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Advanced Competitive Research
In this lesson you will learn: How to research, analyze, and classify your competitors in terms of SEO strategy, and their business’ USP.
1) First we’ll look at how to determine your competitors via keywords and SERPS
2) Second, you’ll learn how to research, assess and reverse engineer your competitors SEO
3) Third, you’ll learn how to analyze the offering, content, and understand the USP
4) and finally, you’ll learn how to classify and label your competitors for future reference and potential coordination.
The intent of Competitive Research is to identify competition, the SEO and page authority for the leading web-pages, analysis of their business offering and content quality, and then focusing on-how, as a business, we’d position ourselves in front of our market so that we’d outrank them, establish a unique selling proposition and cater to a certain market segment, rather than looking like a generic“me-too” site which are so abundant online...
Whereas market research is much broader strokes, competitive research is where we really zoom the lens in on our key competitors, and gather much more specific data.
This week we are going to be narrowing down our market research a little further, by defining, classifying and analyzing some of our competitors with a bit more thorough research methods.
-Research is where we are collecting and charting SEO data to reverse engineer strategy and level of difficulty to compete for.
Research, = SERP pagerank + backlinks, home page rank + backlinks, keywords in title/url/on page + pages on site = authority of listing and indication of how stiff the competition is for top 3. (Do this for top 3.)
-Analyze is where we are assessing other factors to deeper understand their business, model, the content quality, and other “less statistical” data.
Analyze, = What is their offer, do they get social media, does it meet the needs of what someone searching with those words is looking for? in what ways could you do better/improve upon? (Do this for top 3.)
-Classify is where we are labeling and categorizing the type of competitor for future reference and potential collaboration.
Classify = direct competitor, partial competitor, potential partner. (Do this for top 3.)
Competitors in terms of search results, are the people who rank. we only have to check out the links for everyone on page 1 and 2… and no further.
Really though, the top 3 are who we’re most concerned with, so in this exercise that’s where we are going to focus.
So how do we determine who those competitors are?
In short, Keyword phrases, and Search Engine Results Pages. (aka SERPS)
You see, if we can identify the top keyword phrases that people who are looking for your product and services type into the search engines, then we can identify which keywords to target, as well as who is already ranking, or showing up on top. Thus, our search engine competitors.
This week, you are going to identify two keyword phrases, ideally relevant ones you’d like to “rank for,” and then learn how to analyze the top three competitors for each keyword phrase.
What it really takes to earn the spot in the SERPs we want-is something you will learn more extensively when we cover SEO, the keyword research lesson, and will be something you no doubt understand by the time you graduate; but at THIS time we are only concerned with the 4 points we are focusing on as we outlined in the beginning of the lesson. Just stick with the plan, and you won’t be confused or get overwhelmed with complexity.
Just store in your memory that to compete online for competitive keywords you need to have 3 main things, Solid On page Optimization, Links, and Pagerank.
Briefly, what does it take to win in the SERPS?
More links, more traffic, more authority...
It usually takes more anchor text to win
Larger sites tend to win
Possibly more authority/pagerank
In many sites the #1 listing has an overwhelming edge (for now)
If you see sitelinks then it is going to be a dogfight - approach with stealth
Remember, there are right ways, and wrong ways to do this stuff, but just DO the research FIRST, and trust that there is a PLAN.
Advanced Competitive Research Online
Again, to do competitive research, there are two things you need to know how to do well:
A) First, determine what (keywords/ranking position) you are competing for? Thus, who are your competitors...?
and
B) Second, how to research, analyze, and classify your competitors.
Within Part B, their are two sides to understanding our competitors:
1. The SEO research and analysis
2. The Businesses USP and Content Analysis
Knowing these two things, we can THEN understand how to classify them as competitors.
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{-----> First, to make sure we are on the same page, do you understand both terms- SERPS, and Keywords? If not, explain.}
Now, let’s talk about Pagerank, and the importance of links.
---Explain how Pagerank works, and the importance of having lots of links pointing to your site and individual pages. Understand that each PAGE is ranked.. PAGES are ranked... The web is all just pages and links.
----Explain authority and rankings.
----Explain the concept of a Link Profile. The biggest factor for ranking is links, also known as backlinks.
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1) So, how do we determine keywords we are trying to rank for? Well there is a full lesson dedicated to keyword research because it is so ultra-critical to SEO results, but since we are really just introducing you to keyword research, we should be able to identify two prime keywords with a few simple questions... REMEMBER. We are focusing on COMPETITIVE RESEARCH to analyze the competing businesses, using the SERPS; we are NOT focusing on in-depth SEO or KEYWORD Research.
The keywords are not of importance here, rather, the process for analysis of the top three resulting businesses and web pages. HOWEVER, it only makes practical sense to choose niche-relevant keywords that you may potentially compete for.
