How to Beat Your Competition & Rank Higher With Competitor SEO

As of February 2023, there were approximately 1.13 billion websites on the internet. That number is sure to have increased since then as new sites pop up every single day. The question is, with such a vast amount of content out there, how are you going to get your website noticed? No matter what industry you are in, there is going to be competition. The harsh reality of business is that those competitors want to see you fail, so you have to put in the work to rise above them! A great website and an even better SEO strategy can help you get to where you want to be. Let’s take a look at how an SEO company in Knoxville can help you with competitor SEO.

What is Competitor SEO?

Let’s start with a brief explanation of what we mean when we say Competitor SEO. In simple terms, Competitor SEO is a marketing strategy based on finding your competitor’s weak spots and exploiting those weaknesses to boost your website traffic and rank higher than them in search engine results. When you work with an SEO company in Knoxville, they can help you to include this technique in your overall SEO strategy.

Audit Your Own Website

The first and perhaps most important step is gathering information about your website. There is no point in rushing into examining what your competitors are up to without first getting your own ducks in a row! Collect and analyze data from your own website so that you can use it to make comparisons between you and your competitors. An SEO company in Knoxville can help audit your site, but some of the data that you will want to collect will include:

• The keywords you are currently ranking for & any you want to rank for in the future
• Your current Google rank positions & your ranking position on other search engines
• Data regarding your website visitor traffic, including how many visits, where it comes from, and if it converts!
• Insights from all social media platforms that you use to promote your business
• A clear picture of who your target audience is and what your niche involves

Identify Your Direct Competitors

It is important to analyze data from several of your competitors in order to get a more accurate picture. However, at the same time, you do not want to overwhelm yourself with too much information from large numbers of competing websites. A good number to aim for is around 12 direct competitors. In order to identify your direct competitors, you will want to look for the following identifiers:

1. They are ranking for the same keywords as you
2. They have a similar target audience
3. They operate in the same local area as you

It is important to note that the top-ranking businesses in your niche will be the most difficult to knock off the top spot! An SEO company in Knoxville will probably advise you to target those who are just a little above you in the Google rankings and gradually work your way up the ladder. This means that by the time you reach those top dogs, you will be stronger and able to put up more of a fight!

Find Your Competitors’ Strengths & Weaknesses

While Google uses many different ranking factors to determine who gets the coveted top spots on the Search results page, there is one absolute truth in internet marketing that we have known for many years. Content is King! If your competitors are ranking above you, it is all but guaranteed that they are putting out some quality content. However, nobody strikes the perfect balance 100% of the time, so you need to look for the holes in that content that you can exploit.

• Look at the type of content they are producing. Is there one type that is weaker than the others? For example, are they excellent at long-form content but need to improve when it comes to engaging video content? If you can identify a weakness, you will be able to put more energy into improving your own content of that specific type.
• What are their best ranking pages? Examine those in detail and find out what it is that is working for them. Is it a particular format that appeals to the target audience? Are they converting hot topics that people want to engage with? Whatever the strengths are, identifying them allows you to try and replicate it with your own personal twist!
• Do they have pages that are not ranking well? This could be because the content is out of date or incorrect. You can probably easily outrank them by creating some fresh, accurate content on that topic!

These are just a few of the steps an SEO company in Knoxville will take when incorporating competitor SEO into your marketing strategies. There are many other ways that you can use data from your competitors to improve your online presence.

To Your Best Online!

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Ingrid Maddox, Internet Marketing & Strategy Consultant. bluedress INTERNET MARKETING®, an Internet Marketing Company headquartered in Knoxville, TN. Internet Marketing Developed, Implemented, and Managed to Full Circle! Organic Internet Search Engine Guru. Turn-Key Internet Optimization Programs Placing You Everywhere and Anywhere You Need to Be Online.

ingrid@bluedressinc.com

865-378-7712