Hello dear friends!
In this post, I decided to write about how to recognize competitors. The article will contain a selection of interesting services with which you can identify and select some of them to promote your project.
A few months ago I wrote, for an article. But if your topic has an already promoted competitor, then you can easily see some requests from him. For example, I prefer to watch interesting ideas for writing posts or the main keyword, and already under it I select various tails and additional requests. So let's get started.
1.
Seobuilding.com
With the help of this service, you can make a complete analysis of the keywords of competitors and not only. The service shows the number of main competitors, the approximate cost of the site, puzomerki, IP address and much, much more. At the very bottom, there is a list of all requests for the resource that it is moving along. Keywords can be exported to Excel:
2.
Xtool.ru.
I really like this service. With it, you can find out how much the resource is spammed with links, and see the approximate promotion of the site in search engines. Below, the service shows very valuable information: competitor's search queries, site positions for these queries, wordstat frequency, and even the price of one impression in Yandex Direct.
All you need is to enter the site in the line and click on the "check" button. At the very bottom left there is a button "Export (Execel)", which allows you to export all requests.
3.
Megaindex.ru.
This service is very useful for any webmaster, it allows you to find out a lot of information about the site. In the section "seo-services" - "site visibility", there is an opportunity to find out keywords competitor. Moreover, site positions for these queries, keyword statistics for wordstat and cost in Yandex Direct are also shown.
4.
Pr-cy.ru.
The service shows a good visibility of the resource in the search engines Yandex and Google. In addition, you can see the position of the site on request, impressions per month and the approximate cost of promotion. As I see it, it is impossible to export queries, but you can simply copy them and paste them into Excel.
5.
Cypr.com
Here, before you can see the keywords of competitors, you need to register, because for ordinary users the service shows only a few requests. After registration, all queries can be exported to Excel.
6. Attendance statistics.
Sometimes it happens that a competitor has open traffic statistics and you can even see search queries. This does not happen often, of course, but if you try, you can find it. First you need, which I wrote about in detail yesterday, and see what statistics are connected to the site. Then click to go:
For example, in the most popular queries, you need to search in the “by search phrases”, “positions in Yandex” and “positions in Google” sections. If they are not hidden, then you are very lucky:
7. Title tag.
If a competitor promotes a resource by search queries, then at least one of them will be written in the title tag. In order to view all the titles of a competitor's site, you need to enter the following construction into Yandex:
Or Google this address:
Instead of a website, do not forget to enter the address of a competitor. Now it remains to go over the headings and determine the keywords. I think it will be easy for you, as a SEO specialist, to do this: smile :. With this method, I like to look for ideas for articles more. After all, you can even go to the page, see the number of comments, and find out how relevant the article is and what visitors need.
Similarly, keywords can be written in the H1 tag and keywords. Some optimizers highlight queries in text with bold, italics, or underlining.
Best paid way to analyze competitor keywords.
Service Spywords.ru
5 queries on this site can be learned for free, but if you want more, you need to pay. This service differs from all others in that it shows several times more requests than all free services. Also, right on the server, you can see how the site will look in Yandex and Google search engines for queries.
The service also has a very interesting tool, even shareware, called "domain battle". With it, you can compare 3 and even find common queries. I advise you to register on this service, a very useful thing.
That's all for today! Now you know how to find your competitors keywords. Good luck, friends ;-).
Ksenia Samotkan
Smart people learn from other people's mistakes and ... achievements. Also, companies that want to achieve great success can learn from the experience of their competitors. Observing competitors will help not only to identify their strengths and weak sides, but also to understand what your company should strive for, in which direction to move.
In this article, we will look at 26 tools that can be used to monitor competitor sites.
All these tools, depending on the functions they perform, are divided into the following groups:
Brand Mention Search Services
Using this group of tools, you can track mentions of a company or its product in in social networks, news portals, forums, blogs, etc.
1. Mention
Mention is used by 500,000 companies, including ASOS, Microsoft, Spotify, etc.
Mention monitors brand mentions in 42 languages from a million different sources: in social networks, news portals, forums, blogs and any other sites.
With the help of this service, you can track how often and in which countries your competitors are mentioned, customers speak positively or negatively about them.
The service is represented by a basic free version and 3 paid plans, the cheapest of which costs $29 per month. You can also purchase a free demo version for 14 days.
2. Brand24
Brand24 is a service that works with over 30,000 brands worldwide. Its users are many well-known companies, including Panasonic, IKEA, H&M, Raiffeisen Bank.
The service provides millions of pieces of data from more than 25 social networks, news portals, blogs, forums, etc. With its help, you can find mentions of competitors in the specified sources and determine the attitude of customers towards the company.
The report on the received data contains graphs of the number of references and their emotional evaluation, pages of sites with found references. All results are sorted by different types of sources (Facebook, Twitter, video, photo, blog, forum, etc.).
There are 3 paid versions, the cost of which is from $49 per month, as well as a free 14-day demo version.
Registration on the site takes a few seconds - you just need to enter your email and password or log in with Facebook.
3.Hootsuite
Hootsuite- free service monitoring brand mentions on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress, Foursquare and Google+. More than 10 million people use the service, including well-known companies such as NYC and Hershel.
The service searches for mentions of competing companies by keywords, provides weekly analytical reports, and is great for working with a team (you can create tasks for employees and send private messages).
You can try the demo version of the Hootsite Pro plan for free for 30 days. Paid plans start at $9.99.
You can register for the service through account Twitter, Facebook, Google or by creating an account.
4. Open Social Buzz
Open Social Buzz searches data on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn and other sources in real time. After registering in personal account you can track mentions of brands, people, and generally any phrases.
