Competitor Keyword Research & SEO Audit Tools

How to find a competitors online marketing strategy

The best way to boost your search optimization game is by using SEO tools to perform keyword research on your competitor’s website. First, though, you must reveal who your top Google ranked competitors are by performing a search of your company category locally.

To find competitors website, search your category of business and location in the search bar.  A list of Google ranked websites will populate. Is your business placed below your competitor’s on the page?  If so, you are ranked lower than your competitor and need to work to improve your ranking.

You can do this by finding specific words on your competitor’s website and re-using them.  This SEO strategy will help you gain a competitive edge in the search results and ultimately drive more customers to your business. Join us as  online marketing Chatham-Kent, we explore what competitor keyword research is and the tools to find those crucial keywords.

Competitor Keyword Research

There are two types of competitor’s keywords. They are the keywords in their writing that rank them well in search results AND keywords that they are targeting but have failed to rank well for.  Not only can this valuable research inform your SEO keyword strategy but locating and implementing this information in your own writing is the key to helping you rise above your competitors in the SEO rankings!

4 Ways to Use Competitor Keyword Research:

1. Research and use your competitor’s keywords to compete for rankings in the same search results.
2. Find and begin targeting keywords that have not yet been targeted by competitors.
3. Discover broad terms (words that have wider meaning) used by your target market that you hadn’t thought of yourself.
4. Determine why your competitor’s website ranks above yours for broad keywords.

How to perform an SEO Audit to Find Competitor’s Keywords 

When trying to find competitor’s keywords, first you must determine how to find keywords on a webpage. While there is not a single one-click SEO auditing tool available to find them, there are a few accessible tools used to smooth out and speed up the research process. Before searching for one that generates a list with a few clicks, do some manual digging on your own.

SEO Competitor Website Analysis Tools

1. Uncovering The HTML Page Source of Your Competitor’s Website

• Open your Internet browser and find competitor’s website.
• Choose any page on the website, right-click on that page and click “view page source”  A window should appear displaying the HTML page source.
• View the code for the keywords in the title tag, the meta description, the optional keywords tag, and any image title tags or alt tags. (Not all websites use the keywords tag, but it’s worth checking.)

2. Use The Screaming Frog Spider SEO Audit Tool

There are quite a few free online competitor analysis tools but we recommend for you to use the Screaming Frog Spider SEO audit tool. It is a leading program trusted by thousands of SEO agencies worldwide for reliable results.

• Download the Screaming Frog Spider software
• Perform a simple SEO audit on your competitor’s website
• Allow this program to crawl the site the way a search engine does
• Receive loads of information including meta data, image alt text, anchor text, heading text and much more. All Installed Plugins of these components point to the keywords your competitor is targeting.

3. Access the Google Keyword Planner SEO Auditing Tool

A free Google account is all you need to access the free Google Keyword Planner Tool in the Google AdWords interface.

• Login or sign up for a free Google account on the upper right hand side of your Google search page.
• Log into AdWords (the link above), navigate to the Keyword Planner, and locate the “Find new keywords” option.
• Select “Search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category”.
• Once you’ve opened the form, click on the text field under “Your landing page” and enter your competitor’s URL,  then click “Get ideas”.
• Google will now take a moment to crawl that URL and generate a list of keywords related to both the page and the website as a whole.
• Let Google finish and displays your results.
• Click the “Keyword ideas” tab below the graph to see your list of competitor keywords.

More SEO Auditing Tools for Competitor Keyword Research

A quick online search can reveal many online competitor website analysis tools available. These can provide a list of your competitor’s pay per click (PPC) keywords (for AdWords, Bing Ads, etc.). Consider using a top keyword spy tool called SpyFu (free or premium), SEMRush (free or premium), and the Google AdWords’ Opportunities tab (free) in the AdWords interface. More tools are listed below.

• Alexa Competitive Analysis (free or premium)
• BuzzSumo (free or premium)
• Moz Open Site Explorer (free or premium)
• Moz Keyword Difficulty and SERP Analysis Tool (premium with free 30-day trial)
• SERPs Keyword Rank Checker & SERP Checker (premium with free 30-day trial)

This may all seem a bit complicated but don’t let the task of competitor keyword research discourage you from the process. Watching your site jump up in the rankings is an extremely satisfying achievement and truly legitimizes your company. As you have read, there are many competitor SEO tools to assist you. If this entire process sounds too trying or you’re not sure what to do with your competitor’s keywords once you’ve discovered them, companies like Volume Nine can help you make the most out of the SEO tools and the research process. Contact us today with questions, leave your thoughts below in the comment section and feel free to share below any other ways to perform competitor keyword research with London ON seo firm.