How to Conduct a Competitive SEO Audit to Outrank Industry Rivals

A lot of marketers are interested in keeping tabs on their competitors'search engine optimization (SEO)。而且这是有道理的 - 无论您是刚开始使用SEO还是曾经使用过一段时间，您都希望清楚地了解搜索引擎结果页面（SERP）中的竞争格局，以便您知道自己站在的位置，以及您需要做多少工作才能看到一些进展。

So ... do you know who shows up, and where, in the SERPs? Do you know how your competitors' SEO strategies should impact yours? Do you know what kinds of questions you should even be asking about their organic search strategy? Well, as you might have guessed, we're about to talk about how to do all of this stuff. Dive in to learn how to perform your own competitive SEO analysis!

5个简单的步骤来执行您自己的竞争性SEO分析

Articulate your buyer personas.

要了解您想如何在SERP中脱颖而出，您必须首先了解您的买家角色。您要解决什么疼痛点？结果，这将如何影响他们如何在SERP中找到您？他们会使用有机搜索在购买周期的特定阶段找到您吗？他们将使用什么术语来找到您？是行业术语，还是他们使用更多的描述性短语来了解它们的含义？

这些信息将有助于您清楚地了解您的“做” SEO的整个目标……更重要的是，它是什么不是。这意味着您的竞争对手会击败您的关键字和主题 - 并且您对他们的击败完全很酷 - 因为这不是您的角色目标策略的一部分。

Once you've thought this all through, you'll be in the best position to move on to the next step of yourcompetitive SEO audit如果您有一个关键字和主题列表，您认为这对于达到买家角色和产生潜在客户最重要。

Identify key competitors.

很有可能已经完成了 - 很少见，我遇到了一家对竞争对手没有掌握的业务。但是，此列表couldbe a little less than comprehensive, so it's your job to stay ahead of the game and see if there are new competitors emerging, or some you had never considered that are edging you out in the SERPs more than you might have expected.

那么，您如何做到这一点？这全都是关于knowing who's in your space。这意味着一些研究。了解谁在您的空间中的最简单方法是在Google上搜索您的关键字。搜索您的顶级关键字短语 - 短而长的尾巴 - 以查看这些短语中的SERP中列出了谁。周围的人可能是竞争对手，因为您实际上是在搜索结果中争夺点击。

另外，不要以为仅仅因为您在第1页上的位置3，就会永远存在。完全了解谁出现在您下面以及后续页面上。您可能很快发现第2页上的某人越来越接近您的最高位置。

Additional ways to find competitors include:

• Looking at other search engines. Bing may show you some competitors that Google missed, especially on the paid side.
• 探索社交媒体用户和团体。社交媒体可以帮助您找到您可能想保持标签的新竞争对手。
• 注册谷歌警报to monitor mentions of your keywords, which may unearth other potential competitors.
• 与您的销售团队交谈和倾听。他们将一直从潜在客户那里获得有关竞争格局的见解。

探索比赛的样子。

Now that you have a more comprehensive list of your true competitors, it's time to assess what they're doing that could impact your SEO strategy. Are they selling the same vision? What are their products and/or services? Are their buyer personas like yours? Are they addressing similar personas in a different way than you? What topics are they writing about, and at what volume?

帮助您这样做的工具和策略包括：

• Searching for branded keywords inGoogle趋势;与竞争对手相比，这将为您带来极大的趋势。
• 注册谷歌警报监视您的竞争对手。
• 使用Open Site Explorer我你的竞争对手的链接图——网站s are linking to them, and roughly how many inbound links to they have.
• 使用建造to see what kind of tools a business may be employing. For example, you can easily identify which websites use shopping carts, what type of analytics they're using, etc.
• 使用competitive intelligence tools like集线器这使您可以针对无限量的不同网站绘制趋势模式。

最后，这里有更多信息其他竞争情报工具as written up byAvinash Kaushik。

Compete, but don't copy.

曾经看过一个非常瘦的人吞噬披萨，想知道他们怎么能以这种方式吃东西，而且看起来仍然很棒吗？您的网站也是如此。您永远不会100％确定什么是在竞争对手网站上工作或不起作用 -尤其what exactly is driving results. I mean, just because they hold the top position for, say, "unicorn hairstyles" doesn't mean they're generating any leads and customers from it. Know what I mean?

您需要做的就是与众不同。如果您没有什么不同，那就一样。在搜索引擎眼中的“相同”意味着冗余，很有可能被视为重复的内容，并且根本没有出现在搜索中的相关风险。

Being different also opens the door to make you a better, new, more tasty alternative to your competitors' SERP listings. This is particularly true for niche businesses. The more niche you are, the more important it is for you to diversify. You have to demonstrate uniqueness in order to compete, and you have to stand out among the crowd. Create genuinely remarkable content, products, and services, and stand by them.

So don't copy keywords from things like page titles or other content just because a competitor is ranking for it. Be concerned with the keywords that drive results or your business. Similarly, don't aim to go after all the links they have, or spend money on ads just because they do it. Remember, the point of竞争性审核is not to copy tactics and strategies, it's to position yourself appropriately in your space.

Define what sustained success looks like for you.

因此，您已经知道SEO与空间中的竞争对手同在的位置，甚至开始根据此英特尔进行一些主题和关键字调整。接下来是什么？

Well, the whole point of competitive analysis and the intelligence that you gather is to help you make informed decisions. Think about how you will use this information -- whether it be for your content strategy, product or service positioning, social engagement tactics, etc. -- all of which help with your SEO in the long run. So if a better balance of topics is what's unearthed from your competitive audit, that's where you can place resources to see sustained SEO success. Wherever you choose to allocate your resources, this is where you should hold you and your team accountable in the long-term for accomplishing -- driving results that make SEO one of your most important marketing channels.

您如何保持竞争对手的SEO策略？

图片来源：JD Hancock