The service provides various types of analytics in the form of graphs and charts: by the emotional evaluation of the audience, by the number of posts, subscribers, views, by types of content (videos, images), by keywords.
The free version of the service has its limitations - you can enter 100 search queries per day and receive 2 email notifications. To get more search queries and notifications, you can use 3 paid plans. They allow you to monitor, save posts and find all mentions of the company. Their cost starts from 3.49 € per month. You can also use a free 14-day demo.
5. Google Alerts
FROM Google Alerts allows you to track brand mentions, competitor activity and any other information on blogs and forums in real time.
By subscribing to Google Alerts, you will receive notifications on email every time there are new results for your query.
To work on Google Alerts, you just need to have an account with Google ( mailbox on gmail.com), additional registration is not required.
The service is extremely simple and easy to use.
Backlink search services
Tracking Services backlinks will help you find out how high-quality link mass your competitors' sites have.
To do this, you just need to enter the URL of the selected sites in the search box. Consider several services for finding backlinks.
6. Ahrefs Site Explorer
The service analyzes the search traffic of sites and shows what content most attracts the audience of competitors.
In addition to determining the amount of link mass, the service predicts the likely "organic" traffic from search engines (the data should not always be completely trusted, but you can get some idea of a competitor's site), the most "pumped" pages in terms of incoming links and the most popular keywords. words for which the site has a high position in search engines.
Paid registration will allow you to receive weekly or monthly reports on changes in the reference mass of competitors. Reports will be sent by email.
The service has three tariffs, the cost of the cheapest one is $99 per month. You can use the 7-day demo version of Lite ($99 per month) and Standard ($179 per month) plans by paying $7. The most expensive plan costs $999. Rates vary by the number of companies viewed, backlinks, and keywords.
7Majestic Site Explorer
The creators of the service call their site the world's largest link database and confidently declare that no other database will provide such detailed information.
The service performs a mass check of backlinks, compares link profiles and site traffic (you can compare no more than 5 sites at the same time), and also searches for keywords or phrases.
The interface is available in Russian. The free version is limited to 15 checks per day. In order to avoid them, you need to use one of 3 paid plans, the cost of which starts from $49.99. Paid plans provide a more in-depth analysis of the results and the ability to connect via API. They differ in terms of the number of users, the backlinks they are looking for, and the detailed reports.
To get a list of backlinks, you need to enter the URL in the search box on landing page site.
8.LinkPad
LinkPad is a very popular service in RuNet with 150,000 clients and over 900 million sites in its database.
In the free version, only a part of the links is shown (the service is either frozen, or it indexes the link graph poorly). Paid plans allow you to get full access to backlinks of websites and their individual pages, upload data on incoming and outgoing links of domains, export them directly from search or via API, receive an unlimited number of requests to Linkpad.XML, as well as secure access and individual technical support. support.
The cost of the most inexpensive tariff is 1450 rubles per month. Tariffs differ in the number of allowed IP addresses (in the cheapest - 1, in the more expensive - unlimited), the number of lines of data per month and linked accounts (in the cheapest tariff - 1, in the second - 5, in the advanced (Ultimate) - unlimited amount).
The service is very simple and easy to use and gives quite detailed results.
9. Monitor Backlinks
This service provides automatic search competitor backlinks and keyword search, allows you to add filters on the following tags: link status (nofollow, meta nofollow, meta noindex, wrong anchor, not found etc.), anchor text, page and domain status in Google Index, social media shares, link counting, etc.
All received data is sent to users of the service by e-mail in the form of reports.
The site offers 4 standard paid plans starting at $25 and differing in the number of users and credits. Each of these plans (except for the individual plan) comes with a 30-day trial version, which is a huge advantage of this tool over others.
10. Neil Patel's Free Link Analysis Tool
Neil Patel, a well-known marketer in the west, has launched his own free link analysis service. He shows total number external links, referring domains, and also assigns its own score to the site being checked.
By default, one link is shown per domain. If a site links to you several times, in the report you will see the best link according to the service. This option can be disabled.
To find links from sites or pages of a specific topic, you need to enter the keyword of interest in the search field. The results can be filtered by the follow and nofollow parameters. An advanced filter allows you to search for specific domains (as well as zones and anchors) or exclude them from the search.
11. Backlink Watch
This service is for those who do not have time to register and deal with the interface of analysis tools. Here you just need to enter the site name, captcha and click the button to start the check. Found pages with backlinks will be gradually loaded into a separate list.
It is better not to analyze large sites with a bulky link mass - the list will contain a lot of "garbage", in the heap of which it is difficult to find high-quality sites. But for monitoring small sites, the service is quite suitable.
Keywords search services
To monitor competitors, you can use keyword search services. And once you figure out which keywords work for your successful competitors, you can apply them to your site as well.
12. Spy words
Spy words is a Russian-language keyword search service. Among his clients are companies such as INCOM Real Estate, Coral Travel, kupivip.ru, etc.
The service analyzes competitors' requests (in the "competitor analysis" section), compares the visibility of domains different companies in search engines (in the sections "battle of domains" and "war of domains"), provides data on Yandex and Google. Moreover, the visibility of domains can be viewed both in the "organic" and in contextual advertising systems.
In the "Battle of Domains" you can compare 3 sites for free by the number of requests and traffic.
The service also has a "Domain War" function, which allows you to compare up to 20 domains at the same time. Recently, another feature has appeared - "Domain Ratings", which ranks domains by current indicators, by their rise and fall, and by other parameters.
Another interesting feature of the service is “Smart selection of queries”. It offers improved options for the entered queries.
