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How to Analyze Competitors in Organic Search

How to Analyze Competitors in Organic Search

Organic search refers to the list of websites a user sees after entering a query into a search engine. The higher a page is in the search results, the more clicks and conversions it receives.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is aimed at making a site rank as high as possible to attract more visitors. To create an effective SEO strategy, it's crucial to know who your main competitors are and what helps them get an advantage in the search results.

Improving your own website by all possible means is a permanent, long-term, and primary task. 

Before we move from theory to practical steps, let's briefly list the benefits that a regular and meticulous analysis of key SEO competitors will provide you:

  • The ability to find original, interesting, and unconventional solutions to improve your overall website and individual landing pages.

  • Significant savings of precious time, as well as human and financial resources that would otherwise be spent on practical experiments with uncertain outcomes.

  • The implementation of the most effective technologies and successful solutions (borrowed from competitors) leads to a noticeable increase in the profitability and growth of your commercial project.

  • The ability to gather a maximum of useful information about other players in the market to create your own comprehensive plan for improving your resources. Ultimately, you can create a site that surpasses all others in a specific niche.

How to Get Data About Competitors' Websites

You can find similar domains and audit their internet marketing by using the following sources of information.

  1. Search Results 
    This is a regular search using queries. It helps you find out which websites are your main competitors, which URLs rank in top positions, and what kind of content those pages have.

  2. SEO Services for Website Analysis
    Today, there are various ways to get important domain metrics, but not all of them allow you to analyze other people's websites. For example, Google Search Console and Google Analytics only show statistics to the website owner or those who have the appropriate access rights. 
    The simplest and fastest way to analyze competitors is by using automated platforms for SEO specialists. They combine statistics from various sources and present them in structured reports.

What Exactly Should You Study in Detail?

  1. Site Structure
    You should ideally improve the architecture of your website in the initial stages, but it's never too late to go from good to great.

Study how your competitors have handled things like:

  • Breaking down catalogs by product categories and subcategories.

  • Having different page types— product cards, work portfolios, promotions and special offers, news, blogs, etc.

  • Using filters and tags.

  • The features of internal linking.

  1. Content
    Pay attention to the volume of optimized content on competitors' landing pages. Evaluate the quality of the content from the perspective of the target audience. Track the frequency of content updates and the volume of new articles.

  1. Components of Internal Optimization
    With the help of special programs and services designed for site audits, you can analyze things like Title and Description, image optimization, the amount of text on landing pages, and other factors.

  1. Design
    Analyze the appearance of the pages, evaluate the usability, and check for mobile responsiveness.

  1. Website's Functional Elements

    The list of things to analyze here is very broad:

  • The ability to leave comments and add reviews.

  • Having blocks with information about delivery and payment terms.

  • One-click purchase buttons.

  • A feedback form.

  • Online calculators for estimating service costs.

  • Slideshows and other elements.

Study your competitors, copy their strengths, find their weaknesses, and offer your target audience more than other players in the market. Gather data and don't hesitate to experiment based on it. The reward: user attention and trust, improved search positions, and increased sales.