So here is the first exercise.
Take out a sheet of paper, or open up a blank document on your computer, and write down 10 keywords and phrases that would be used to describe or look for your products and services.
Now, read them to me.
{From there, we will determine what are the primary two phrases.}
Now, put a little check mark, or draw a circle around the two you’ve selected, and save that for later.
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2) Here is What You Will Be Researching:
Instructions: Chart the following data using the SEO quake toolbar, and opensiteexplorer.org
SEO Analysis: Links, Pages, Pagerank, Keywords in title and in body text
The 3 main factors to determine how difficult it will be to rank are - Links, Pagerank, and Indexed Pages.
Keyword: Exact match search volume
Pagerank - SEOquake toolbar
#pages in site (yahoo)
#of internal links to page (yahoo)
#of external links to page (yahoo)
#of external links to site (yahoo)
#of domains linking (majestic SEO)
*All of this can be done with the browser extension you installed, (for pagerank) and a site called open site explorer. opensiteexplorer.org
*To Determine Exact match search volume (type in adwords keyword tool external in google, then click on link to the tool. Type in keyword and check the box in the top left that says “exact match”)
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3) Here is what you will be Analyzing:
What is the page type: sales/landing/blog/home page
Content Quality: poor/fair/good/great
Additional Questions: Is there online presence comprehensive?
Social media (Do they get it? Check to see if they are utilizing social media, and if they are doing it well, follow/like them. Do they have social buttons on their site? are they on facebook, twitter, youtube, google+?)
What stands out good/or bad?
What is the USP of your competitors, can you identify any key strategies for why they are successful in achieving top rankings?
4) Let’s go over the classification categories...
Classification: Direct competitor, Partial Competitor, Potential Partner
One of our key objectives in doing our competitor research is to determine our Competition vs. coopetition.
To determine who is and who is not competing we can break down the competition with 3 classifications...
Direct Competitors - same market, same SERPs, same/competing offer
Partial Competitors - same market, some SERPs, some competing offers
Potential Partners - same market, some SERPs, different offers
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Getting Competitors Links:
Run backlink tool and sort by pagerank
Go through each link one by one (find out where link is on the page, anchor text?)
-this will show you their strategy
Try and get as many links as you can
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The biggest thing about learning how to do market research and competitive research, once you understand how specific algorythyms work, how each data set is researched, and what they mean, IS THE INTUITIVE INSIGHT you’ll begin to develop over time and continued practice.
Trends and patterns start to emerge and you will develop instinct.
Once you know the tools, and what to look for, if you continue to engrain these thought processes through continuously looking out for and analyzing certain things, you’ll instantly be able to notice what areas of a site you need to research, and be able to “take the temperature” of any site and online business VERY VERY quickly.
THIS is what we are shooting for. This is how online professionals know so much. THEY SEE AND DIGEST SOOOO MUCH. ALL THE TIME.
It’s kind of like a full time poker player who plays online all day. They play several games silmultaneuously and see thousands of hands a day... The connections from seeing so many scenarios, gives a tremendous insight and deeper level of understanding for patterns and their intuitive development.
I’m by no means saying you need to be spending all day doing research and analyzing websites, but when you have a question, or you go to ANY website, it will only behoove you to LOOK AND BE AWARE of what you see. Ask questions, explore, and practice this... You’ll gain tremendous insight, and a certain advantage over your competition.
Mission Notes:
So what we did first is created a list of the top 10 words/phrases/questions that people would use to search for your upcoming/existing product or service.
Then we narrowed that down to 2.
Next, you will be doing competitive research for the top 3 results in the SERPs = 6 websites/pages/link profiles.
Create an excel spreadsheet, document with columns, or just answer the questions for each of the 6 competitors you will be researching, analyzing, and classifying.
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In Conclusion:
What you should end up with by the end of this week...
20-30+ identified players in your market. You now have a perspective on your marketplace.
A list of competitors and competitive analysis, you now know how to research and you know the process of what it will take to get the rankings for any SERP/keyword you want to target.
A list of potential partners that you’ll contact later as Potential JV/promo partners.
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Tools:
Yahoo backlink search is free (SearchStatus) or SEO quake
Open site explorer.org
Software tools
-backlink research www.advancedlinkmanager.com/download.html
-rank tracker www.advancedwebranking.com
P.S.
If you need some help with direction, focusing, or have some questions, you’ve still got your phone call, and i’m here to help support you.
We can have a loose conversation about it. The trick is to learn from someone who knows what they are talking about and wants to help.
I am giving away the farm here, and I don’t need the business... So if you got questions, or need a little more guidance, we can chat directly, I'm here to help. 734.417.0227
Be Your Best,
Jamie
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