"Competitor Analysis" and "Domain Battle" can be carried out without registration. In order to use other features, you will need to purchase one of 3 paid plans:
- Tariff for online stores (cost - 1928 rubles per month).
- Tariff for marketers (cost - 2450 rubles per month).
- Tariff for digital agencies and large advertisers (cost - 4950 rubles per month). Only in this tariff are the "Domain War" and "Domain Ratings" functions available.
All three tariffs are unlimited. In the first tariff, the number of lines in reports is up to 5000, in the second - up to 50000, in the third - up to 1000000. More information about the difference between these tariffs is presented in the screenshot below.
In general, the service left a pleasant impression, it provides a lot useful features and opportunities to monitor competitors.
13. iSpionage
The iSpionage service contains over 22 million keywords. It identifies competitors in Google Adwords, shows their SEO and PPC strategies and approximate monthly budget, provides full list of their keywords, which you can sort and find the most effective of them, and also sends notifications about the found data.
To use the service, you need to register for free. The free version allows you to create 10 reports per day, receive 3 competitor data alerts, and access online internet marketing tips.
The service is represented by 3 paid plans, the cheapest of which costs $59 per month.
Paid plans allow you to search for competitors and keywords without restrictions, determine the Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI), Ad Effectiveness Index (AEI), unique sorting of keywords, SEO metrics and the amount of traffic of competitors, as well as download the received data to PDF format.
Rates vary by the amount of data received per day and mentions of competitors' keywords. In the most advanced tariffs, it is possible to generate reports based on the White Label principle, monitor the most complete information of competitors in contextual advertising systems, and conduct A / B testing of competitors' ads.
Each tariff is accompanied by a 30-day trial period, after which the user can return the money spent if the service did not meet his expectations.
14. Keyword Spy
This service is focused purely on finding the keywords used by competitors and allows you to find out how much they spend on Google Adwords.
The service is quite popular, among its clients are such well-known companies as Toyota, American Express, University of Kentucky.
Without registration, KeywordSpy allows you to search for keywords that competitors use in contextual advertising systems, as well as search for domains and subdomains of competitors by keywords.
The service provides a free trial version with no time limits for use. Paid plans start at $89.95 per month and, in addition to searching for keywords, allow you to monitor the activities of partners, export data to text files and Excel, track data in search engines Google, Yahoo! and Bing, receive alerts about new competitors and their keywords, as well as information about the Top 1000 sites and keywords.
Tariffs differ in the number of keywords searched (results per query, daily query limit) and the presence or absence of certain features.
The big disadvantage of the service for Runet users is that it does not search for the keywords of Russian companies. So the service is suitable for tracking the activities of competitors abroad.
Services for determining site positions
Services from this list determine the position of the site in search engines. Unlike previous services, which are mainly focused on contextual systems, these ones track visibility in the "organic".
15. MegaIndex
MegaIndex is engaged in complex promotion, audit and analytics of sites and has more than 300 thousand users.
The service determines the position of the site in search engines for various keywords and queries for which the site is displayed, and allows you to compare competitor sites.
In order to find the positions of competitors' websites, you can use the special function "Competitor Analysis" (in the "SEO Services" section). You can find this function in your account after registration. It provides a fairly extensive list of data: the number of pages in the index, TIC, incoming links to the domain and page, text relevance, etc.
Also, by the entered site URL, you can determine queries and their positions in various search engines (“Site Visibility” in the “SEO Services” section). This feature allows you to find out for what queries each of the pages of the competitor's site attracts customers.
In order to use the services of the service, you must register.
To analyze incoming links to a competitor's site, it is better to use Megaindex on the megaindex.ru domain, rather than *.com.
16.Alexa
Alexa, a subsidiary of amazon.com, is a very popular service with thousands of customers including Wildfang, Houzz, Apartment Therapy, Umbra, etc.
The service allows you to determine the visibility of a site in organic search results and get detailed reports on site traffic (sources of traffic to the site, traffic growth rate, number of external links, average time on the site), identify effective keywords, etc. Alexa receives data through its once a popular toolbar now used by webmasters visiting certain types of sites. Therefore, the forecast that the service provides is very inaccurate, especially for RuNet. But still, the service provides at least some data, so its use can be useful, especially when comparing the traffic of different sites.
In order to get information about the site, you need to go to the siteinfo page and enter the domain in the search box. The information will be given out in small portions. To get more data, you will have to at least register.
Alexa offers many features for SEOs. The service allows you to determine the geographic location of the site audience, visitor engagement indicators, traffic sources, etc.
Alexa also gives quite detailed keyword statistics. Most importantly, missed keyword opportunities.
If you need a site traffic analysis function, a monthly subscription will cost $79 (trial free version will last 7 days). A more advanced plan for one user and site, including many additional options, will cost $149 (14 days free), for agencies - $299 with trial period in 30 days (20 users and 35 sites).
17 Serpstat
Serpstat is a multifunctional SEO platform for analyzing competitors, their links and monitoring positions. Explores the sites of the CIS countries, America, Europe and Australia on Google and Yandex. Among his clients: L'Oreal, Yves Rocher, Seoprofy and others.
The service calculates the visibility of a domain among sites from the top 20 search engines. If it is higher than that of competitors, then your site is ranked for more keywords than your competitor.
It also shows the change in the number of keywords in organic and visibility throughout the year for any site.
The second feature of the platform is the Site Tree tool. It shows the structure of the analyzed site and the phrases for which certain pages are ranked in the search.
For foreign bases, the platform shows “Phrase Difficulty” from 0 to 100. The higher the value, the more difficult it is to break into the top for this keyword and the higher the competition in the top.
