How To Do An Seo Competitor Analysis [+ Template]

What Is SEO Competitor Analysis?

An SEO competitor study is nan process of researching rival websites’ hunt centrifugal optimization strategies and results to stitchery insights you tin usage to amended your ain results.

In SEO, competitor websites are those that often show higher than you for applicable hunt centrifugal queries. And those higher positions successful hunt results tin divert postulation distant from your website.

Why Is an SEO Competitor Analysis Important? 

Doing an SEO competitor study is important because it provides insights that thief you outrank (appear higher than) rival websites successful hunt engines for illustration Google.

Specifically, analyzing rival websites allows you to:

• Discover winning SEO strategies and replicate them
• Uncover rivals’ SEO weaknesses and capitalize connected them
• Benchmark your existent SEO capacity and measurement really your capacity changes

Ultimately, doing an SEO competitor study tin thief you boost marque awareness, make overmuch traffic, and summation your marketplace share.

How to Do an SEO Competitor Analysis

We impulse that you do an SEO competitor study each 3 to six months, truthful you tin quickly spot immoderate changes successful your marketplace and accommodate your strategy.

We too impulse that you analyse competitors’ SEO efforts:

• Before launching caller products aliases services, truthful you tin study astir nan marketplace you’re entering
• After a rankings decline, truthful you tin get a amended knowing of imaginable issues

Here’s really to do an SEO competitor analysis—step by step:

1. Identify Your SEO Competitors

To spot your SEO competitors, hunt for your target keywords (search position you want to show for) successful Google to spot which websites commonly appear. 

Or, participate your domain into nan Organic Research instrumentality and spell to nan “Competitors” tab.

The instrumentality will hunt our database to spot which domains personification nan astir keyword rankings successful communal pinch your domain.

It’s important to connection that SEO competitors aren’t ever business competitors. 

For example, an manufacture publication mightiness not discarded nan aforesaid products aliases services arsenic you. But nan publication could divert hunt postulation distant from your website.

2. Find Keyword Gaps

Keyword gaps are keywords that competitors rank for but you don’t, and filling these gaps tin thief you propulsion overmuch postulation to your website.

You tin find keyword gaps pinch Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool.

Enter your domain and up to 4 competitors’ domains. Then, scroll down to nan array and usage nan “Missing” filter.

You’ll spot keywords that each analyzed competitors rank for but you don’t.

Use these filters to refine your results:

• Position: The ranking position of analyzed sites. You mightiness want to prime for keywords that each competitors rank successful nan apical 10 results for, arsenic these keywords are overmuch apt to beryllium applicable to you.
• Volume: The mean number of monthly searches for nan keyword. Generally, higher-volume keywords tin thrust overmuch marque consciousness and traffic.
• KD: The keyword problem score, which measures really difficult it’ll beryllium to unafraid a top-10 Google ranking. You whitethorn wish to attraction connected keywords successful nan “Very easy” to “Easy” range.
• Intent: The wide intent down nan search. Transactional keywords bladed to beryllium champion astatine driving sales, while informational keywords bladed to activity champion for blog posts.
• Advanced filters: Here, you tin prime for keywords that spot 1 aliases overmuch circumstantial words. This is adjuvant if you want to attraction connected a peculiar topic.

Look for relevant, high-potential keywords you want to target and prevention them to a keyword list.

Then, you tin create a strategy to target these keywords.

3. Identify Competitors’ Sitewide Strengths and Weaknesses

Identify competitors' sitewide strengths and weaknesses to pinpoint wherever your SEO efforts could personification nan apical impact.

You tin find these strengths and weaknesses by evaluating your rivals’ contented capacity and method SEO health:

Content Performance

Analyze your competitors’ contented capacity to spot what contented useful for them, and past effort to replicate their results.

You mightiness beryllium tin to spot which pieces of contented propulsion nan astir comments connected their website. Or propulsion nan astir engagement connected societal media.

But you tin get amended insights pinch an SEO competitor study tool.

For example, nan Organic Research instrumentality tin show your competitor’s top-performing pages based connected nan estimated magnitude of unpaid hunt postulation they bring in.

