As you develop content and optimize it for particular keywords, you will want to look at the pages that already rank highly on the SERPs. The second type of competitive analysis will be more granular. With SEO it’s important to think of a competitor as any entity that ranks higher than you for your essential keywords, whether or not it is an organization you traditionally consider a competitor. You will look at data that might even help uncover competitors you did not know existed, such as an exclusively online seller that does not compete with you at all in the brick-and-mortar sector. It comprises uncovering your online competitor brands and looking at their keyword targets, rankings, and content strategies.

The first type of competitive intelligence is done on a large scale. There are two main types of competitive intelligence that you will want to use as you build your digital strategy. Types of Competitive Intelligence to Employ

You can use competitive analysis and competitor intelligence to find new aspects of a strong digital strategy that you might have otherwise overlooked. To really succeed online, you must be able to outsmart competitors and uncover new opportunities to improve rankings. You cannot just try your best to optimize your material without also taking into account what others do in their own online strategies. For you to rise in the rankings, someone else must move down. While many brands set out to employ some of the latest SEO strategies to capture this traffic, they neglect a key part of the puzzle. This explains why 81% of customers and 94% of B2B buyers will perform searches before making a purchase. They have taken control of the early stages of the purchase process, as they have become the ones who go looking for answers, rather than waiting for salespeople to come to them. For your brand to have a strong digital presence, ranking well on the SERPs is nonnegotiable.īrightEdge research has shown that as much as 51% of your traffic arrives through organic search. Without successful competitor intelligence, however, it will be a challenge to really succeed in the SERPs. Use Competitive Analysis to Rank Higher in Ĭompetitive analysis is often overlooked in digital marketing strategies, as search marketers instead focus on keywords and backlinks.

Keyword competition analysis