{"id":14654,"date":"2021-02-09T14:20:11","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T14:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/?p=14654"},"modified":"2023-12-05T11:11:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T11:11:02","slug":"3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/","title":{"rendered":"3 quick ways to run SEO competitor analysis for beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Competitor analysis refers to the processes that help you understand how your website stands in the search engines as compared to your competitors and other websites in your niche.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO is often considered a zero-sum game. There are only a limited number of spots (usually 10) on the first page of Google. Moreover, a disproportionate amount of traffic goes to the first 3 pages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It means that your gain will likely mean a loss for someone else and vice versa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s why competitor analysis \u2014 knowing where your competitors are ranking, what they are doing to rank higher, and how to overtake them in the SERPs \u2014 is so important in the world of SEO.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, if this is your first time with competitor SEO analysis, it can be daunting and overwhelming. In that case, here are 3 quick (and simple) ways to start with competitor analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><b>1. Keyword research and analysis<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keyword research and implementation is arguably the most important part of SEO \u2014 especially when it comes to competitor analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The idea is to identify:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The keywords that are important to you (it would also be important for your competitors)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The keywords that your competitors are successfully ranking for<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pages that your competitors are using to rank for said keywords<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A tool like <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/ahrefs.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ahrefs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEMRush<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can make this job significantly easier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, if you are using SEMRush, you can simply paste your competitor\u2019s URL and run an organic research report. SEMRush will pull a list of all the keywords that the website is ranking for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sort by positions and apply traffic volume filters for more targeted results.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you identify a few keywords that you want to go after, shortlist the top pages that your competitor is using.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analyze those pages and see what they are doing best and think of ways how you can make your content better than them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/competitive-analysis.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14656\" src=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/competitive-analysis.png\" alt=\"competitive-analysis\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><b>2. Backlink analysis<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keyword selection and optimization is only half of the entire puzzle. Sometimes, keyword optimization isn\u2019t enough. You also need a strong backlink profile to rank high for certain keywords.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is especially helpful when you are trying to figure out why you are not ranking on top for a certain page and keyword phrase \u2014 despite doing everything right.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may have an excellent piece of content, but your competitor may still outrank you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The easiest way to identify the root cause of the problem is to check that URL\u2019s backlink profile. More specifically:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How many backlinks does that competitor page have?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How many backlinks does your page have?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How many unique referring domains link to your competitor page?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How many unique referring domains link to your web page?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you find a significant discrepancy in the SERPs, you can come to the conclusion that your web page does not have a \u201ccontent\u201d or \u201ckeyword optimization\u201d problem. Instead, it has a backlink problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you identify that, the next step would be to solve that problem by building backlinks to your site and specific web pages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By using an SEO or backlink analysis tool (like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spyfu.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SpyFu<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/ahrefs.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ahrefs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, etc.), you can identify the exact sources or websites that link to your competitors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can even identify the websites that link to your competitors but do not link to you. You can also filter to only unique websites \u2014 if you want to just focus on increasing unique referring domains.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After you have a list of those websites, you can initiate a link-building and manual outreach campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><b>3. Technical SEO<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The last part of the equation is often how technically sound your website is. This usually includes basic SEO issues, such as missing meta tags, 404 errors, canonical problems, crawl issues, website loading speed, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The easiest way would be to use website and SEO analysis tools to check your website and your competitors\u2019 websites to see how good everyone is doing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will help you identify where you stand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then, regardless of your competitors\u2019 performance in this department, you should fix all technical issues you find on your website.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most SEO tools, like Ahrefs and SEMRush, give detailed information on exactly how to fix an issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although there is often a lot more to competitor analysis, this quick three-step guide will set you on the right path.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you go through each step, you will not only have plenty of ideas of what you should do, but you would also have found many new opportunities and fixed several issues that might be plaguing your website.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Competitor analysis refers to the processes that help you understand how your website stands in the search engines as compared to your competitors and other websites in your niche. SEO is often considered a zero-sum game. There are only a limited number of spots (usually 10) on the first page of Google. Moreover, a disproportionate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SEO Competitor Analysis for Beginners | IMSR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the key steps in SEO competitor analysis, from keyword research to backlink analysis, and boost your website&#039;s performance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SEO Competitor Analysis for Beginners | IMSR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover the key steps in SEO competitor analysis, from keyword research to backlink analysis, and boost your website&#039;s performance.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Improve My Search Ranking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ImproveMySearchRanking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-09T14:20:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-05T11:11:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/digital-marketing-1725340_1280-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Hamit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ImproveMySearch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ImproveMySearch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Hamit\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/\",\"name\":\"SEO Competitor Analysis for Beginners | IMSR\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-09T14:20:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-05T11:11:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cd296d14b492e28427951b912dddde7b\"},\"description\":\"Discover the key steps in SEO competitor analysis, from keyword research to backlink analysis, and boost your website's performance.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"3 quick ways to run SEO competitor analysis for beginners\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/\",\"name\":\"Improve My Search Ranking\",\"description\":\"Improve My Search Ranking\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cd296d14b492e28427951b912dddde7b\",\"name\":\"Josh Hamit\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e2eaeeac454cc68a732747769a1f350?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e2eaeeac454cc68a732747769a1f350?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Josh Hamit\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/author\/josh\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SEO Competitor Analysis for Beginners | IMSR","description":"Discover the key steps in SEO competitor analysis, from keyword research to backlink analysis, and boost your website's performance.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"SEO Competitor Analysis for Beginners | IMSR","og_description":"Discover the key steps in SEO competitor analysis, from keyword research to backlink analysis, and boost your website's performance.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/","og_site_name":"Improve My Search Ranking","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ImproveMySearchRanking","article_published_time":"2021-02-09T14:20:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-05T11:11:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/digital-marketing-1725340_1280-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Josh Hamit","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ImproveMySearch","twitter_site":"@ImproveMySearch","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Josh Hamit","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/","url":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/","name":"SEO Competitor Analysis for Beginners | IMSR","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-09T14:20:11+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-05T11:11:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cd296d14b492e28427951b912dddde7b"},"description":"Discover the key steps in SEO competitor analysis, from keyword research to backlink analysis, and boost your website's performance.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/3-quick-ways-to-run-seo-competitor-analysis-for-beginners\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"3 quick ways to run SEO competitor analysis for beginners"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/","name":"Improve My Search Ranking","description":"Improve My Search Ranking","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cd296d14b492e28427951b912dddde7b","name":"Josh Hamit","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e2eaeeac454cc68a732747769a1f350?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e2eaeeac454cc68a732747769a1f350?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Josh Hamit"},"url":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/author\/josh\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22654,"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14654\/revisions\/22654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}