Make judge to analyse your competitors’ top-performing pages to look for patterns. 

For instance:

• Is nan contented mostly long-form aliases short?
• Do they usage tons of videos aliases images?
• Are they mostly merchandise pages, blog posts, aliases point different?

Let your answers to these questions line your contented production. To return nan guesswork out. And recreate what’s already working—in a amended way. 

Technical SEO 

Analyzing your website’s method SEO wellness and comparing it against your rivals’ is simply a cardinal measurement successful doing a competitor analysis, because method wellness tin make each nan value successful rankings.

You tin study astir your site’s method wellness for free done Google Search Console.

The instrumentality provides various reports, including:

• Page indexing: Discover which pages personification and haven’t been added to Google’s scale (database of imaginable hunt results)
• Core Web Vitals: See really your tract scores connected 3 page acquisition metrics, collectively known arsenic Core Web Vitals
• HTTPS: Check that each nan pages connected your tract usage nan unafraid HTTPS protocol, arsenic recommended by Google

Alternatively, usage Semrush’s Site Audit instrumentality to reappraisal your method SEO.

You tin tally regular audits to cheque your progress.

And get connection connected really and why to spread each issue.

If you utilized Google Search Console to reappraisal your method health, do nan pursuing to measurement your competitors:

• Review competitors’ Core Web Vitals pinch nan PageSpeed Insights instrumentality (just cognize that this only shows metrics for nan specified page)
• Manually cheque if competitors’ webpages usage nan HTTPS protocol
• See really competitors’ websites execute connected a mobile device
• Inspect competitors’ XML sitemaps to spot which pages they’ve flagged for indexing

If you utilized Site Audit to crawl your website, usage nan aforesaid instrumentality for your competitor analysis. 

Then, comparison your results.

Try to lucifer competitors successful areas wherever they’re strong. And deed competitors successful areas wherever they’re lacking.

4. Analyze Competing Sites connected a Page-by-Page Basis

There are galore on-page SEO factors that powerfulness a page’s capacity successful hunt results, truthful it’s adjuvant to reappraisal circumstantial pages arsenic information of your SEO competitory analysis. 

Here are nan circumstantial elements you should analyse connected each page:

Title Tags 

A title tag is an HTML constituent that indicates nan title of a webpage and is commonly displayed successful hunt centrifugal results, societal media posts, and browser tabs. 

Like this:

Title tags thief awesome to Google what your pages are about. And optimizing them is 1 of nan easiest ways to amended your rankings. 

Which is why you should look astatine your competitors’ title tags. Especially nan ones connected pages that outrank you. 

When you do, inquire yourself:

• Do competitors merge keywords amended than you?
• Do nan target keywords look adjacent nan opening of nan title tags? At nan end?
• Do competitors spot special, click-enticing modifiers for illustration “easy,” “best,” and “free”?

The answers to these questions should springiness you an thought of really to waste and acquisition your title tags—so you tin boost your rankings. 

Meta Descriptions 

A meta explanation is simply a short snippet of matter that summarizes a webpage’s contented and tin look successful hunt centrifugal results pages.

Like this:

Meta descriptions aren’t a nonstop ranking factor. But they tin effect (and improve) click-through rates. 

Meta descriptions are often overlooked, peculiarly connected ample sites. So, don’t make that mistake.

Instead, spot really your competitors usage meta descriptions. Notice what’s moving and what isn’t. And group yours accordingly. 

URL Structure 

URL building is nan order, compartmentalization, and grouping of webpage URLs incorrect a website. 

Like this:

Your URL building affects really easy users tin navigate a site, find circumstantial pages, and find circumstantial contented types.

Ideally, a URL building is intuitive, clear, and organized.

Study your competitors’ URL structures connected their pages that outrank your pages. And inquire yourself:

• Do competitors merge keywords successful their URLs? If so, how?
• Do competitors usage shorter URL slugs?
• Do competitors’ URLs image nan page content? 

If you announcement point you tin improve, enactment connected it truthful your URLs are arsenic bully as—or amended than—your competitors’.

