Beat your Competition at the SEO Game

It is important to understand that the world of on-line search is a moving target. Let’s face-it, Google sets the rules and it’s up to the web site designers to get the most visibility based on the current set of rules. Fortunately, even though Google doesn’t explicitly share their algorithms, there are enough software tools available that one can get an idea of ways to improve ranking. Remember, that those that do best in ranking are willing to play a long game. Also, you don’t have to be the top spot in everything. Being strategic will give you advantages with less brute force and longer-lasting results.

TOOLS

Two of the simplest tools to use are from Google and are known as Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These can provide various basic metrics that allow you to compare the effectiveness of keywords on your own site versus that of competitors’ sites. These tools don’t give you “absolute” solutions, but they are a great starting point to see where you may need to focus your efforts to improve your searchability relative to competing brands.

If you want to then take the next step into a more focused analysis then you can check out SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz Pro. Each of these give more comprehensive analysis of your site compared to other web sites in certain key areas. Using these tools, you can develop more precise results for keyword ranking, backlink profiles, and domain authority (this is quickly replacing keywords in value).

STRATEGIES

Comparing two different websites in terms of SEO ranking can help you understand their relative performance and identify areas for improvement. Here are some simple strategies to get you started.

When comparing your web site against a competitors site aside from the general relationship between critical attributes (like keywords, and authority), it is important to be strategic about more specific “wins” against your competitor’s sites. Here are a few examples.

Backlink analysis. This is essentially a measure of how many other web sites link to your web site. The more of these so-called back-links you have, the more authoritative your web site appears.

On-page SEO. Within a single page there are structural elements that make it easier for search engines to find your content. This includes meta titles, descriptions for each object on the page (including pictures and other graphic elements), headers and optimum keyword density.

User Intent. This gets into the mind of the user in more detail, but each page will have information that is intended to provide certain types of information to the user. This is called user intent and how well you are able to capture the user intent with your content improves your authority and ranking.

Usability. This is simply about being able to keep the user on the site and navigate them through the process of extracting useful information. Good metrics for this are bouncebacks and time-on-site.

IMPLEMENTATION

A successful implementation doesn’t need to happen all at once. It is usually best to focus on one area, make some adjustments, re-index your site and then see if you got the desired effect. Let’s say you wanted to work on becoming a more authoritative voice. Look for good backlinks and see if you can find partners that would be willing to exchange or even just list your site as a reference from their site. Work on this aspect for several weeks, updating and re-indexing your site regularly and see if you get the desired effect. Then select another area for improvement and work on that and so on. If you are patient and have a thoughtful process, you should ultimately see more traffic to your site, longer engagement times and higher ranking in search results.