Social activity services
You can also track how your competitors interact with their target audience, and what they, in turn, think about a particular company. To do this, use the following tools.
18. Social Scout
This tool determines the number of shares various pages site in social networks. Thus, you can determine which material of your competitors is most in demand among the audience.
The service is free, and in order to use it, registration is not required - just enter the URL of the analyzed site in the search box and tick off the necessary social networks.
19. Fanpage Karma
The service provides monitoring of these sites on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest. It allows you to determine the number of subscribers of competitors, their most or least attractive posts, find the pages that your readers are subscribed to.
You can also use the analytics of an unlimited number of pages, as well as find out the average values and KPI matrix and what tags are best to put in your publications depending on their topics and content.
Reports on found data can be downloaded in XLS format, and you can also receive notifications about them by e-mail.
Registration on the service takes place through an account Facebook post. The free plan allows you to use 1 account, get 100 mentions and a 7-day report, as well as detailed analysis and email alerts. To register, you must fill out a form and sign an agreement in accordance with the new requirements of the GDPR.
To get more of the listed data, you can purchase one of 3 paid plans for social monitoring, the most inexpensive of which costs $14.90 per month. You can also get an individual rate.
I liked everything about this service - from functionality to Facebook-like design.
20. Antidogs
With the help of the free Antidogs service, you can check the number of "dogs" ( deleted pages users) in the communities of VKontakte competitors. A large number of "dogs" signals that the community, most likely, was cheated with subscribers. The service will tell you the percentage of deleted pages, and whether this ratio is acceptable.
Other services
There are tools that contain several of the listed features at once or do not fit into any of the above categories, but will help you observe the activities of your competitors.
21. Advsё
The Advsyo service provides search advertising statistics in Yandex and Google. It allows you to find competitor sites, determine which queries are showing their ads, as well as find out the number of impressions and clicks, determine effective and ineffective keywords in queries, etc.
The service contains 2 main functions: searching for competitors and searching for requests for which their advertising is visible.
"Search for competitors" creates a list of competitors for the entered keywords.
The main functions of the service are free. Price full access to all reports and services of Advsyo - 1500 rubles per year.
22. Marketing Grader
Marketing Grader is a free service that gives an overall assessment of the site and provides it detailed analysis, determining page requests and the speed of its loading, the amount of traffic from mobile devices, and also evaluates the SEO of the site - page titles, meta description of the site page, etc.
In order to get a report on the work of the site, to determine its pros and cons, you need to enter the URL in the search box on the landing page.
Marketing Grader determines the size of the page, its requests and loading speed.
Registration is not required to use the service.
23. SEM Rush
SEM Rush is one of the most popular online marketing services. It already has 800 thousand users, including such well-known companies as Philips, PayPal, Forbes, Hyatt.
The service searches for keywords, finds backlinks, low-frequency words, searches for competitors in social networks, determines their position in search engines and searches for advertising.
The service finds the most popular anchor texts, determines the number of follow and nofollow links, link clicks and types of backlinks.
In order to use the service, you need to register.
SEM Rush comes with 3 paid plans starting at $99.95. They differ in the number of reports per day and results per report, projects, keywords to track, pages to crawl, social media profiles. In the most expensive versions, branded reports in PDF format, "historical data", etc. are available.
24. The Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a free online archive that lets you see what competitors' websites looked like in the past. Thus, you can observe the history of the development of sites that subsequently achieved great success.
In order to see how the site you are interested in used to look like, you need to open the calendar and click on the marked dates. Screenshots of the site taken on the specified date will open.
This is how the Texterra website looked like in 2008:
The service contains a huge amount of old books, movies, music, pictures, computer programs, it is very unusual and extremely informative, so I advise you to pay attention to it.
25. WooRank
The WooRank service is used by more than 500 thousand users and 40 thousand companies, including amazon.com, FIAT, Fujitsu, FedEx, Deloitte.
It is represented by 3 paid plans (their cost starts from $59 per month) and a free demo version for 14 days.
The service allows you to conduct a competitive analysis that compares the data of several competitors, check site optimization and monitor KPIs. It provides detailed site reports containing data on backlinks, keywords, traffic, visitors and their attitude to the site, and notifies users of new data weekly by email.
Tariffs differ in the number of users and detailed reports, the number of competitor analyzes performed, backlinks and keywords searched, and the ability to download reports in PDF format with no or no restrictions.
In this article, I will tell you how to properly analyze and select the keywords of competitors. This is very helpful in seo promotion site.
Studying leaders on LiveInternet
First, we need to find the niche leaders themselves. That is, there should be some standards on which we will continue to rely.
So how do you find a competitor? The simplest thing is to search in the service. We go to home page and click on "site rating". Next, select the country, category and look at the first positions.
Rating of competitors on LiveInternet We see that the very first project is banks.ru. This site can be considered as part of competitor keyword analysis. After all, the project has a lot of traffic. Therefore, we can consider it as a standard.
However, be careful here!
Of course, you can also look at information sites, which are also in higher places. But there is a possibility that in the semantic core of such projects there will be queries that we do not need.
In this case, we will not need any informational requests because users will not be converted into leads well.
So there should be a clear division here. If, for example, you have an online store, then we are looking for exactly online stores rather than regular information sites.
Studying SEO Rate Leaders
Visibility dynamics by SeoRate Here you can also see the change in dynamics. That is, for whom the dynamics of visibility has decreased, for whom it has increased, for whom it has gained momentum, and so on. Thus, it is possible to target certain leaders within the dynamics.
There is a clear leader here. You can go and analyze semantic core separate tools.
