Every business savvy person knows that one of the keys to success is always knowing what your competitors are doing. But keeping an eye on them and your own operations can seem impossible, especially when your company starts to excel. The good news is that the internet has made this a piece of cake. The web offers a variety of tools that enables you or your SEO agency to keep watch of competition, so you can stay ahead.
Now, this doesn’t mean you’re going to commit any crimes of corporate espionage. Instead, you will use ways that are completely ethical and legal.
Find Out their List of Keywords
Since everything is online these days, it makes sense to start here. Just think, how do brands get found? By utilizing keywords in their content that get them to the first page of search engines. These are the very listings you’re competing for, which means you need to know what keywords they’re ranking for. This will help you to see how they are getting so much traffic.
You can sometimes find this out by reviewing their site’s metadata. This is done by going to the homepage and then reviewing the source code. If you’re using Chrome, you just go to view, click developer and select view source. You can then hit CTRL + F to search for “keywords,” and this will take you to the list of keywords.
Compare Site Speeds
Speed is everything in this fast-paced world we live in. This is why it’s so important to ensure your site is fast on any device visitors are using. You should check up on your competition to see if their sites perform slower or faster than your own. You can hire an SEO agency in Los Angeles to perform this task for you.
It’s not too difficult to do, if you have the time. You can use PageSpeed Insights to determine site load speeds and will even give you data about mobile presence. Keep in mind that mobile users dominate the web, so a high mobile presence means a lot.
Identify How Many Pages They Have Indexed
Sites with more pages indexed are more likely to perform better in the search engine page results. You can find out how many pages your competitors have indexed, which will allow you to determine how many you should aim for. To get here, you will need to consistently publish high-value content. You can do this with the help of local SEO companies.
How to find the number of indexed pages? Just type in “site:[competitor URL] into Google. Then look at how many results show up.
Determine their Presence On Twitter
Most large and small businesses have a profile on Twitter, which continues to be a valuable tool for reaching both customers and industry influencers. You can use tools like Topsy to track how many Twitter mentions your competitors have. Just type in the Twitter handle, domain name or keyword associated with the competitor. You can also do a search for your own mentions to see how you’re faring against your competition.
Succeed within your budget #internetmarketingagency#professionalseoservices #socialmediamarketingserviceshttps://t.co/deDJdTChd2 pic.twitter.com/sR0aC4GGwN
— I Think An Idea (@ithinkanidea) May 24, 2017
Check their Advertisements
It’s good to see what type of ads your competitors are posting. It gives you an idea of what products they’re promoting and at what prices. You can decide to compete with their rates or offer deals on better products. You can use Moat.com to find all of the ads your competition has posted.
Identify their Highest Performing Pages
This will be great for research purposes – determine which pages on their site are performing the best, so you can cross-examine your own pages to see what you’re doing wrong (or right). What type of content are they producing? How much engagement are those pages getting? You can do a free search on ahrefs.com to find out.
Just type in the URL in the search bar and then select Top Pages. You will then see how many referring domains they have, which is what determines a page’s strength. The more backlinks, the better.
These are just some of the unique ways you can spy on all of your competitors. You can also work with an SEO agency in Los Angeles who will continuously keep watch of your competition and continue to push your brand to the top.