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The SEO world is complex and ever evolving! The constant updates to search engine algorithms and ranking factors makes it very competitive.
Your competitors, or so called enemies can beat you and rank higher overnight, grabbing precious traffic away from you.
So, whether you are new to the SEO game or have been a veteran for some time now, how can you continue to optimizing website for search engines, boost your SEO and stay at the top?
Surprisingly, one of the answers to that question is “Befriend Your Enemies/Competitors”.
Yes, you heard it right! In the SEO world, your competitor is better as a friend to you rather than an enemy.
It may sound crazy, but many have embraced this approach and found tremendous success in understanding what is SEO and how it works.
Well, it certainly doesn’t mean contacting your competitor directly and collaborating with them to make a success of your business, though, this could also be done.
The transparency in the online world has allowed businesses to befriend their competitor without actually getting in touch with them.
Though working with your competitor may seem counter-intuitive here are some ways you can do so and know how to improve SEO ranking on Google.
Insight Into Your Competitor Content
They say, content is KING in SEO. Users are always searching for new and fresh content on the subject of their interest.
However, for businesses, generating new content regularly is not always easy, especially if they have been doing it for years.
If you have reached a content road block, then a wonderful resource to tap into is your competitor.
They are a treasure box of content ideas that you can help yourself with and increase SEO ranking for free.
Of course, it doesn’t mean that you just start copying what they are doing from the word go.
Your competitor can serve as a guide to you or as an inspiration on how you can lead a successful content strategy.
Make note of the content that is successful among your competitors’ audience i.e. most shared and liked by them.
Buzz Sumo is one SEO competitor analysis tool that can help you gain these SEO insights.
These are the topics to target, and see how you can better them or add a new perspective to it.
Additionally, make note of what type of content really appeals to their audience.
- Are they using infographics or videos?
- Do they release surveys on their blogs?
- What is their frequency of releasing articles?
These questions and many more can help you chart down a wise content strategy for your business.
Keywords Precedes Content in SEO
Since we are talking about content in SEO, keywords cannot be left behind. Did you know you can study your competitor as part of your SEO keyword research exercise?
You can use free online competitor analysis tools such as:
- KeywordSpy
- Keyword Tool
To analyse how to use keywords for SEO targeted by your competitor on their website and blog.
For this, you simply have to enter the URL of your competitor on their site and you can gain access to tons of precious keyword insights.
These insights could include simple keywords and long tail keywords along with their value in search engine rankings.
These newly found keyword insights can be used to create powerful content that could even thwart your competition.
Once you gain these insights make online content available to your customers as soon as possible to get the best out of the value of these keywords.
Replicate Social Trends
Social Media Marketing (SMM) is another powerful source that you can tap into for your business, and your competition can help you with this too.
The basic building block of SMM is the right social media platform and an audience.
Study your competitors’ social media presence and try using the social media sites that they are already on.
Your business may already have an online presence on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as a good audience that may comprise of customers, vendors, partners and followers.
However, your competitors’ audience may be better than yours. So, go through their followers on Twitter and Facebook to befriend key individuals to increase the quality of your audience, and they would likely follow you too.
Additionally, see who likes or follows your competition and these could be potential audience too.
Social media sites are good sources to check content engagement too. Make note of the type of content (infographics or videos) that gets the most engagement and the competition’s content release frequency.
Mirroring the Linking
Links are probably the most valuable assets in SEO. The deciding factor between two at par businesses in a niche is always the quality of their link profile.
However, getting good quality and high authority link juice is not always easy, but your competition can help you with this. Yes, that’s right! There is nothing hidden in the online world.
You can use online tools such as:
- Moz’s Open Site Explorer
That can help you research the link profile of your competition. Using these tools you can see where they are getting their high quality backlinks from and how did they get them.
These links could be from high authority local blogs or businesses in your niche, which could be potential link sources for your business.
If possible and ethical, you can reach out to them and acquire these links for yourself, or you can use them as a template to create your own link building strategy.
If your competitor is using guest blogging as their main source of high quality links in SEO, then you can follow this path if it suits your business or niche.
Related – Blog Commenting And Link Building – All You Need To Know
On-Site Optimization and Design
When monitoring your competition, a good place to start or at least monitor is their website or blog.
First, find competitors website followed by keeping track of on-page optimization done on your competitor’s website by using analysis tools such as Traffic Travis.
Use this tool to know their:
- URL structure
- Title tag
- Navigation structure
- Site speed and other SEO changes
Search for potential areas where you can better them and use it to your advantage.
Study the design they have used on their site, since it could be the reason for them garnering so much traffic.
Navigate through it to see what makes it unique or different (professionalism, experience, text), and how you can replicate or get inspired by it for your website.
For this, you can even use online website design analysis tools such as Website Grader.
The Point to Take Home
Your competitor can become your friend and help you to learn how to improve Google rank.
Do not be afraid to embrace them. In the end it is all about boosting your SEO and your competitors are willing to help you.
Follow the above mentioned best SEO practices and strategies to extend your hand to grab hold of the available help!
We hope you found this article useful and informative as always. Do leave your valuable comments below and don’t forget to share this article with your friends.
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