We study competitors through Megaindex You can see who is the leader, how his visibility has changed, and so on. Also in the screenshot you can see a sharp drop. Perhaps it was some kind of system failure, out of season, or just a global fall.
Below I will tell you how to analyze and select competitor keywords. I will give only the basic rules of collection, which must be observed.
You, in turn, with the help of tools, must find the appropriate queries for yourself. There are a lot of services for this. Therefore, I will not consider them in more detail here. Instead, I'm giving you a basic base of keying rules.
So, first you need to look not only at the report on search phrases, but also focus on paid ones. That is, those requests for which they buy contextual advertising from search engines.
As a rule, such keys are already more balanced and considered by the competitor himself. If it were otherwise, then the competitor would not buy on them. Therefore, we pay attention to the requests for which there is a paid advertising campaign.
They can be helpful too!
Also, such keywords have a high conversion rate and pay off well. That is, you can no longer go a long way to collect keys. It is enough to copy them from competitors.
Visibility of competitor pages You can also set specific ones that we want to see. For example, when we are interested in a specific category.
Marketing audit of competitors
What does it include?
For starters, we're looking what content modules does the competitor use. For example, it can be a block with reviews, additional blocks in a product card or in a category.
Feedback block Here we look at the potential of keywords and their frequency. We look at how expedient it is to implement this content module on your site.
We collect a list of such traffic content modules on our topics and implement them on our website. As a result, we get good ideas without reinventing the wheel.
Explore SEO modules used by topic leaders. For example, it can be some kind of linking blocks. That is, we look at how competitors effectively transfer page weight.
You can also evaluate how correct these SEO modules are. Next, we make a list and implement it on our website.
We study the functional modules of competitors and their traffic potential. That is, we study desired functions that provide users on a competitor's site.
Suppose there is some convenient function on the site. The user remembered it and then began to ask in the search to see it on other sites.
It can be a function to compare products. It can also be some kind of promotions or discount offers. Still popular and goods in installments. In general, these are some features that are becoming popular among users.
We, focusing on the leaders of the subject, study their functional modules. Next, we evaluate the traffic potential of these modules (whether they will be asked in the search). Then we include them in our project so that .
Thus, based on the experience of our competitors, we immediately discard huge amount extra actions. At the same time, we scale our site and expand the SA.
We finalize the site structure for a new semantic core
After you have learned the keywords of the competitor's site and conducted a marketing audit, you need to finalize the structure of the resource for a new semantic core.
I want to say right away that you should not be afraid to remake or complete the structure of the site. The more user-friendly and focused on useful pages, the better.
Website structure for cargo transportation Above is an example of the subject of cargo transportation. But as it turned out, there are a lot of ramifications and interesting combinations of keywords in this topic.
All of them can be reached only with the help of a deep analysis of the market, competitors and topic leaders. Then you need to collect a huge semantic core, break it down and understand what kind of structure you need to create in order to reach the target audience as much as possible.
conclusions
You don't need to reinvent the wheel. You just need to analyze your competitors. Analysis is something without which it is now very difficult to survive in a competitive environment.
It's pretty easy to spot the sites that get the most organic traffic. They can't hide from us. They are easy to find, analyze, draw conclusions and borrow something useful. And also to improve and overtake.
In principle, how to find out the keywords of competitors is not difficult. You just need to follow the rules described above and use separate tools to collect requests.
Remember that you need to analyze both free and competitive keywords from the context.
You need to be ready to redesign and scale the site for greater traffic growth. Don't be afraid to redo! Of course, it is better to do everything right at once. But if there are problems on the site, then they need to be dealt with somehow.
If possible, scale and optimize the project. Get rid of unnecessary sections and add the necessary ones. All this should be done based on the popularity of keywords and topic leaders.
In general, in a competitive environment, you need to be flexible enough and ready to constantly work on your site.
Most often, competitor analysis is important at the initial stages, when forming a semantic core. But this does not mean that if your site has been functioning for several years, then you do not need to resort to this procedure. It is always useful to find out what keywords a competitor is promoting for.
The first step is to determine who your main competitors are. You need to analyze not everyone in a row, but the most successful ones who are in the top of the issue. It is the most competitive sites that will give you a lot useful information, chips that you can borrow or remake in your own way, and much more.
There are two ways to determine the most competitive sites in your niche.
Manually
Take 5-10 treble keywords(for example, buy windows, order windows, install windows in Moscow, etc.). Enter them all into Yandex and Google. Analyze the SERPs on the first page and select sites that are relevant to your topic. It is advisable to choose those who are in the search results for all requests (or for the majority).
With special services
You can find out your main competitors using the following tools.
- SpyWords is one of the best services for Yandex. It will identify the main competitors, analyze their sites, show what keywords they are promoting for, and much more.
- SEMrush is a similar project, only for Google.
- cy-pr.com useful service, which shows a lot of data on competitor sites. You will also be able to see the main opponents in the fight for the top spots in the SERPs.
- PromoPult is a tool that helps to identify the main competitors, as well as being able to select basic keywords based on the content of the site.
After the main competitors have been identified, you can begin to analyze their resources. Based on the analyzes carried out, you can find out what queries the site is being promoted for, find the most clickable and successful ads, add them to your advertising campaign, etc.
For example, you forgot to take into account some keys that can get you a lot of traffic. After analyzing the competitors, you found these keys and added them to yourself. Or you noticed some working methods, chips. They can also be borrowed.
With such an analysis, it is important to understand what exactly you and your promotion need. Do not copy everything, and copy in general. Better think about how to use this or that chip in your case. Or how to beat a competitor by getting all the traffic.
