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The Value of Conducting Competitor Research for SEO
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About the Author
Rebecca Appleton (166 Posts)
Rebecca is the managing director of search engine optimization agency Dakota Digital a full-service agency offering SEO, online PR, web copywriting, media relationship management, and social media strategy. Rebecca works directly with each client to increase online visibility, brand profile, and search engine rankings. She has headed a number of international campaigns for large brands.
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Hello Rebecca,
I have found the competition analysis very useful for keyword research. They may not be using the same keywords as we do, and maybe we are loosing traffic because, well, one of them may just be great!
Thank you for another great article.
This is a great article! I couldn’t agree more. I think we all fall into the mindset of just identifying the top ranking sites as competitors, and skip the step of understanding how and why they rank. Personally I tend to spend more time focused on competitor’s backlinks. This type of competitive intelligence can really jumpstart your Off-Site Optimization campaign!
I think it is worth adding a few other aspects of your competition to guage:
Site Age (history)
Quality Links (top directories and industry sites)
Reciprocal Links (quantity matters)
Blogroll or Sitewide Links (quantity matters)
Do they use an SEO? (usually found through backlinks)
Do they PPC? (if so, should you?)
Compete.com or Alexa.com Traffic Stats (or similar stats)
nice bit of info on backlink research. thanks
It’s also nice to figure out you’re competitors keyword strategy and the keywords that are driving their traffic. Some of the tools provide information about keywords driving traffic to sites, and with a little bit of analysis, you can discern competitors keyword strategies.
Very good points. Most people overlook judging their competitors when they are trying to plan their SEO. AWR’s link ranking tool is great for comparing sites based on a single or multiple phrases and it presents the data nicely.