Competitor analysis is an essential part of every SEO plan. Your business’ competitors can provide you with information on industry keywords, on trends, and sometimes on what not to do. Competitor analysis has been the downfall of many black-hat influenced sites when their tricks have been uncovered, and the making of honest sites that have used every advantage that is naturally available to them.

A full competitor analysis should enable you to deconstruct their SEO strategy. Sometimes, this will reveal what they are doing better than you, such as subtler keyword placement or a clearer site structure. Sometimes, in the best situation, a competitor analysis will reveal what they aren’t doing. This provides your site with the edge that may result in you emerging the winner.

At the most basic level, a competitor analysis will provide you with a keyword list. Analysing several competitors will provide you with a list of the most commonly used keywords in the industry. Once you have this list, you also have more information to enable you to decide whether you wish to compete on these keywords, or gain supremacy in one of your competitors’ lesser keywords.

Analysing your competitors can begin with a simple piece of paper and a pen. Look at their site for obvious search engine optimisation techniques. Examine their source code and tags to see how they’re written, particularly looking for keywords. Check the site navigation to see if it is search engine friendly, and see whether they have used an XML sitemap to inform the search engines of the site navigation.

Part of what you are looking out for when you analyse a competitor’s site is whether they have hired an SEO firm. If the usual methods of search engine optimisation have not been carried out in a thorough manner on the site, it’s likely that your competitors have done their SEO themselves. This could give you an edge as it means they may not have made the most efficient use of their assets. If you have hired an SEO company, then your site certainly will make use of those assets.

Other things to look out for include search engine spam. If you find spammy techniques on a competitor’s site, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can do anything about it. It is good news in a way, however. It means that what they have achieved, they have achieved through underhanded means. Basing the success of your site on legitimate methods means that your site will stand when theirs is eventually found out.

These things are not that hard to do, and are at the most basic level what SEO professionals do across the net in general to perfect SEO techniques. This very simple analysis of your competitors will give you a better understanding of what you’re up against, and may even provide ideas for your site’s search engine optimisation.

Your SEO consultant should conduct a thorough competitor analysis. If you have any questions about analysing your competitors, our consultants at SEO Consult are able to help. It is always a good idea to know exactly what to look for when analysing your competitors, however. Competitor analysis should not stop with your initial optimisation.

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