It also makes sense to pay attention to the mistakes and shortcomings of competitive sites in order to avoid them in your work. For example, ineffective, but at the same time expensive clicks in contextual advertising.
SpyWords
One of the most effective and popular tools among Yandex users. If you want to promote your resource in this particular search engine, then you definitely need SpyWords.
With it, you can conduct a thorough analysis and find out the quantity and quality of keywords for which a competitor receives traffic. In addition, the service will even help you find out information such as ad texts, advertising budget, positions and snippets in search results, etc.
To use the service, follow these steps:
- go to the official website https://spywords.ru/services.php;
- in the "Competitor Analysis" tab, enter the desired URL;
- click Track.
Everything is pretty simple. The price for such a tool is from 1950 rubles. per month.
SEMrush
One of the best search engines Google systems and Bing. The service will help to conduct a thorough analysis of competitors, find out the main ones, show what keywords the site is promoting for, and provide a lot of other useful information.
The service will help you find out:
- positions of competitors for given keys;
- traffic (both the domain as a whole and individual pages);
- keywords;
- cost per click and advertising budget;
- ad texts, etc.
The service allows you to receive information on low frequency requests, which clearly distinguishes it from other, less effective tools.
How to use:
- go to the site https://ru.semrush.com;
- enter the URL of the site;
- click "Start".
The service can be used for free 10 times. Further usage costs start at $99 per month and up.
SimilarWeb
A service that is rightfully considered one of the best for competitive intelligence. With it, you can do the following:
- analyze the niche in certain regions, finding out the main competitors and methods for their promotion;
- see various indicators of competitive sites (number of visitors, time on the site, traffic sources, bounce rate, etc.);
- find out by what words the site is being promoted, and much more.
To use this tool, you need:
- go to the service website https://www.similarweb.com;
- log in (register if you are not registered);
- go to the Traffic Sources – Search tab;
- enter the desired url and get detailed information by keywords.
This tool is paid. The price is from $199 per month and up.
Advse
One of the first in its field. The service is popular with both beginners and experienced professionals. With Advsho you can perform the following tasks:
- study a niche;
- identify the main competitors;
- find out their strengths and weaknesses;
- find out for which keywords the site is being promoted;
- get detailed information on search queries;
- learn ad texts and much more.
To use the service, follow these steps:
- go to the site https://advse.ru;
- at the top navigation menu choose one of the services;
- then two forms will appear in front of you. The first one is for queries. It helps to find out who exactly is your competitor for one request or a whole list. The second is for websites. Helps to find out what words a competitor is promoting;
- enter queries or site URL;
- click the "Get..." button.
After the done actions, you will be shown some information. If you have already been authorized, you will see the full information, if not, you will be prompted to authorize.
Unlimited access costs from 1500 rubles per year.
Other services
In addition to the tools described above, the following services are also used for competitive intelligence:
- SEO building and others.
Analysis of competitor sites is an important aspect of successful promotion. Knowing the enemy by sight, it is much easier to achieve good results.
We have released a new book, "Social Media Content Marketing: How to get into the head of subscribers and make them fall in love with your brand."
The study of rivals provides ideas for a successful strategy. The collected keys for search results or contextual advertising improve site ranking and increase traffic and conversion. Today we have big guide about ways to search for competitors by keywords and vice versa, the study of phrases for selected domains. We will reveal the secrets, and at the end we will show with a good example.
When to Analyze Your Opponents
Competitor research is done in the early stages of an SEO campaign. Organizations often skip this important step and jump right into matching keywords to content, optimizing content, or building links. Knowing who your competitors are and what they can do brings you closer to setting a precise goal and identifying weaknesses in an advertising campaign (AC) before it is launched.
Why you need to analyze competitors
Analysis of organic search results for keywords shows:
- what strategies work in the thematic area;
- What needs to be improved on the site in the first place.
And studying in Direct helps:
- assess the competitive environment and the complexity of promotion;
- make the offer more profitable and show it to more people;
- be inspired by new ideas;
- find new actionable keys that you don't have.
In addition, the analysis of your own and competitive requests allows you to find gray methods promotions, due to which Yandex may stop offering the first special placement altogether. For example:
- You notice that a significant portion of the clicks to your site were for very strange, common phrase queries. A random set of letters and numbers could be added to it. For each there could be 1-2 transitions.
- By analyzing the search results for your spam queries, you find other sources that did not please someone.
- After some experimentation and analysis, you may find a competitor in the same subject area that does not show up for any of the queries. He correctly collected negative keywords based on his promotion method and squandered his rivals.
Gray schemes hit the budget and reputation of the site. Analysis allows you to quickly see through them and take appropriate action.
The ideas you get help you prioritize and build your RC. For example, if a company is ahead of a competitor with , then content creation should now become the main focus. The strengths and weaknesses of the opponents show how difficult it will be to surpass them and how much resources will be required for this task.
During the analysis, you will understand what relevant queries are not on your site. In contextual advertising - what words they bid on most often. You will attract more traffic or increase conversions after collecting, analyzing keywords and adjusting your strategy.
And how often do you need to analyze
Who are your competitors in search results?
Identify your opponents by answering two questions:
- Who do customers compare your company to?
- who appears with you in the search results.
If it is clear what to do with the first, then problems may arise with the second. Let's figure out how to find answers to the second question:
- Check out SEMrush. Get 10 free checks for signing up.
- In the left menu, select "Domain Analytics" -> "Search results analysis" -> "Competitors".
- Enter your domain in the search bar. As an example, we took an already proposed template from ebay.com.
- Below you will find a report with sites, competition scale and other parameters. Please note that the service analyzes the top 20 Google search results.