Content and Keywords 

This measurement successful your SEO competitor investigation involves taking a deeper look astatine nan pages that outrank your pages and analyzing their content. 

As you do, inquire yourself questions like:

• How are competitors utilizing keywords passim nan page? 
• Are location applicable secondary keywords you could adhd to your content? 
• Is nan penning of precocious quality?
• Do competitors surface topics successful a akin level of point arsenic you? 
• How does nan contented show Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T)?
• What makes nan contented unique?
• How do competitors usage images, videos, data, etc.?

Answering these questions helps you spot ways to amended your ain content.

5. Find Backlink Gaps

If a reputable tract links to a competitor but doesn’t nexus to you, you personification a backlink dispersed that’s worthy addressing.

Closing backlink gaps tin beryllium important successful SEO because Google uses backlinks to gauge nan authoritativeness of websites and webpages.

You tin cheque your ain backlinks successful Google Search Console. And find competitor backlinks by searching competitors’ names successful Google and checking nan results that show up. 

But it’s quicker and overmuch reliable to usage Semrush’s Backlink Gap tool.

Enter your domain and your rivals’ domains, and nan instrumentality will show your “Best” prospects by default.

These are websites that nexus to each your rivals but not to you.

You tin study overmuch astir competitors’ backlinks by clicking nan arrows successful nan corresponding rows and columns.

Like this:

To spot nan champion backlink prospects, spot factors like:

• The authoritativeness of nan website and webpage: Backlinks from overmuch charismatic websites and webpages bladed to beryllium amended for SEO. Semrush’s Authority Score (AS) measures authoritativeness retired of 100.
• The relevancy of nan website: Backlinks from topically applicable sites bladed to beryllium amended for SEO. So, look for websites that are charismatic successful your niche.
• The sermon of nan backlink: Prominent backlinks connected relevant, high-quality pages bladed to beryllium champion for SEO. You too want your marque to beryllium mentioned successful a affirmative context.
• The nofollow position of nan backlink: If you spot that nan backlink has a nofollow attribute, this intends Google whitethorn disregard nan nexus for SEO purposes

There are galore nexus building strategies you tin usage to get links from your chosen prospects. But it’s smart to mimic nan maneuver that worked for your competitor.

For example, nan competitor mightiness personification sewage their merchandise featured successful a applicable round-up. Or allowed nan website to mobility and reply their CEO.

6. Monitor Competitors’ SERP Features 

When competitors look successful SERP features (non-traditional hunt results) for target keywords, they whitethorn propulsion overmuch attraction connected nan hunt results page. 

If you optimize for nan aforesaid SERP features, you whitethorn beryllium tin to move your competitors and seizure nan attraction for your ain site.

You tin hunt Google manually to spot if your competitors look successful immoderate SERP features.

Like this, which is an illustration of a featured snippet:

Alternatively, analyse a competitor successful Semrush’s Organic Research tool. And spell to nan “Positions” report.

The icons successful nan “Position” record correspond SERP characteristic rankings for nan corresponding keywords.

You tin attraction connected circumstantial types of SERP characteristic rankings by utilizing nan prime astatine nan top.

There are chopped ways to optimize for different SERP features. And you tin find connection astir galore of them (e.g., sitelinks, AI Overviews, and nan section pack) connected nan Semrush blog.

Here are immoderate speedy tips for success:

• Use schema markup to thief Google understand nan contented connected your page
• Provide clear, concise answers to commonly searched questions
• Add high-quality images to your contented and optimize them for search

Try Our SEO Competitor Analysis Report Template

Semrush’s My Reports instrumentality provides a competitor study study template that makes it speedy and easy to compile cardinal accusation astir rival websites.

Enter your competitors’ domains and nan instrumentality will coming elaborate accusation astir their:

• Website traffic
• Market share
• Keywords
• Backlinks
• Paid hunt ads
• Brand mentions
• Social media performance

(Assuming you personification nan basal instrumentality subscriptions.)

The competitor study study is afloat customizable and easy to banal pinch your team.  

Plus, you tin schedule nan study to tally each month.

Start your free proceedings to usage nan template and create your first SEO competitor study report.