An SEO strategy focused on industry keywords and trending searches is important to your online success. One of the most often overlooked facets of these strategies is competitor analysis. Have you implemented this into yours? Today we’re breaking down what competitive keyword analysis is, why it matters, and how to do it. Get ready to take your business to the next level!

What is Competitive Keyword Analysis?

When researching keywords many new to SEO will simply think what they would search if looking for their page optimize for those terms. And that’s a good start. It guarantees that you’ll hit the basics. But you can learn a lot more by analyzing your competitor’s keywords. Competitive keyword analysis is the auditing of competitors’ sites to discover search terms for which they rank and that users are using as stepping stones to your competitors’ sites. It is easier than it sounds and can open your page up to more traffic when done well.

Why You Should Audit Your Competitors’ Keywords

While targeting keywords that are industry and good and service-specific are important, competitive keyword analysis achieves three things imperative to your strategy. It highlights keywords you haven’t thought of, alerts you to opportunities, and can help you save money.

Benefit #1: I Didn’t Think of That!

Let’s say you sell sporting goods at a brick and mortar shop on Main St. in Anytown, USA. Chances are you’ve optimized for keywords like “sporting goods Anytown” and “sports equipment Anytown”. When you research your competition’s keywords, though, you discover that they are using brand information, a nearby city, and sports that are currently in season while you stay more general to cast a wider net. Looking at competitors’ keywords has alerted you to areas of the market you may have overlooked. An SEO strategy that casts both wide and narrow nets is best so diversify by adding more landing pages and content that will draw attention to your site.

Benefit #2: Corner the Market

Seeking out your competitors’ keywords will also alert you to low competition terms that you can add to your growing list of optimized keywords. We’ll get into this in the next section but just remember this: low competition keywords mean you can knock the low hanging fruit off of page one if you optimize your site and regularly update it.

Benefit #3: Save Money and Spend Wisely

If your shop is in town with a Cabella’s, REI and EMS there are certain keywords you won’t compete with. While you can still optimize for these organically, save money by eliminating these keywords and keyword phrases from your pay-per-click advertising campaign. Instead, invest in local and other specific searches as well as low competition searches the big guys have overlooked. You’ll rank for those sometimes, even when the big guys don’t.

Tune In Next Week

Next week we’ll teach you a simple, five-step method for conducting a competitive keyword analysis that won’t overwhelm you but will help you up your SEO game.