- Click Export to save the information in a suitable way. AT free version 10 sites available. To get 100, activate a trial weekly subscription or sign up for a paid plan.
Choose resources with common keywords and traffic. Having compiled both lists with real and virtual opponents, combine them and choose the optimal number for comparison. In a separate Excel spreadsheet enter URL and names. In the future, this will save time: you do not have to search again.
Other ways to spot competitors:
- One of the easiest is to open Google or Yandex, enter a request and see the results. For accurate results, disable personalization. But this does not guarantee the accuracy of the information received.
- You can find competitors on Google using the phrase without spaces related: *domain*. You will get a list of sites with similar content. Example from ebay.com in the screenshot.
- Services. In addition to SEMrush, you can use SimilarWeb, SpyWords, SpyFu, and others.
How analysis services work
The market offers many tools. But you should understand: they take results from the search results, scanning it for queries of different frequencies. If a site comes across in the search results, they add it to the list. But the actual semantic core may differ, for example, the resource is promoted by a broader query or uses narrowing operators and an infinite list of stop words. Don't take the results as absolute truth.
Let's start with a group of tools that work with a fixed base, such as SpyWords, Serpstat, Megaindex. How their work algorithm is built:
- The service uses a certain query base.
- To reduce the time and resources for scanning, it removes requests with the lowest frequency and cleans up the remaining ones from the high garbage content of the nested low-frequency tail.
- Next, it starts scanning the search results for all the collected phrases.
- Saves the results.
- Further, the user accesses the service in order to find the phrases for which a particular resource is ranked, and receives them.
Cons of the algorithm:
- Search engines personalize the results based on the collected information about the user. It is impossible to know how the results correspond to the truth.
- It is impossible to scan a huge database for each region.
- There is no information about this query base. It is impossible to understand what was originally included in it, and what, on the contrary, was not taken into account. Completeness and coverage in subject areas are omitted.
- No one gives guarantees that the database is scanned regularly and that it is rescanned at all.
Based on this, it can be concluded that the reports received are approximate. Such tools are not suitable for the analysis of specific requests.
Some services work according to other algorithms. For example, ADVSE collects information from browser toolbars. Minus: not all browsers treat toolbars well, some can block them, and then some information is simply lost. SimilarWeb buys statistics from trusted sources, uses toolbars and other secret resources that it does not disclose.
When choosing a service, pay attention to database updates and other indicators that are available in the statistics. For example, in the screenshot - information about SpyWords.
Russian-language services
Serpstat
- A complete list of rivals in organic and advertising results based on the intersection of semantics.
- Search for keys for which it is not possible to reach high positions.
- Determination of the most successful sites in the subject, their weaknesses.
- List of pages on the site that rank better than others.
aTrends
- Keys of competitors in Yandex.Direct by domain.
- Reports for:
- impression volumes;
- clickability;
- domains and ads on demand;
- overpayment ratios.
- Definition of phrases for which there is an overpayment.
SEMRush
Another easy-to-understand tool that quickly identifies competitor keywords in Google in the top 20 positions and PPC ads. You can search by word or link, filter results by region or country, specify different types compliance and study statistics for sites. The first 10 checks are offered free of charge for registration, after that a subscription is required.
What can you find out about the opponent:
- for which keys it is in the top;
- received traffic;
- its main competitors.
ADVSE
Collects competitor keywords for free. The site is divided into two parts: in the first one, competitors are determined by the entered requests, and in the second - the phrases by which they advance. The service also offers a free collection of stop words, the most effective phrases and a quick assessment of advertising campaigns.
SpyWords
Analyzes keywords, positions, ads, snippets in Yandex and Google. Compares several strong competitors to identify effective phrases that you have not yet tried.
MegaIndex Premium Analytics
Identifies competitor keywords using the Visibility Comparison tool. Specify a geo, enter your URL and a list of domains, set up queries. The report will contain a table with words, positions, and impression efficiency for each resource.
Some others
English language services
wordstream
A simple and free tool that allows you to determine a set of keywords by domain, search subject and geo. In the report, word data can be sorted and displayed by any of the four metrics. The results are uploaded as CSV files for further work in AdWords.
BuzzSumo
Easy to use, shows you potential competitors you might not know about. Enter a query in the search bar and click "Go". Not all sites from the issue will be relevant to you: some of them do not apply to your area. Filters are on the right. You can set up countries, languages, domains, content type, volume of articles. True, it is already available for premium members. The platform shows which publications are most popular and what type of content is most in demand in a given topic. This will come in handy after collecting the keys to group them.
Ahrefs" Keywords Explorer
Collects keywords from a competitor's website, filters and analyzes them. Able to identify dozens of words on the topic of the page. The site has round-the-clock support 5 days a week, a private Facebook group and training materials for work. The site is constantly evolving.
Spyfu
Service with rich functionality. Allows you to download the semantic core of other sites without restrictions, and also shows statistics on the number of clicks and payments for each word. One of the platform's tools helps identify phrases that you haven't used on three sites. You can get data on everything from local and global monthly traffic volume, click-through rates, ad spend, ad and ranking history, backlinks. Full description all functions are on the main page.
Alexa
Determines the level of competitiveness, looks for rivals in a niche if you have not identified them yet, displays organic and advertising keys for specific sites and compares them for different sites.
The service also searches for popular sites that your audience frequently visits. These sites can become your advertising or promotion partners.
RavenTools
Uses world class data sources like Majestic, Moz, Google, Bing to provide keywords and domain information. Integrates with .
And some others
Search for competitors by keywords in Yandex.Direct
Method number 1: Yandex tool
- Open "Ad Campaign Budget Estimate".
