How to Use Competitive Analysis in Your Keyword Research

According to Moz, competitive analysis can “help you evaluate your competition’s strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to your brand.” As far as it relates to search engine optimization, competitive analysis can seem overwhelming because there are so many things involved that it can be hard to identify a starting point.

While competitive analysis in the context of SEO may seem intimidating, the benefits it has the potential to yield far outweigh the work involved with performing an analysis. For many, the best place to start performing a competitive analysis is their keywords.

Keyword Competition

To thoroughly understand the concept of competitive analysis, you must have a grasp of what keyword competition is. Keyword competition is the level of difficulty you’ll encounter to rank for a selected keyword. In other words, keyword competition gives you an idea of how many other web pages you’ll need to outdo in order to claim a leading spot in search engine results for a particular keyword.

There are two primary things that influence the competitiveness of a keyword. The first is the keyword’s popularity and the second is the competitiveness of the industry you compete in.

Keyword Competition Analysis

Keyword competition analysis involves evaluating how top rankings perform in the context of various SEO considerations, including the use of specified keywords. The point of this kind of analysis is to identify what you’re up against and to see how you can make your website and pages stand out.

Keyword competition analysis can enable you to rank better in SERPS, cut your costs and earn a higher return on your investment. Even impactful keywords that have a low search volume can help you achieve these results.

Look at Your Competition

The first step in keyword competition analysis is to identify all of your SEO competitors and the keywords they’re using. When it comes to search engine optimization, it’s important for you to realize that your competition isn’t limited to companies that sell products or services that are similar to yours. Your pool of competitors includes any website that will rival yours in search results for your targeted keywords.

Validate Your Competitors

After you identify all of your competitors, you need to validate your key competitors by examining how they’re ranking for the keywords you want to target. At this stage, you’ll perform keyword research to identify keywords that neither you nor your competitors are using which might create new opportunities for you.

Make Comparisons

It’s necessary for you to compare your website to your competition’s websites so that you can prioritize the keywords you want to use. You’ll need to examine factors such as keyword relevance, search volume and search results, among other factors, to do this effectively.

Choose Your Keywords

Once you’ve compared your website with your competitors’ websites, it’s finally time for you to choose the keywords you want to target. Start with the keywords you already rank well with in terms of popularity and content and choose keywords that will serve you well in the short- and long-term.

If you need help with performing a competitive analysis and/or choosing keywords for your website, we invite you to contact Northwest Media Collective. We have the demonstrated experience to help your business do exactly what you want it to do, which is take off. Contact us today.