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SEO Competitive Analysis Checklist - Newb Question

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Too Zesty
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What should i be looking for when performing keyword competition analysis, or if you care to share your own checklist of things you look for
thanks
#analysis #checklist #competitive #newb #question #seo
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  • Profile picture of the author fattykay
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    Competitive analysis can take a lot of direction but one thing I have noticed about competitive analysis that makes people fail is to think in terms of copying your competitors. So 90% of the time, when people do competitive analysis, they look for what keywords their competitors are ranking for and try to go for the same keyword.

    In my own opinion, to get an edge over the competition, you need to look at
    1. What keyword is driving traffic to my competitor's website?
    2. What keywords are they missing out?

    Once you have this massive list, you need to focus majorly on quick wins. So your quick wins will be the keywords that you can quickly outrank your competitors on and not those ones they already ranking very well on.
  • Profile picture of the author michaelkoehler92
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    Here whats I do for a basic research.
    after finding a keyword I head to google and see how many results appear for that keyword when typed in google with and without double quotes if the results are under 100k then its good.
    Next is to see how good is the profiles of the websites ranking on top 10 spots for that keyword.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
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      Originally Posted by michaelkoehler92 View Post

      Here whats I do for a basic research.
      after finding a keyword I head to google and see how many results appear for that keyword when typed in google with and without double quotes if the results are under 100k then its good.
      Next is to see how good is the profiles of the websites ranking on top 10 spots for that keyword.
      That is absolutely horrible advice. I don't know why people still keep parroting this nonsense in 2017.

      The number of results in Google's index has nothing to do with the level of competition. All that matters are the top 3. If you cannot beat #3, you probably will never get much traffic for that keyword.

      The term "giant elephants with cancer playing with purple balls" has over 2.8 million results.

      https://www.google.com/search?q=gian...hrome&ie=UTF-8

      Do you really think 2.8 million webpages are trying to rank for that term?


      To the OP, the top 3 is all you want to look at. I would analyze the backlink profile of those pages. That will tell you all you need to know about how difficult they are to beat.
      • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
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        Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

        That is absolutely horrible advice. I don't know why people still keep parroting this nonsense in 2017.

        The number of results in Google's index has nothing to do with the level of competition. All that matters are the top 3. If you cannot beat #3, you probably will never get much traffic for that keyword.

        The term "giant elephants with cancer playing with purple balls" has over 2.8 million results.

        https://www.google.com/search?q=gian...hrome&ie=UTF-8

        Do you really think 2.8 million webpages are trying to rank for that term?


        To the OP, the top 3 is all you want to look at. I would analyze the backlink profile of those pages. That will tell you all you need to know about how difficult they are to beat.
        I agree with almost everything here, although nothing Mike says is wrong.

        We actually analyze the top ten sites, trying to get as many backlinks as we can that they all have because there are often some in 4-10 that those top three do not have and getting as many as you can from the top 10 often gives you more than the top three.

        Still, the top three is a great place to start!

        And, like Mike said, who is on page two of the search results and beyond doesn't matter at all; they are not "competition"; they are "also-rans".
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  • Profile picture of the author bangthetable
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    *Fix your targeted keywords
    *Collect top 5 search results of those targeted keywords
    *Select your competitors from that top 5 results
    *Check their SEO score and backlink details of those websites
    *Use MOZ tool and SEM Rush tool to analyze your competitor websites
    *Use SEOSITECHECKUP tool and analyze what your competitors have done and what you haven't done in your website.
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  • Profile picture of the author thefsboking
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    Awesome advice Mike and Dave. Right now I am using a free tool to see backlinks. Do I need to always try and get the same links or will links from silimar sites with the same or greater DA work? What about PA?

    Years ago before Panda finding affordable links for local businesses was pretty easy. Any recommendations of the types of links to use such as guest posts and an affordable and trustworthy vendor? Everyone is an expert on Fiver or Upwork and since I have been away from SEO for so long I don't want to hurt someone's site with garbage links. Also are citations the best to start with for local to get in the 3 pack?
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
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      Originally Posted by thefsboking View Post

      Awesome advice Mike and Dave. Right now I am using a free tool to see backlinks. Do I need to always try and get the same links or will links from silimar sites with the same or greater DA work? What about PA?
      Moz by itself misses too many links. unfortunately it takes looking at all three major link data services - ahrefs, Majestic and Moz - to get a good picture of link competition but Majestic and ahrefs can be pricey if you are just doing research for one site.
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      • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
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        Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

        Moz by itself misses too many links. unfortunately it takes looking at all three major link data services - ahrefs, Majestic and Moz - to get a good picture of link competition but Majestic and ahrefs can be pricey if you are just doing research for one site.
        That's why we use our own Rank Master Pro tool. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
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    Although DA and/or PA may make a difference, I wouldn't rely on that so much for deciding what links to get. They are invented metrics that have nothing at all to do with what Google actually uses. The are best guesses pulled from a relatively small data set. More important is the relevance of the site to yours for a variety of reasons.

    The reason we go after what the top competitors have is because we can clearly see that those links are working. This has been our main link building strategy for a decade. If you can get others that are similar, go for it. With the latest version of Penguin, the worst that can happen is that they will be ignored. In a best case scenario, they enhance your link profile even more. Don't waste your time picking up the ones that are clearly spammy, though.
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