- Specify the region in 1 paragraph.
- Set up the duration of the display, sites and currency.
- Write down all keywords.
- Don't uncheck the boxes. Click "Calculate".
- Will open new page. Click on any entered key, and Yandex will show competitors and their ads on request.
Method number 2: a third-party service using the example of SpyWords
- Open SpyWords.
- Enter the query for which you want to search for competitors and click "Track".
- The service will display information on impressions per month, cost, advertisers upon request.
- After registration and authorization, you will be able to get a complete list of advertisers upon request. There is a limited trial version. The subscription price is 1950 or 4950 rubles per month.
Note! The Domain Battle tool compares two competitors and identifies keywords that generate revenue for them but are not included in your semantics.
Method number 3: search results
- Enter a query in the Yandex search box.
- On the right side of the search results, find the link "Show all".
- You switch to paid ads only mode, which shows all the offers of rivals for this query.
What keys to take from others
Using various tools, you collect a huge database of keys. But not all are equally useful. You need to determine which phrases competitors rate well, but you do not. Analyze why the site ranks well and then consider how to apply it. What are the options:
- updating old content;
- creation of new material and matching with keywords;
- work with site architecture, etc.
Product difference
Compare your products with those of your competitor. You can make your site irrelevant if you don't account for product differences. For example, if an opponent sells cheap analogues, and you are from a premium class.
Request temperature
Contextual advertising needs warm and hot requests. They show that the user may be looking for a product, rather than information about it or pictures. Hot phrases include the words “order”, “wholesale”, “delivery”, “price”: “order a sofa for the kitchen inexpensively”. To warm - something more indefinite, for example, "a sofa for the kitchen." It is unclear whether the user is looking for information or nearby stores. Cold ones can also bring customers, but they require good work to get the user to the cart. Examples: “chester sofa reviews”, “how to choose a sofa for the kitchen”.
Newsletters
You need to drive more traffic if you are building a subscriber base to drive them to a deal through mailing lists and retargeting. Find keys that you haven't used yet and they are working successfully for a competitor.
Negative keywords
Make a list of negative keywords. Even if it exists, add new ones to it, they will never be superfluous. For example, if you sell only new sofas, then the queries “buy a used sofa”, “transportation of sofas” will not come the target audience. Cost per conversion is rising, site performance is deteriorating, and budget is draining. Look for words from competitors that do not fit your company at all, but in one thematic area. The work with the list should not stop.
Partners
Do you and your competitor work with the same brand? Be sure to take into account all the keywords with its mention. If not, skip this step.
Keys to Good Ranking
You can build a site with an infinite number of keywords and still have bad traffic. The thing is that you need to look for those words that are likely to bring customers and increase sales, and not all in a row.
Let's figure out how to find high-quality phrases, and how competitors can help us.
- Open Google Search Console.
- Enter the domain and go through confirmation.
- Select Search Traffic -> Search Analysis.
- Information on the clickability of the pages of the site will open.
- Sort the pages by the number of clicks and open with the highest rates.
- The table will display queries that led users to this page.
- Upload the received information.
- Determine the words with the highest conversion for which you will promote the site.
Once you have received phrases that will bring quality traffic, check the competitor: what language does he use? First, take the simplest ones, which will not be difficult to get into. search top. Are there any similar or synonymous queries that you may have missed? Will you be able to create content and match it with these keys? Answer these questions and make a decision.
Clickability
Take keywords with a good organic click-through rate. They will bring more traffic and are easier to promote.
Another way to filter
You have identified opponents, collected their keys and received a long list of requests. If you plan to use them in advertising, then you can run them through the key planner Google words AdWords. Or break them into groups by subject, user intent, and company goals.
- Subject. Determine the words that, according to semantics and context, can be grouped and linked to a specific page of the resource.
- User Intent. It is necessary to determine what intentions the client has when he is looking for this or that information. This is not always easy to do. For the same query, people can sometimes search for both information and the product itself. In this case, focus on the existing content in the issue.
- The purpose of the company. Form requests depending on the tasks. For example, if the plans include increasing brand awareness, then it is not necessary to turn users into buyers.
Focus on current goals and objectives to form the right strategy.
Key analysis by example
- Let's use Serpstat. Enter the domain, select Yandex and geo. We press "Search".
- Statistics with key phrases opens. Please note that the information in this step is available without registration.
- Go to "Site Analysis" -> "Domain Analysis" -> "PPC Analysis" -> "Key Phrases".
- This will open a table with ads, keywords, and other metrics. For further work, you will need a tariff plan.
- We upload information for each region. If there are negative keywords, then add them. Click "Filter" -> "Keywords" in the first column -> "Does not contain" in the second -> add a list of negative keywords -> "Apply".
How else can you check competitor keywords that are not used on our site:
- On the same tab "PPC analysis" -> "Comparison of domains".
- Let's introduce two more competitors. You can choose from a list compiled by the service. Click "Compare".
- The intersection is the shared keys. Everything else is related directly to the domain. Click on the desired segment and complete the list.
The most important thing remains: select queries depending on the goals of the advertising campaign, available content, and add negative keywords.
Summing up
When creating or adjusting an advertising campaign, you need to know what keywords your competitors are advancing for. Their analysis shows profitable requests worth investing in, sets priorities in your own company. For example, you can figure out if you need new content or what keys are missing to attract more traffic to the landing. In addition, not entirely honest actions of colleagues in the shop are recognized. If detected in time, you can save the budget and reputation of the site. Special services help to collect all the information, but it must also be filtered correctly, otherwise the analysis can play a bad joke.