SEO Competitor Analysis
Full Guide for 2024
Muiz Thomas
Founder & Creator
22 min read
Published: 15th December 2023
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you need to ALWAYS keep a close eye on your competitors.
That’s the only way you can really understand where you are, where you should aim to be, and how to get there.
Luckily, there are tons of SEO tools that can help you monitor not only your site’s performance but also your competitors’.
In this article, you’ll learn how to do this, step by step.
What’s an SEO Competitor Analysis?
An SEO competitor analysis is like playing detective on your competitors.
You get to find out what keywords they’re using, what kind of content they’re creating, and who links to them.
Then, you can use the best parts of what they’re doing for your own website.
So, instead of making random guesses — you’re building on what’s already working.
Why Do You Need an SEO Competitor Analysis?
When Should You Do an SEO Competitor Analysis?
How to Run an SEO Competitor Analysis
Here are a few key steps you can use to create an effective SEO competitor analysis:
Step 1: Identify Your SEO Competitors
In SEO, you usually have two kinds of competitors:
Direct competitors: These are businesses that sell the same stuff as you.
Search competitors: Websites, blogs, etc., fighting for the same search spots, even if they don’t sell what you do.
For example, since we’re a creative SEO agency, we might want to show up for “technical SEO.”
If we look at who else is showing up for that term, we might see blogs, software companies, or even Wikipedia at times:
Your main concern should be your search competitors.
Even though they don’t sell the same products/services as you, they’re still a threat.
So, how do you find them?
First of, think about the main words people might use to find your business; then go to Google and search for them.
The sites that show up at the top (organic) results are your search competitors.
If you notice the same websites showing up for different keywords, they’re likely your MAIN competitors.
Keep track of them in a Google Sheet.
If you have lots of keywords, you can use Semrush’s Organic Research tool to speed things up.
Just plug in your URL — choose the country, and hit “Search.”
Scroll down to the end, and you’ll find a section called “Main Organic Competitors”
If you hit the “View all…” button, you get to see how many keywords you have in common with these websites, and how much traffic they’re getting.
Watch out for sites with lots of common keywords — they’re likely your top competitors (aim for about 5-6).
Just a heads-up: if you’re new, you might struggle to compete immediately. But that leads us to our next point.
Step 2: Check Your Competitors’ Authority Score
Every site has something called an “authority score”. This score shows how strong your website is compared to others.
To check this, head over to “Domain Overview” in Semrush, type your domain name in, hit “Search” and there you have it:
Now you need to check the authority score for each competitor on your list.
You can check each one individually, or use Semrush’s Bulk Backlink Analysis tool to compare several domains all at once.
Once you have all the “Authority Scores (AS)”, you can see how you stack up against your competitors.
If your score is lower, that’s okay. It just means you have some work to do.
Remember to note down each competitor’s authority score in your list.
Step 3: Find Any Keyword Gaps
Now that you’ve identified your main competitors, you need to find the keywords they’re using in their content that you aren’t.
This is called a “keyword gap”.
You can use Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool.
Just enter your website and your competitors’, then hit “Compare”.
In this example, we’ll be using a pet shop.
Next up, scroll down to the “All keyword details for”, and click the “Missing” filter.
Note: Not all keywords will be relevant to you, so pick out the ones that are.
Mark the relevant ones, add them to your keyword list, and when you’re happy, hit the “Export” button.
There’s also an “Untapped” tab in the Keyword Gap tool.
This shows you keywords that at least one of your competitors is using, but others aren’t. You might find some hidden gems there, but your primary focus should be on the “Missing” tab.
Find Keywords Your Competitors Have Lost
When a competitor loses a keyword, it means they’re no longer showing up at the top for that keyword.
Now, why would a website lose a keyword?
- Maybe they made changes to their website
- Maybe Google updated its rules
Whatever reason, this could be a chance for you to step in.
Again, use Semrush’s Organic Research tool.
Plug in any competitor’s URL and hit “Search.”
On the next page, go to “All Position Changes”, select “Pos: Top 20”. Then, choose “Lost” from the drop-down menu and click “Apply”.
You should see a table like this when you scroll down:
You could create new pages with these keywords. Or update existing pages to include them. Either way, you want to show up where your competitors used to be.
Find New Keywords
The same way you keep an eye on your competitors’ lost keywords, you also need to look out for new keywords they’ve started to rank for.
This can give you ideas for your own content.
Again, use Semrush’s Organic Research tool — plug in any competitor’s URL and Search.
Then, go to the “All Position Changes” tab, select “Pos: Top 20”, and choose “New” from the drop-down menu.
Click “Apply” and you’ll see a list of new keywords your competitor is using.
Now, you need to figure out what kind of pages to create for these keywords.
Ask yourself why someone would search for that keyword (search intent).
If the intent is “I” (informational), go for a blog post or create an e-book. If it’s “C” (commercial) or “T” (transactional), a product page might be better.
Step 4: Analyse Your Competitors’ SEO Content
Keywords are key, but they’re just part of the story. You also need to look into your competitors’ content.
Head over to the Organic Research tool again, paste in your competitor’s URL and click on “Pages.”
You’ll see a list with some info like how much traffic they’re getting:
Look at each page in detail:
Ask yourself:
- Are they using images or videos?
