Most content marketing teams know that it’s important to keep tabs on the competition. Writing about topics that are too similar to your competitors, for example, can prevent you from ranking well in search engines.
So how do you keep an eye on what your competitors are up to without wasting tons of time in the process? By using content analysis tools!
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Understand the Importance of Analysis |
| 2. Identify Competitors and Their Content |
| 3. Evaluate Content Quality and Relevance |
| 4. Analyze Distribution Channels |
| 5. Study Audience Engagement Metrics |
| 6. Extract Actionable Insights |
| 7. Regularly Update Your Analysis |
| 8. Refine Your Content Strategy Accordingly |
Search Your Competitors By Name
To start, you’ll want to search your competitors by name. You can do this in Google using the following operator: site:yourcompetitor.com (e.g., “site:reddit.com/r/funny”). This will give you a list of all the pages on their website that contain the word “Reddit.”
From here, you can see what people are saying about them online and what keywords they rank for (which is a valuable insight into what content they’re producing) by searching for those terms with quotes on Google.
For example, if I wanted to find out how many times someone has mentioned Reddit on Twitter or Facebook in their last 100 posts, I would type “Reddit” into Google followed by “100”.
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Visit Their Website To See What They Publish
The first thing you should do is visit your competitor’s website. You’re going to want to know what kind of content they publish, how often, and what topics they cover.
What style does their writing have? Is it very technical? Or does it use a conversational tone?
How much content do they produce each month? Do you think that’s enough for them to be successful at the level that they’re at right now?
Is there room for improvement there? (You’ll want to find out how much time their writers spend on researching, creating, and publishing this content.)
What format do they use: blog posts or ebooks/reports/etc.? How long are those pieces in general — one thousand words or twenty-five thousand words? What quality of images have they used so far; if any at all!
Audit Their Backlink Profile To See How They Build Links
To audit your competitor’s backlink profile, you’ll need to use a backlink analysis tool.
I recommend Ahrefs, which is my personal favorite for link-building research. It provides the most comprehensive data on where your competitors are getting links from and who is linking to them.
With this information, you can determine what strategies they’re using to build their links and then figure out how you can leverage those same strategies for your site.
Ahrefs also has some great tools that let you compare two different websites’ link profiles side by side so that you can see who’s linking more than whom:
Rank Tracker – This tool shows you what keywords each site ranks for in Google search results so that it’s easy to spot where there might be room for improvement (or just plain copying).
Link Intersect – This tool makes it easy to see which sites link both of yours together but not each other (which means those links probably aren’t worth pursuing).
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Look At The Content They Share On Social Media
Social media is a great place to see how your competitors are engaging with consumers. For example, you can look at the content they share on social media and how often they share it. You should also consider the following questions:
- What kind of content do they share?
- How many times do they post per week/month, etc.?
- How many followers do they have and how many people are reached by their posts?
- How many likes do their posts get?
You may have noticed that we didn’t mention anything about shares although that number is important too, it doesn’t tell us everything we need to know about a competitor’s strategy.
For example, if one competitor has 100k followers but only gets 5 shares for every post while another competitor has 10k followers but gets 30 shares for every post, then clearly there are other factors at play here besides just follower size (like quality).
Find Out What People Say About Them On Twitter
Twitter is a great place to find out what people are saying about your competitors. Here’s how:
Search for your competitor’s name. Then, look at the recent tweets (1-2 days old is best). You can also look at all tweets that link to their website or landing page by clicking on the hyperlink next to their name in the search results column.
Identify Influencers Who Promote Their Brand
Monitor influencer mentions on social media, blogs, and other channels. Look at the quality of their content, as well as their speed and consistency.
Study the layout and design of their digital assets to see if they have any commonalities that may help you establish a framework for your marketing efforts.
Track their social media presence through Klout or BuzzSumo to see if they’re active on a given platform where you want to be present.
Finally, monitor keyword usage to get an idea of what people are searching for when it comes to this particular topic area; this information can help you identify gaps in coverage that might exist within your content strategy (and potentially fill them with some great new pieces!)
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Get Alerts When They Publish Something New Online
You can set up Google Alerts to get alerts whenever your competitors publish new content. You’ll get an email with a link to each new article, and you can also view the list of all their recent articles in one place.
Google Alerts is super easy to use; just enter your competitor’s web address into the search bar at https://www.google.com/alerts and click “Create Alert.” You can even set up alerts for multiple companies at once if you want!
You don’t need any fancy tools just use Google Alerts!
Read And Subscribe To Their Newsletter
Read their newsletter. You can learn a lot about your competitor’s content marketing strategy just by reading their newsletter.
What type of articles are they publishing? How often are they publishing them? How long are the articles, and how many resources do they have to support that length?
Subscribe to their newsletter. If you’re already subscribed to the email list of another business, it may be worth subscribing to your competitor’s as well so you can compare what types of content tactics work best for each business from week to week and month to month.
Know Where They Stand
Knowing how your competitors rank is a key part of understanding their content marketing strategy. There are two main ways you can go about this:
Use SEMRush or Moz, which will show you the organic search results for any query related to your niche. You can then see how many pages each site has indexed for that query and what position they’re in.
