5 of the best SEO tips and tools to outrank your competitors
Thanks to Google, people these days (e.g. your customers) are dependent on search engines when it comes to finding data and answering their queries. So you understand why ranking well (and outranking rival websites) is so important. Becoming a part of the top web pages on Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) of Google is achievable even if you do not have a background in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
If your competitors’ web pages are claiming the top spot on Google right now, do not worry. You can still take it away from them, no matter how long they’ve been in that place. Here are several tips on how you can catch up and dethrone your competitors on the SERPs.
Identify Your Competitors
You should always be one step ahead of your competitors. You may start by identifying your competitors by listing a minimum of three of your competitors. Research on who tops the rankings using particular keywords associated with your industry. You should not rely only on Google; you may also try Yahoo! and Bing.
Also, knowing the authority of your competitors’ websites might help you through different tools such as Moz’s Open Site Explorer. That consists of the domain’s age and root linking domains. Another tool you may use if the SEM Rush competitive analysis feature. You will enter a keyword, and it will return you information revolving around that keyword such as rankings, companies using paid advertising, etc. I’m also a fan of Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest.
Follow Their Effective Campaigns and Innovate
Amazon Echo A.K.A Alexa’s viral video Alexa Loses Her Voice
Stalking the website of your competitors is very handy. You should spy on your competitor to observe and take note of their site’s details. That can help you in knowing what to do to have an edge against them. Around the internet, you will see many tools and equipment such as media monitoring, keyword research, web rankings, etc., which can help you in monitoring your competitors.
Another way to follow your competitors is by subscribing to their promotional offers. You can create a fake account, so you can avail their updates and be a part of their mailing list for sending newsletters. You can learn their communication styles with this. Also, you can compare their offers to yours, and it can help how you can improve yours. Creating fake accounts can also help you know about their user flow and look at how instinctive is their system.
Lastly, you can contact their customer support to study how they treat visitors and consumers.
Produce Quality Asset Contents
Aside from targeting various socio-demographic characteristics or showcasing new products and services, you should consider the idea of creating high-quality content, and it should be better than your competitor’s. For example, your competitor is fond of producing text content or short-form articles which may bore their audience. You can capitalize on this opportunity by using different channels such as producing videos or making infographics. It is essential to include this in your strategy for creating contents for your website.
Do your competitors do not use original content? You can know your audience by researching them. You should know what kind of material your audience wants so you can target them entirely. The results of the results should reflect in your content strategy to make it objective enough for your consumers. After that, expect results such as building more inbound links, accomplish higher domain ranking, and becoming more visible online. These all can help you rank above your competitors.
Social Media Opportunities
How the PR Team of drand handles their campaigns for engagement to customers
Social media is a powerful tool when accompanied by a well-planned strategy. It can give you popularity and visibility when executed right. You should also know what social media platforms you think your business will reach more of your target audience. Finding the right platform for your business will also help you see where you will dedicate your time and efforts.
Picking the right channel for your business in communicating with your audiences is mostly done through trial and error. You can save your time if you gather this information from your competitors and observe their current social media accounts. You can get some insights that they may not have piqued their attention. Here are some social media marketing strategies you can read:
An example of social content monitoring tool is cognitive SEO. It also has a wide range of in-depth data analysis features. This tool itself can identify strategies for your content marketing that will work in your niche. It can also show your content’s performance through the use of social sharing. Lastly, it can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your website through a side-by-side comparison.
Continuously Monitor and See Opportunities
Though the suggestions we have just presented are useful, you cannot maximize it to its full potential without continuously monitoring it. You should regularly track your strategies’ progress and compare them to how your competition is doing. You need to always on the watch for new developments in their brand. You can never tell when they start a campaign that will put themselves on top of everyone else because you will want that rank for yourself.
Let’s say you do have the number one spot for now. You cannot afford to be complacent with your rank for again; you never know when they’re going to outrank you. However, there isn’t a foolproof strategy on how to analyze your competitors’ behavior. For guidance, here is a list of the necessary things you should track whenever you do your regular monitoring:
- Changes in their site structure
- Updates of their social profile evolution
- Releases of new or updated products and offers
- Posting of new links
- Changes in their ranking in the industry
- Updates in their Alexa growth
If you want to remain competitive and eventually be on top of your game, you should smartly and creatively strategize on how you can improve your plans. A lot of these can be inspired by the trends and behavior of your competition. Furthermore, you should track the progress of your race so you may project on what you need to develop to outrank them. It may seem like it will take a lot of effort but with the help of online tools specialized for SEO analysis, it will be made much more manageable.
Success will not come at the snap of a finger. It takes a lot of hard work, perseverance, sacrifice and most importantly, passion for what you want to do.