SEO Competitive Analysis
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Competitive analysis for online businesses is one of the most important parts of the search engine marketing process. Even if you are vying for customers in Albany, NY or your hometown area, Internet giants are still lobbying for the same business. Nearly every business website is competing against not only other, similar niche stores, but also against Internet superstores such as Amazon and Wal-Mart. To get ahead of the competition it's necessary to know who the competition is and what their marketing tactics are. All of these stores fighting for the same keyword rankings makes for a very difficult and competitive market.
SEO Competitive Analysis Strategy
SEO competitive analysis is a 3 part process consisting of:
1. Identifying their target key phrases
2. Monitoring their search engine rankings
3. Analyzing their link building strategy
Scoping out your competitors does more than let you know what you are up against. If they already have a well-established SEO strategy, why not learn from their tactics? It is difficult and not very beneficial to exactly mimic their approach. However, SEO competitive analysis can provide valuable insight into your strategy.
If they have done the keyword research, you can use it to validate your own. If the phrase you have been researching and wondering about is targeted front and center on their home page - chances are it is a top quality target. On the other hand, if they are dominating the search results for that phrase and clearly targeting it, you may need to find something less competitive.
The same concept goes into your competitive analysis of their link building strategy. Analyzing your competitors' backlink profiles can help you to discover what Google values as important for your particular search niche. In some cases, you will find that every competitor has a link from Yahoo! directory, BotW, DMOZ, and a dozen other industry related directories. Are they listed in Albany or Saratoga Springs local business directories? This is a good indication that you ought to attempt to get your website listed in those same directories, and scout out ones that they missed.