Com­pe­ti­tion analysis: the best tools for checking out the com­pe­ti­tion

For com­pe­ti­tion analysis to be as suc­cess­ful as possible, you first have to identify your com­pe­ti­tion. When carrying out your ob­ser­va­tions and analyses, con­cen­trate on busi­ness­es in your sector who offer the same (or similar) products or services to you, or attract the same audience. If the list is long, limit it to the most in­flu­en­tial com­peti­tors and ignore companies that have limited or no online activity. When the ap­pro­pri­ate parties are de­ter­mined, the following areas should be included in the com­pre­hen­sive online com­peti­tor analysis:

Search engine op­ti­miza­tion (SEO)

Find out which methods your com­peti­tors use to gain their high ranking in the search engine results pages. Check how highly their pages rank for relevant keywords with a high search volume, compared to your own. What should also be of interest is analyzing in which subject areas your com­pe­ti­tion has the highest frequency of keywords and why. At this point, it’s also rec­om­mend­ed to analyze the content of the ranking subpages as well as the backlinks leading to them. Look at how other topics rank, even if they aren’t covered by your website, as these could be worth exploring at a later stage. Play around with the search results so that you can examine your com­pe­ti­tion’s rich snippets (such as reviews and product prices) more carefully. If the com­pe­ti­tion uses in­trigu­ing snippets, they will rank higher.

Search engine ad­ver­tis­ing (SEA)

Placing ad­ver­tise­ments on the search engine results page is an effective way to increase awareness of your brand. The intended target group can be reached directly, es­pe­cial­ly if you use Google AdWords. This is why it makes sense to look at your com­peti­tor’s SEA measures and get some ideas for your own campaign. Find out how long they’ve been doing search engine ad­ver­tis­ing and when they’ve invested the most. Companies sometimes increase their budget for specific events (e.g. for Christmas, summer, etc.), which could be worth con­sid­er­ing for your own project. You should also look at both the ad text and their booked keywords.

Content

Good content is at the center of every web project and a vital catalyst for success. It’s an important criterion for the search engine to be able to classify your site, and a magnet for new website visitors. This doesn’t happen overnight, but is the result of a long-term process. The risk of taking the wrong route can be minimized by carrying out a com­pre­hen­sive com­peti­tor analysis. Collect an overview of which kinds of content your com­pe­ti­tion uses besides text and image content. These include, for example:

• PDF guide­books

• Videos

• Check lists

• In­fo­graph­ics

• Podcasts

• In­ter­views

• Newslet­ters

You should also examine the content itself, determine if it’s created or com­mis­sioned, what the topics of the texts are, and how the reader is addressed. The way that different texts are connected to each other should also be noted. A good starting point is analyzing texts with good traffic or high-quality links.

Social media ac­tiv­i­ties

Marketing in various social networks is an integral part of online marketing. These channels often represent a direct line to the target audience and need to be well main­tained. From Facebook to Twitter, YouTube to Instagram; check which platforms are used by your com­pe­ti­tion and analyze their profiles. By doing this, you’ll get some ideas for your own social media marketing and learn in­ter­est­ing things about your com­peti­tors. Make sure to analyze the following points:

• The profile range

• How often new posts are published

• Content type (videos, images, links, etc.)

• Feedback (comments, likes, retweets, etc.)

• Topics

An extensive com­peti­tor check including col­lect­ing and analyzing the results is a long and tedious process, which can only be carried out with the help of various tools or services. Here is an overview of the best resources for un­der­tak­ing a complete com­peti­tor check:

SEOlytics – all SEO and SEA data at a glance

The online service SEOlytics equips you with every­thing you need for an extensive analysis of your com­pe­ti­tion’s SEO methods. The service provides all key figures in a clear way with helpful diagrams to il­lus­trate and compare data. Among other things, the online tool reveals the ranking of your keywords, the vis­i­bil­i­ty of your website, and lists existing backlinks; SEA campaigns can also be monitored. SEOlytics checks your com­pe­ti­tion’s projects and informs you about titles, snippets, and ad­ver­tis­ing with product in­for­ma­tion. In addition to a free, limited starter version, you can purchase various packages with extra services. Al­ter­na­tives: Sim­i­lar­Web, SISTRIX Toolbox, and XOVI.

vi­su­alp­ing – keep your content up to date

It’s worth­while keeping an eye on the content of other websites that have es­pe­cial­ly good traffic or many external links. The website vi­su­alp­ing, which is also available as a Google Chrome extension, does the work for you, informing you by e-mail if any changes are made to the target URL. You can check the whole site or just a part of it, and also control how often the checks take place. You are able to examine up to two landing pages per day for free. Al­ter­na­tives: Ver­sion­ista, Distill, and On­We­bChange.

talk­walk­er – the com­pre­hen­sive search index for social media 

Although social networks such as Facebook and Twitter already offer some ways of comparing your com­pe­ti­tion, it can be worth­while to use tools like talk­walk­er. The summary informs you when your com­peti­tors are mentioned in blogs, forums, and online news as well as on networks likes Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+. The service delivers real-time results on pa­ra­me­ters like shares, likes, and retweets as well as coverage and followers. Talk­walk­er au­to­mat­i­cal­ly creates a theme cloud that provides in­for­ma­tion on the topics and keywords covered by the different posts. Since the free version only provides limited results, a monthly packet (around $700) is rec­om­mend­ed for an extensive social media analysis. Due to the steep price, you should consider whether the free talk­walk­er feature combined with each platform’s analysis options are suf­fi­cient for your purposes. Al­ter­na­tives: brand­watch and mention.

Your online project has nothing to lose from having a well-struc­tured com­pe­ti­tion analysis. Knowing which strate­gies your com­pe­ti­tion is using in areas such as content, search engine marketing, and social media can help you develop ideas for your own project and know which mistakes to avoid. Make sure not to copy them, but use what you learn to in­cor­po­rate suc­cess­ful measures into your own marketing strategy.