12 Tips on How to Run a Competitor Analysis

Running a competitor analysis can help you understand the current landscape of your industry and identify opportunities for growth. By analyzing both your competitors and your own business, you can create a more effective marketing strategy.

In this guide, we’ll review the steps of how to run a competitor analysis.

What Is a Competitor Analysis?

A competitor analysis is a comprehensive review of your competition and how they are performing in relation to your business. A competitor analysis identifies your competition and evaluates their strengths and weaknesses.

This is a critical part of your business and marketing plan. It gives you an in-depth look at what you are up against and helps you build your marketing strategy.

If you are starting a business, a competitor analysis can help you identify opportunities in the market. If you are already in business, a competitor analysis can help you identify areas for improvement in your marketing strategy.

1. Identify Your Competitors

The first step in a competitor analysis is to identify who your competitors are.

If you’re a new business, you may not know who your competitors are. That’s okay. You can start by doing some research to find out who your competitors are.

You can use a tool like Google to find out who is ranking for the keywords related to your business. You can also search for your product or service on social media to see who is talking about it.

If you’re an established business, you probably have a good idea of who your competitors are. However, it’s still a good idea to do some research to make sure you’re not missing anyone.

2. Determine What Keywords Your Competitors Are Targeting 

Keyword research is an important part of any SEO strategy. It can help you identify new content opportunities, optimize your website for search, and more.

By analyzing your competitors’ keyword strategies, you can get a better idea of what keywords you should be targeting and how you can improve your own strategy.

There are a few different ways you can go about this. One of the easiest ways is to use a keyword research tool like SEMrush to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for.

3. Set Up a Backlink Analysis for Your Competitors

Now it’s time to analyze your competitors’ link profiles. A high-quality backlink profile is one of the most important ranking factors for Google.

Backlink analysis will help you understand your competitors’ link building strategies and find out what kind of websites are linking to your competitors.

You can use tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush to analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles.

Just enter your competitors’ domain into the tool and you’ll get a list of all the backlinks to that domain.

You can filter the list by domain authority, anchor text, or other factors to find the most important backlinks.

You can also use the backlink analysis tool to find out what kind of websites are linking to your competitors.

For example, if you’re a local business, you can use the tool to find out what local directories are linking to your competitors and then try to get your business listed on those directories as well.

4. Analyze the Content Your Competitors Are Creating

Content is king in the digital age. That’s why it’s so important to take a look at the type of content your competitors are producing and how they’re using it to attract and engage their audience.

There are a few ways you can do this.

First, take a look at the different types of content on your competitor’s website. Do they have a blog? Is there a video content? Do they have downloadable resources?

Next, take a look at the topics your competitors are covering in their content. Are there any trends you see? Do they have a unique angle on a topic that you could use as inspiration for your own content?

Finally, take a look at how your competitors are promoting their content. Are they using social media? Email marketing? SEO? By taking a look at how they’re promoting their content, you can get a better idea of where your audience spends time online.

Once you’ve gathered this information, you can use it to inform your own content strategy.

5. Monitor Your Competitors’ Social Media Activity

Social media is one of the most important channels for businesses to connect with their audience. It’s also a great way for businesses to connect with their customers.

If your competitors are using social media to connect with their audience, you should be too. Social media is a great way to engage with your audience, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your website.

But, if your competitors are using social media to connect with their audience, you should be too. Social media is a great way to engage with your audience, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your website.

To monitor your competitors’ social media activity, you can use a social media monitoring tool like Hootsuite.

With Hootsuite, you can monitor your competitors’ social media activity, track mentions of their brand, and monitor their followers. This will give you a good idea of what your competitors are up to on social media and how you can use that to your advantage.

6. Check Your Competitors’ Traffic

Website traffic is a great way to measure how well your competitors are doing.

If you see a competitor’s website traffic is growing, it means they are getting more visitors. If you see their traffic is declining, it may mean they are losing customers.

Use tools like Ahrefs, SimilarWeb, or SEMrush to see how much traffic your competitors are getting.

7. Evaluate the Target Audience of Your Competitors

The target audience is the group of people that a business is trying to reach with its products and services. When you’re conducting a competitive analysis, it’s important to evaluate the target audience of your competitors.

By understanding who your competitors are trying to reach, you can get a better idea of who your potential customers are. You can also use this information to create more targeted marketing campaigns.

To evaluate the target audience of your competitors, look at the types of customers they are trying to reach. You can do this by looking at their website, social media profiles, and other marketing materials.

8. Analyze the Landing Pages of Your Competitors

The landing page is the first page a website visitor sees when they click on an ad or a search result link.

Your competitors can have multiple landing pages on their website, so it’s important to analyze which ones are driving the most traffic and conversions.

To do this, you can use tools like SEMrush to view the top landing pages for your competitors. You can also use the “pages” report in Google Analytics to see which pages on your competitor’s site are getting the most traffic.

Once you’ve identified the top landing pages, take a look at the design, layout, and content of those pages. Are there any common elements that you can incorporate into your own landing pages? Additionally, consider testing how these pages perform across different browsers and devices. With a responsive checker tool, you can assess cross-browser compatibility and responsiveness, ensuring that your own landing pages offer an optimal user experience across all platforms.”

9. Monitor the Prices of Your Competitors

In the world of e-commerce, consumers have the luxury of being able to compare prices from multiple businesses in a matter of minutes. This is why it’s important for e-commerce businesses to keep a close eye on the prices of their competitors and consider price matching strategies.

If a competitor is selling the same product as you for a lower price, it’s likely that you’ll lose sales. On the other hand, if you notice that a competitor is selling a product for a higher price than you are, you may want to consider raising your price as well.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to constantly change your prices to match those of your competitors. Instead, use their prices as a guide and make changes as needed.

10. Investigate the Online Reputation of Your Competitors

The online reputation of a business is very important. With social media and review websites, it’s easy for customers to leave feedback about a business for the world to see.

In fact, 90% of customers think reviews are more important than what a salesperson tells them. . So, it’s likely that your potential customers are researching your business and your competitors’ businesses online.

As part of your competitor analysis, you should take a look at the online reputation of your competitors. This includes their social media profiles, review websites, and any other places where customers might be leaving feedback about their business.

This will give you a good idea of what customers are saying about your competitors, and it will help you identify any potential weaknesses in their online reputation that you can use to your advantage.

11. Analyze the Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Competitors

Finally, one of the most important parts of your competitor analysis is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

This will help you to get a better idea of how your competitors are doing and how you can position your business to stand out from the competition.

When analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, you should evaluate things like:

• Their product offering

• Their pricing

• Their marketing and advertising efforts

• Their customer service

• Their website and online presence

• Their social media profiles and activity

12. Develop an Action Plan

Now that you’ve identified your competitors and analyzed their tactics, it’s time to put together a plan of your own.

Based on the information you’ve gathered, what are the weaknesses in your competitors’ strategies? How can you use that to your advantage?

What are the strengths in your competitors’ strategies? How can you improve your own strategies to compete with them?

What are the opportunities you’ve identified? How can you take advantage of them?

What are the threats you’ve identified? How can you protect your business against them?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you can put together an action plan that outlines what you need to do to compete effectively.

Conclusion

A competitor analysis can help you learn the ins and outs of how your competitors are operating, and give you a strategic advantage. Use these tips and tools to get the information you need to improve your own business.