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Learn SEO: Competitor Analysis
By Kimberly Bock | February 19, 2008
Sometimes, (if not most or all of the time) the keyword/keyword phrases that you are targeting in your campaign will be up against raging competition. Your competitors are those trying to target the same keywords/phrases in their campaigns.
We’re all splurging on a smack down to hit the front page of the SERP’s (search engine results pages).
Once you’ve located your competitors, you may find there are far more than just a few. There could literally be thousands of competitors trying to rank against you in a race that may bring even fewer than 100 search queries per day.
Huge odds my friend.
Example: (for stihs and giggles only)
Phrase:
Blueberry Bunny Boogaloo
Search queries:
100
Competitors:
1,000
Spots on first SERP’s
10
*lil ol you*
What is the value of the phrase you wish to target?
Know when to hold em‘..
Know when to fold em’..
Identify whether or not the keywords/phrases are too competitive or if there’s ample reason to believe they hold opportunity if they are implemented in your campaign.
How powerful have your competitors become in their strategies, other than simple choice of keywords/phrases?
How well are THEY optimized?
Consider these while pondering that question:
On-Page Factors
- Are your competitors sites search engine compatible? (read more of SE compatibility here)
- Do they use”Black Hat” techniques? - white-on-white text, etc (on-page/off-page-examples here)
Off-Page Factors
- Incoming links (and keyword relevance within the anchor text of those links)
- Competitor’s PPC campaigns
These are but a few things to think about while choosing your terms. Yet, they should keep you quite busy..
Until next time, don’t be a stick-in-the-mud…
Learn SEO and have fun with it for heaven sakes!
**Update: Today I discovered a great follow-up to this article and thought you may want to check it out Thanks Gonzo SEO!**
Please submit socially but please don’t give them my ranking..thank you! 
Suggested alt title: Know Your Competitors
Easy blurb to help ya out: When competing for keywords/phrases, know when to hold em’ and when to fold em’.
Topics: SEO/SEM Training |
February 1st, 2008 at 7:22 am
I like a little jingle with my read but… Nice choice of song for the topic.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:23 am
I wish everyone would just come out and say how to share their post.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:11 am
Where the heck did you get “Link baiting With a Country Song May Hurt”?
So bizarre..
February 4th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I quite liked your article. It is simple but in short it describes what you just have to do!
February 4th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
[...] Brock from Learning SEO Basics wrote up a great beginners guide to competitive analysis. I’d like to take a closer look at some of the great points she made in her [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
[...] Kimberly Bock. Kimberly’s blog, Learning SEO Basics, has to be one of the (if not the) best SEO blog out there for newbies. She is one of the few people who actually take time to go over how to become a great SEO. Even if you consider yourself “experienced” you’ll find that you benefit from her great writing style, tips and tricks. My favorite post on her blog: Competitor Analysis. [...]
July 15th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
[...] help you to establish just how steep a hill you’ll have to climb, it will also allow you to know what your competitors are doing to rank so highly and give you the opportunity to out-do [...]