Is there a missing link in your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy? Probably. Most people do, since SEO encompasses a lot of elements. Best practices are always evolving, but one aspect is for keeps: competitive analysis. It’s kind of like mystery solving. You need to take a look at your competitors, not to copy them exactly, but to figure out what they’re doing, how, and why, then customizing those tactics for your own SEO. It’s a shortcut to seeing what your audience wants, how they’re searching, and it ultimately saves you money and time.
In this case, “you” probably means your SEO agency. A good SEO team will conduct a competitive analysis with a big focus on links. To kick things off, an SEO agency will start collecting data. A link search can be done with a number of tools, such as SEMRUsh and Open Site. The mission is to gather as much backlink data as possible from your competitors. People sort and organize data in myriad ways, but via domain authority or URL is common. This makes it easy to scan the data in order of importance. Now the analysis starts.
The Real Way to Get Linked In
Link types aren’t the URL when it comes to analysis. Instead, it’s the type of site that’s driving the link, such as blog, media outlet, comments, etc. This gives you the big picture, and clues you in on your competition’s brand perception. Where are they spending their money and time? You can find out with link analysis. By looking closely at link types, you can even figure out why the competition with a tiny backlink profile might be performing exceptionally well (pro tip: It’s all about link quality).
This data can also tell you what you need to do to be more competitive. What are bloggers saying about your competition? What kind of press are they getting and how? Is the competition sponsoring a lot of events, and if so what kind? Should you be doing something similar? You might need to find editorial opportunities, which provides great value to competitive link analysis. Once you know what kind of publications are sending links to the competition, you can create your own list of key publications, writers, and editors. Don’t assume you know where the best editorial opportunities are — you might be surprised, and your competition can give you leads.
Evaluation Time
Now that you know you need to figure out the types of links your competitors are snagging and the possibility of link opportunities, let’s look closer at the actual content. By knowing what your competition’s biggest linked content is, you know what content your target demographic likes. It can help drive your content strategy and give you inspiration for your next blog, article, white paper, and the like. Content strategies aren’t easy, so let your competition give you ideas.
Your SEO agency should maximize the data you already have, make use of your competition’s data, and aim to give you the best advantage possible. Competitive link data is your ringer in the SEO game. Having an SEO agency that uses it, optimizes it and keeps you competitive is critical. Contact Be Locally SEO today to get started on competitive link data and ensure you have the best SEO experts on your side.