- Is the page a product showcase, a blog post, or something else?
- Was it written by an expert?
- Is the spelling on point and the grammar flawless?
- Does the content help the readers?
If you’re nodding yes to all of these, then you’ll need to fight fire with fire.
Think outside of the box and try to create better content.
If you still want to take things a step further, look into your meta tags:
Meta titles and descriptions
Meta titles and descriptions are like the name and summary of your page.
Even though they don’t directly affect your ranking, they can make more people click on your page. So, it’s worth looking at how your competitors use them.
Here’s what to look for:
- How well do they describe the page?
- Do they use keywords in their titles and descriptions?
- Where do they place the keywords? The closer to the start, the better.
- Do they make you want to click and read more?
If you have lots of competitors, a tool like Screaming Frog can speed things up. You can even find ones that are missing or duplicated.
Step 5: Backlink Analysis
High-quality backlinks are like votes of confidence.
If your competitors have more, you’ll struggle to outrank them.
That is, until you can build a similar set of backlinks.
You might already know this, especially if you’ve read up on my SEO link building guide. So, I won’t go into much detail.
Luckily, you don’t have to find your competitors’ backlinks yourself. You can use Semrush’s “Backlink Analytics” tool.
Just plug in your website’s URL and click “Analyze”.
Then, add your competitors’ websites and click “Compare”.
You’ll see a table that shows how many websites link to your site and your competitors’ sites. This gives you an idea of how popular your competitors are.
Note: Some backlinks might come from spammy or irrelevant sites. So, you need to check the quality.
Click on the number under “Referring Domains” or “Backlinks”. Then, look at the “Backlinks” section.
Make sure you’re seeing the pages with the highest authority score (AS) first.
From here, you can use filters to see only the data you’re interested in.
In my case, I’ve set the filter to “Follow” cos I only want to see links that pass ranking credit to my competitors.
That’s not to say “Nofollow” links aren’t good.
For example, you might link to a competitor because it’s helpful to the reader. But you wouldn’t want to imply any type of endorsement.
Anyways, as you scroll down, you need to see which of your competitor’s pages are getting these “Follow” links.
Then, you have two tasks:
If you don’t have pages on these topics, create them. But make sure they’re relevant to your business.
If you do have pages on these topics, compare them to your competitor’s (and make them better if possible).
Next up, you need to reach out to other sites and try to get them to link to you.
If a website links to your competitors, they might also link to you, especially if your content is better.
To start, open the Semrush’s Backlink Gap tool.
Type in your website and your competitors’ websites. And click “Find prospects”
Choose the “Best” filter. This shows you websites that link to your competitors but not you. Like i said earlier, you want sites with high “Authority Scores (AS)”.
Now, you have a list of websites you can reach out to for backlinks.
Step 6: Technical SEO Analysis
Besides content, you also want to examine key tech SEO elements like:
1) Website Performance and User Experience(UX)
Both search engines and people like fast and easy-to-use websites.
Google measures this with something called Core Web Vitals.
You can use tools like PageSpeed Insights to see how your site compares to your competitors’ on both mobile and desktop:
2) URL structure
How your website’s URLs are set up can help people find what they need.
Look at the URLs of websites that rank higher than yours in search results.
- Do they use keywords?
- If yes, how do they do it?
- Are their URLs short and simple?
- Do the URLs tell you what the page is about?
If you find something you like, try doing the same on your website.
3) Mobile Responsiveness
Your site needs to work well on mobile devices. If it doesn’t, you might lose visitors to other mobile-friendly sites.
Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test for a quick check.
4) Internal Linking
You need to make sure all the pages on your site are linked together.
It helps Google understand your site and makes it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for.
5) SSL Certifications
Google prefers sites that are secure and will show a ‘Not Secure’ warning for sites that aren’t. So, make sure yours is HTTPS-protected.
SEO Competitor Analysis Tools
Add these SEO competitor analysis tools to your marketing stack for better competitive intelligence:
SEMrush not only offers good data for keyword research, backlink analysis, competitor research, and so on — but it’s also pretty intuitive.
2. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO toolset that offers insights into your competitors’ content, backlinks, keywords, ads, and so much more.
Moz, while not as adept as Ahrefs and Semrush at organic keyword research, offers unique features for competitor analysis.
4. SpyFu
SpyFu is one of the best SEO competitor analysis tools out there that shows you all the keywords your competitors use in their organic search and Google Ads.
It even suggests more similar keywords. You just need enter your competitors’ keywords to see their overall strategy.
5. SE Ranking
SE Ranking allows you to track competitors’ search rankings across various search engines and regions for up to five projects per website.
How Often Should You Perform An SEO Competitor Analysis?
Final Thoughts
When it comes to competitor analysis for SEO, what I’ve talked about is just the start. There’s plenty more you can do, but this should help you get going.
Little tip: Try out the steps I’ve mentioned and use what you learn to boost your SEO game. After all, it’s all about putting ideas into action.
Any questions or thoughts? Don’t hesitate to get in touch!
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About the Author
Muiz Thomas
Professionally, I’ve got over 6 years of SEO, copywriting, and design experience. My job in a nutshell? Make your customers sit up, pay attention, and click (in that order).
