In today’s competitive digital landscape, the path to better search engine rankings doesn’t just involve optimising your own site, it requires a deep understanding of who your competitors are, what they’re doing well, and how you can do it better. That’s where SEO competitor analysis comes in.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the complete process of performing SEO competitor analysis that delivers measurable results.
What Is SEO Competitor Analysis?
SEO competitor analysis is the process of evaluating your competitors’ organic search performance to understand what’s contributing to their success, and how you can outperform them. It involves examining their keyword rankings, backlink profiles, content structure, technical SEO, and content strategy to identify opportunities for improvement.
This isn’t about copying your competitors. It’s about gaining strategic insight, identifying what Google is rewarding in your niche, and adjusting your SEO approach accordingly.
Why SEO Competitor Analysis Matters for Rankings
Here are some of the main reasons why you, and in extension your business, should care about conducting thorough SEO competitor analysis.
It Reveals Keyword Opportunities You’re Missing
Your competitors may be targeting valuable keywords that aren’t even on your radar. By reviewing the terms they rank for, you can uncover gaps in your own keyword strategy.
This allows you to expand your content into new areas of users’ search intent, reach untapped search audiences, and build topical authority across a wider range of relevant queries. These new opportunities can lead to significant gains in rankings and traffic.
It Shows You What Google Is Rewarding
When you analyse the pages currently ranking at the top of the search results, you gain a clear picture of what Google considers quality and relevant.
From content structure and keyword usage to page experience and link profiles, these high-performing pages act as live benchmarks. By reverse-engineering their success, you can design your own content to meet (or exceed) those standards.
It Helps You Create Better Content
Understanding what’s already out there gives you the power to create content that is more comprehensive and insightful than your competitors’.
You can identify what’s missing from their articles, add your own expertise, incorporate better visuals or internal links, and ultimately offer a page that’s more valuable to both readers and search engines.
It Keeps You Ahead of the Curve
SEO is a moving target. Your competitors are constantly updating their websites, publishing new content, and adapting to algorithm updates.
If you’re not keeping tabs on their SEO strategy, you risk falling behind. Regular competitor analysis ensures you’re not blindsided by shifts in the SERP and helps you make proactive improvements to stay ahead.
How to Do SEO Competitor Analysis to Improve Your Rankings
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to do SEO competitor analysis in order to improve your rankings:
1. Identify Your True SEO Competitors
Your SEO competitors aren’t always your direct business rivals, they’re the websites ranking for the same keywords and attracting the same search audience. These might include industry blogs, marketplaces, or websites with lots of content that aren’t competing with you commercially, but are outranking you on Google.
Start by listing your top keywords and checking which domains consistently rank for them. Tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz can help you automate this process. Once you’ve identified the websites competing for organic visibility, shortlist your top 3–5 competitors to analyse in depth.
2. Analyse Their Keyword Profiles
After identifying your competitors, the next step is to examine the specific keywords they’re ranking for. This allows you to see what kind of traffic they’re attracting and where they have an edge over your current strategy.
Using tools like Ahrefs Site Explorer or SEMrush’s Domain Overview, plug in a competitor’s URL and explore their top organic keywords. You’ll see the keyword itself, the ranking position, search volume, and keyword difficulty. From there, compare their keyword footprint with yours to identify content gaps, these are high-value keywords you’re not targeting, but your competitors are.
3. Examine Their Top-Performing Pages
Knowing what content brings in the most traffic for your competitors is crucial. These pages often follow proven formats, satisfy user intent effectively, and may have acquired strong backlinks.
Use tools like Ahrefs’ Top Pages or SEMrush’s Pages report to discover which of their URLs are driving the most organic traffic. Then, assess each page for:
- Content format (blog post, landing page, pillar page)
- Word count and depth
- Use of internal links
- Content structure and headings
- Multimedia (images, videos, charts)
This helps you understand what kind of content works, and gives you a chance to improve upon it.
4. Evaluate Their On-Page SEO
A big part of search visibility comes down to how well a page is optimised for search engines. On-page SEO includes everything from keyword usage in titles and headings to how the content is structured and interlinked.
Review your competitors’ use of:
- Title tags and meta descriptions
- Header tags (H1s, H2s, etc.)
- Keyword placement and semantic variation
- Internal and outbound links
- Image alt tags
- URL structure
You can use tools like SEO Meta in 1 Click (a Chrome extension) to quickly gather this information and benchmark it against your own pages.
5. Assess Their Backlink Profile
Backlinks remain one of the most powerful ranking factors. If your competitors are outranking you, they likely have stronger inbound links pointing to their key pages.
Use Ahrefs, Majestic, or SEMrush to explore:
- Total number of backlinks and referring domains
- Authority of linking domains (DR or DA)
- Anchor text diversity
- Type of content that’s earning links
This will help you discover where they’re earning backlinks and guide your outreach or PR strategy. Focus on replicating high-value backlinks and targeting relevant domains with your own superior content.
6. Review Their Technical SEO and Site Structure
Strong technical SEO ensures that your website is crawlable, fast, and accessible, all of which affect how search engines rank your content. If your competitor has a technically stronger site, they may have an advantage even if your content is similar.
Run a crawl of your competitor’s site using Screaming Frog or Sitebulb, and review:
- Page speed performance
- Mobile responsiveness
- Navigation structure and internal linking
- Crawl depth (how easily users and bots can reach key pages)
- Structured data (Schema markup)
Improving your technical SEO based on these insights will improve your indexation, user experience, and ultimately, rankings.
7. Monitor Their Content Strategy Over Time
SEO competitor analysis isn’t a one-time task. Your competitors are likely publishing new content, refreshing old pages, and targeting new keyword clusters regularly.
Stay on top of their content strategy by:
- Subscribing to their blogs or RSS feeds
- Setting up Google Alerts for their brand and key product terms
- Tracking changes with VisualPing or Ahrefs Alerts
- Observing how often they update existing pages
By staying in the loop, you’ll be better positioned to adjust your own strategy in response, and take advantage of gaps they haven’t yet filled.
How to Turn Competitor Insights Into SEO Strategy
A great analysis is only valuable if it leads to action. Here’s how to translate insights into improvements that boost your search performance:
Expand Your Keyword Targeting
Build a new keyword list and topic clusters based on competitor gaps and prioritise terms with solid volume but low competition.
Create Content That’s Better and Deeper
Use competitor content as a baseline, then go further, add case studies, expert opinions, multimedia, and FAQs that deliver more value.
Optimise Your On-Page SEO
Revise your title tags, headings, and internal links based on structures that are working for your competitors.
Earn Better Backlinks
Reach out to the same publishers linking to your competitors and pitch original, high-quality content that adds new value to their audience.
Fix Your Technical SEO
If your competitor has faster loading pages, cleaner architecture, or better mobile usability, it’s time to invest in similar improvements on your own site.
Stay One Step Ahead
SEO competitor analysis gives you a clear advantage. It reveals what’s working in your industry, what your competitors are doing better (or worse), and how you can position yourself to rank higher and attract better-qualified traffic.
But remember: your goal isn’t to copy. It’s to analyse strategically, build smarter, and outperform.
Want to Outrank Your Competitors?
Perth Digital can help. Our SEO experts will perform a deep-dive competitor analysis tailored to your business and turn those insights into action, whether it’s keyword expansion, content creation, or technical fixes.
Let’s build your SEO strategy with real competitive insight. Get in touch with Perth Digital today!
