Why the Competitive Analysis Should Be One of Your First Steps in a Marketing Plan
As a marketer, it’s likely that you understand the importance of watching the performance of your own website and other digital marketing efforts. But let’s face it. Marketing isn’t as simple as a motivational gym slogan. We aren’t competing with only ourselves for continuous improvement. Sure, it’s an inside job in that we must dedicate energy to ongoing awareness, content creation, and education. There’s a lot happening in the atmosphere around our own initiatives too. Google, social media platforms and technology are constantly changing. Competitors come and go. Then, there’s the greater concern – competitors upping their game and becoming equally dedicated. Oopsie! That piece can really sneak up on you with jagged chompers and bite. Hard.
Is your version of checking up on the competitors “googling yourself” to see who shares space with you in the SERPS? Or maybe you aren’t paying *that* much regular attention to your own rankings, conversions, and leads at all? If so, you’re likely missing the most complex pieces of the performance story – or how to respond to them to break out and excel.
These clues can be found for you with a foundational tool – a competitive analysis. It is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors’ websites in terms of their search engine rankings and organic traffic. It has long been one of the starting points in our Flight Plans when developing a search strategy for any sized business. This deep dive involves analyzing various aspects of your competitors’ SEO strategies, including their content, backlink profiles, on-page optimization, and technical SEO.
A competitive analysis examines your competitors’ digital marketing efforts, so that you can identify opportunities to differentiate your brand, refine your messaging, and improve your overall marketing performance. (That will show ‘em.) An essential boost to your digital marketing because it provides valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors’ marketing strategies. Translation: Identifying opportunities to dash in first and win the sale.)
Here are some specific reasons why a competitive analysis is important in digital marketing:
1. Identifying market trends and opportunities: By analyzing your competitors’ marketing strategies, you can identify emerging trends and areas of opportunity in the market that you may not have considered before.
2. Understanding customer behavior: A competitive analysis can help you better understand your target audience by examining the preferences and behaviors of your competitors’ customers.
3. Differentiating your brand: By identifying the unique selling points of your competitors’ brands, you can refine your own messaging and positioning to differentiate your brand in the marketplace.
4. Improving your marketing performance: By examining the success and failures of your competitors’ marketing campaigns, you can learn valuable lessons that can be applied to your own marketing efforts.
Overall, a competitive analysis can help you stay ahead of the competition and optimize your digital marketing strategies for better results.
This is where the pros start their SEO planning. Not with an educated guess but a non-biased, data- driven examination of the search environment. Pull out your scuba gear because we are deep diving here.
Some of the key components included in an SEO Rocket Competitive Analysis are:
1. Keyword research: Identifying the keywords and phrases that your competitors are targeting and analyzing their search volume, competition level, and relevance to your business.
2. Content analysis: Evaluating the type and quality of content on your competitors’ websites, including the format, structure, and topics covered.
3. Backlink analysis: Examining the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing to your competitors’ websites, including the domain authority and relevance of the linking sites.
4. SEO audit: Analyzing hundreds of technical SEO elements of your competitors’ websites that impact search engine results.
5. Social media engagement: Assessing your competitors’ social media activity, including the number of followers, engagement levels, and types of content shared.
By conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis in SEO, you can gain insights into your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities to improve your own website’s search engine rankings and traffic.
Contact SEO Rocket for your own Flight Plan to investigate where your website truly stands and pinpoint your opportunities for higher rankings.
