"Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer."
You've probably encountered this infamous quote by Sun Tzu and its many iterations in various popular media, a notable example being 1974's The Godfather: Part II. Although its original context is up for debate, it's commonly interpreted as emphasizing the importance of understanding your opponent or rival to stay ahead.
Search engine optimization (SEO) may be the last thing that comes to mind when quoting Sun Tzu. However, incredibly enough, the principle still applies. In digital marketing, knowing your competitors is invaluable to boosting your website's SEO performance.
What can you learn from competitors?
The best way to understand your rivals is by conducting a competitor analysis. It examines your competitor's site, delivering valuable insights into their online presence and how you can improve your own website's SEO performance. Here are some of the areas where competitor analysis can be extremely helpful:
Keyword research. Your competitors' websites likely have similar content and target the same audience as yours. You can examine the search phrases they're ranking for to identify new keyword opportunities and gaps in your own strategy.
Backlink profile. An analysis can tell you which websites are linking to your competitors. You can then contact those websites to request a backlink or explore opportunities for content collaboration or guest posting.
Content strategy. Take note of the types of content your competitors publish and the frequency and performance of their posts. Use this information to improve your own content and strategy.
On-page optimization. Examine your competitors' title tags, meta descriptions, and URL structure for pointers on improving your website's SEO elements. These details are easily overlooked but can significantly impact your SEO performance.
User experience (UX). A look at your competitor's website can reveal what design, navigation, and other functional elements you can incorporate to improve your site's overall UX. User experience is one of the factors search engines consider when ranking websites.
Analyzing your competitors can also tell you what not to do. For instance, publishing spammy content and following questionable strategies can result in severe search engine penalties that can hamper your search ranking.
How can you analyze your competitors?
Analyzing your competitors requires a multi-step process called an SEO audit. This site audit for SEO purposes examines a website's performance and all the elements that can affect it. An audit is such a crucial process that if you want to get the most SEO benefits in 2025 and beyond, you should consider conducting it regularly on your own website.
Here are the steps involved in conducting an SEO audit for competitor analysis:
Identify your competitors
Start by taking note of your competitors. These are businesses in your niche or location with websites ranking for the same keywords as you are. You can perform local Google searches, look on social media, and use tools like SEMrush to ensure you're not missing any potential rivals.
Analyze their keywords
Input your competitors' website URLs into SEMrush or Ahrefs to uncover which keywords they rank for and how well they perform. Among the keywords they dominate, note which ones have the highest search volumes and lowest competition. These are the keywords you should be targeting.
Additionally, identify keywords they rank for that you don't. Creating content using these keywords can open opportunities to attract new traffic to your website.
Evaluate their content strategy
Analyze your competitor's blog posts, landing pages, and other types of content. Check which pieces of content are performing the best using tools like BuzzSumo. Make a note of the topics they cover, length, tone, quality, and publication schedule.
This step will help you identify effective content-related tactics to incorporate into your strategy. It also tells you which topics your competitors have not yet covered, allowing you to write about them before your competitors do.
Analyze their on-page SEO
A site audit for SEO shows you on-page elements that search engines use to determine your website's quality and relevance. In particular, you should pay attention to:
These elements can provide valuable insights into what your competitors are doing right and whether you can incorporate their tactics into your own on-page optimization.
Check their backlink profile
Building a backlink profile consisting of high-quality, relevant websites is critical to getting the best SEO benefits in 2025 and the years to come. When auditing your competitor's website, check the number and quality of their backlinks, including the authoritative sites linking to their content.
Compare their backlink profile with yours. This will reveal websites you could reach out to for backlinks and show how much work you need to do to catch up.
Examine the site's user engagement
User engagement metrics gauge how visitors behave when they land on a website. They include the following:
Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only a single page. A high bounce rate indicates that website visitors do not find relevant information or have a poor user experience.
Time on site refers to the amount of time a visitor spends on your website. Longer sessions suggest your visitors find your content engaging, relevant, and valuable.
Click-through rate measures how many visitors click on a specific link or item. A higher CTR indicates your website's content is compelling and relevant to users.
By examining your competitors' user engagement metrics, you can see which areas of their website are performing well and which ones need improvement. You can use this information to enhance your own website's user experience and attract and retain visitors.
Look into technical SEO
A website's technical configuration significantly impacts its ability to provide the best experience to visitors. Understanding your competitor's site structure, mobile responsiveness, page loading speed, and other technical factors can give you ideas on how to get an edge. For example, if your competitor's website loads faster, you can look into using a similar hosting provider or optimizing your images and code.
Keeping a close eye on your rivals' websites through an SEO audit is a crucial SEO strategy that can help you stay ahead in search rankings. It gives you pointers on what works and what doesn't, allowing you to continuously improve your website's performance. Of course, you should also regularly conduct audits on your site to ensure that it performs well or better than your competitors.
Analyzing your competitors and optimizing your website are tasks you can do yourself, but they require time and some technical know-how, even with the right tools at your disposal. This is why many small and medium business owners hire professional agencies offering the best SEO services.
Partnering with an agency gives you access to experts who can help you conduct SEO audits, analyze your competitors in-depth, and implement effective strategies to boost your website's performance. They can offer the best SEO services your business needs to stay competitive and thrive.
Work with a reputable agency today and ensure your website ranks well in search engine results for 2025 and beyond.
