Analyzing your competitors’ website traffic is essential to improve your Google ranking. Understanding why your content ranks higher than theirs allows you to make more informed decisions and improve your strategy.
Many digital tools available today will help you analyze the traffic of your competitor’s website.
Why should you look at your competitors’ traffic data? What are you looking for when you do so?
To use an analogy from sports, being able to analyze competitor traffic would be like having a sneak peek at the playbook of a championship-winning team.
You will gain insight into your competitor’s game plan and any apparent holes.
With this information, you can use their tactics in your favor and even surpass them.
What is competitor traffic analysis?
According to HubSpot, web traffic is a standard measure of the success of a content marketing strategy.
The Competitor Traffic Analysis is a tool to determine how much traffic your competitors attract and from where.
The report will reveal:
- The amount of traffic your competitor receives and whether their audience is increasing.
- Knowing whether their desktop or mobile website has more views is essential.
- What channels drive the most traffic? Do they get all their hits from social media, ads, or backlinks?
- Demographics and location of users who generate the most views.
- Bounce rate is a measure of the quality of traffic to a website. How successful is the site at converting viewers into customers and attracting them?
You can even see which websites your customers visit next to understand their journey better.
This information helps you better understand your competitors’ target audience and how they interact with them.
What Should be Included in a Competitive Analysis?
It’s an excellent start to take the time and analyze competitors’ website traffic, but it is only one part of an overall competitor analysis strategy.
You’ll need to dig deeper for the complete picture.
You may be tired of being constantly outranked by the competition. It’s time to learn what you can from them.
It is easy to start by identifying and examining your main competitors’ websites.
Consider each site from the perspective of a client. Ask yourself these questions as you browse each website:
- Is it easy to navigate the website?
- Is the website a good representation of the brand?
- Do you use videos, photos, or other media on your site? How often does the site use photos, videos, or other media?
- What are the options for customers to connect with the brand, and how can they do so? Users are prompted to subscribe to the brand’s blog or social media accounts.
- Is there a brand newsletter?
- Have you noticed any trends in the industry that appear on multiple websites?
Please take note of any CTAs on the site and how they are structured.
You should also consider the prices and products that are being highlighted.
You can use this to determine if your website offers what your customers want and if your prices are competitive.
Why is competitor analysis critical in SEO?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a strategy companies use to increase traffic through search engines.
Your website must appear as one of the top results when someone types in words or phrases relevant to your business.
How do you approach it? Statistics show that 71% of content marketers use keywords as their primary strategy.
This process involves using strategic words and phrases that users will most likely enter into a search engine like Google.
It is vital to know which keywords your competitors use if they consistently claim the #1 spot in search engine results pages (SERPs).
What is the best SEO tool for competitor site analysis?
You can now use more tools to analyze the traffic of your competitors’ websites, track their best-performing content, and highlight the most effective SEO keyword phrases.
Here are the top 10 and what they have to offer.
SEMrush
SEMrush provides various marketing tools, including powerful competitor analysis tools. If you want to get a detailed look at the traffic of your competitors’ websites, SEMrush is a good choice.
SEMrush lets you know a website’s reputation and which sites link to it.
The site will also be highlighted for its best performers, including SEO keywords and the most popular content.
SimilarWeb
SimilarWeb’s suite of competitive intelligence analysis tools is also a good choice for uncovering your competitors’ tactics.
They analyze the traffic of competitors’ websites and their quality.
You can also see how long visitors stay on each page and the website’s bounce rate.
SimilarWeb can also help you gain insights into a site’s marketing channels and strategies most effectively.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs, another great option, also offers several SEO tools for free.
You’ll have access to Ahref Site Explorer if you upgrade your plan.
You’ll learn which keywords they use to achieve the top SERP rankings and whether or not they have paid for additional views.
You can also find out which websites are linking to a specific site and the level of credibility for each.
Wrap-Up
Analyzing your competitor’s website traffic is essential to ensure you will outrank in the future. These tools and strategies can help you improve your ranking and stand out.
Learn more about the marketing secrets of your competitors. See our article to learn how to do a landscape analysis.