The only downside is that these tools aren’t very good at detecting paid traffic (SEMRush does have an option for this), so if there is significant paid traffic from Facebook ads or AdWords campaigns on one website, it could skew the results.
Use Ahrefs Site Explorer to look at the domain authority and page authority of each competitor’s most important pages.
If a page has a high DA/PA score (I’d say above 50), then it’s likely going to rank well for competitive keywords on Google and Bing without much effort from the owner of that particular piece of content.
This approach doesn’t take into account social media engagement or any other ranking factors though – just pure link-building power!
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Use Competitor Monitoring Tool To Track Your Competitors’ Rankings In Organic And Paid Search
Another great way to track your competitor’s content marketing strategy is by using a tool like SEMrush.
SEMrush is an all-in-one SEO tool that will help you with the following:
Track your competitors’ organic and paid search results (I love this feature because it allows me to see how my competitors are doing in terms of their SERP rankings)
Track your competitors’ social media presence (I use this feature to see what content they are sharing or posting on social media)
Track your competitors’ content marketing strategy (This feature allows me to see which types of content they are publishing on different channels, so I can adapt my strategies based on what works for them)
Look At The Quality Of Their Content
You’ll want to make sure that they’re using high-quality images and videos. Check their spelling, grammar, and formatting. Is there keyword stuffing? Does it look like they plagiarized content from elsewhere on the web? Are there broken links regularly?
One thing that many websites do wrong is that they won’t use internal links within their site, or they’ll forget to link outwards to other sites in their industry, or worse still: those pages don’t contain any backlinks at all!
This can seriously affect the traffic coming into your site, as well as how well you rank for various keywords in search engines like Google and Bing.
Measure Their Speed And Consistency
Another great way to measure your competitors’ content marketing strategy is by measuring their speed and consistency.
Many businesses are already tracking this information, but you can use it to your advantage. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- When should we publish our next piece of content?
- How often should we publish new content on social media?
- How often should we update our existing blog posts with new information or improvements?
- How often should we update the latest news on our website homepage?
Study Their Layout And Design
You should also pay attention to the layout and design of your competitors’ sites since they can tell you a great deal about how they market themselves. Does their site have a consistent layout?
Are their headlines clear and easy to read? Are they using images that are relevant and attractive, or do they look cheap, cheesy, or outdated? These are all questions you’ll want to ask yourself as you scroll through competitor content marketing strategies.
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Track Their Social Media Presence
- Find out what their followers think of them by reading the comments on their posts.
- What are they talking about? Look at their content and see if you can find any common themes or topics that they’re covering more than others.
- What are they sharing? If you’ve found a theme in their content, try to figure out why that topic is important to them and whether it’s resonating with the audience.
- How are they engaging with their audience? Check out their social media bios and see how they interact with people who comment on their posts.
- Do they answer questions or respond positively to criticism?
- Does it seem like there’s any sort of community between them and the followers who engage most often with them online (and vice versa)?
- What do all these things tell us about how we should approach our strategy when it comes time for us to publish new content marketing pieces onto our website or blog pages?
Monitor Keyword Usage
You’ve identified your competitors’ keywords. Now it’s time to monitor their keyword usage and see how they’re using them in the real world.
You can do this by setting up Google alerts for the same keywords that you found in your competitor’s content marketing strategy report above. This way, you will be notified as soon as any new content is published on these topics.
Conclusion
I hope that you’ve gotten a lot out of this article, and I hope it helps you to create more effective content marketing strategies for your own business. I’ve tried to cover everything in one place so that you don’t have to go scouring the internet looking for answers elsewhere on the web.
If you want to get started today or if anything still feels unclear then feel free to contact me directly at [email protected] and I will be happy to point you in the right direction.
Further Reading
Expand your knowledge about competitive content analysis with these insightful resources:
Competitive Content Marketing Analysis: A Comprehensive GuideDelve into the intricacies of competitive content analysis and learn how it can reshape your marketing strategy.
Mastering Competitive Content Analysis: Unveiling Key InsightsGain mastery over competitive content analysis techniques and uncover valuable insights to outperform your rivals.
Unlocking Success with Competitive Content AnalysisDiscover the secrets to unlocking success through competitive content analysis and stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
FAQs
What is competitive content analysis?
Competitive content analysis is the process of evaluating and comparing your content strategies with those of your competitors to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
How does competitive content analysis benefit businesses?
Competitive content analysis helps businesses gain insights into their competitors’ strategies, enabling them to refine their own content approaches and stand out in the market.
What are the key steps in conducting a competitive content analysis?
Conducting a competitive content analysis involves identifying competitors, evaluating their content quality, analyzing their distribution channels, studying their audience engagement, and extracting actionable insights.
Is competitive content analysis only about content quality?
No, competitive content analysis encompasses various aspects such as content topics, keywords, distribution platforms, social engagement, and backlink strategies, providing a holistic view of your competitors’ approach.
How often should I perform competitive content analysis?
Regularly conducting competitive content analysis is beneficial, especially when launching new campaigns or when there are significant changes in the industry landscape. It ensures your strategies remain relevant and effective.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.