not sure who your competition is, type in some of the keywords you are trying to rank for in Google and see what comes up. Your competition could be outperforming you without you even knowing it!

2. Take A Stroll Through Their Online Presence

Once you have 2 to 5 competitors that you will be analyzing, start doing your online research. What do their websites look like? How quickly do their pages load? Are they using social media? And if so, which platforms? How often are they publishing content and what keywords are they optimizing for? Make a list of the things you like about their website, content, and social strategy.

3. Talk To Your Target Audience

Even if your competitors have the prettiest websites with all the bells and whistles, a killer content strategy and a massive email marketing list, ultimately it is the customers who decide who they are going to do business with. Check out online rating sites like Yelp as well as customer complaint forums like Hello Peter to see what’s being said about you as well as your competitors. Use social listening tools to find out what is important to your target audience and where they prefer to spend their money.

4. Analyze The Finer Details

What type of titles and headers do your competitors use in their content and what type of calls to action are they using online? Are they asking for email addresses so that they can send customers more information or are they trying to get website visitors to ‘buy’ now’? These are all things that should be considered when you are crafting your own SEO strategy.

An SEO competitor analysis puts a spotlight on the areas you should be focusing on. Perhaps you need many more backlinks to start competing with competitors or maybe you need to completely update the keywords that you have been targeting. Either way, you will need an experienced Internet marketing consultant on your side. New Media Marketing is a digital consultancy in Greensboro, North Carolina. Contact us for social media marketing, SEO, pay per click advertising, mobile content marketing, and more today.