SEO Competitive Analysis: A How-to-Guide [Template]
This guide walks you through the process of performing a comprehensive SEO competitive analysis to identify target keywords and opportunities for your campaign.
Why Competitive Analysis Matters
While analyzing your competitor's SEO is important, it's more important not to obsess over it. There are many algorithmic factors that can't be seen or known about, making it impossible to completely reverse engineer a competitor's success. Use competitive analysis as a starting point, not a blueprint.
Finding Your SEO Competitors
You need to find websites who occupy attainable SERP real estate at the keyword level — the ones you're competing against for organic exposure in Google, rather than just your business competitors. SEMRush's Competitors report displays websites ranking for the same keywords as you and gives you a list of competitors and the SERP real estate they occupy.
The Analysis Process
The competitive analysis template involves picking 3 competitors to analyze using a 9-step process. This structured approach ensures consistent and thorough analysis across all competitors.
Backlink Analysis
For backlinks analysis, you use Ahrefs with the "Backlinks" report, filtered for "One Link Per Domain" and "DOFOLLOW" only. This helps you identify the most valuable link opportunities from your competitors' profiles.
Template and Workflow
The competitive analysis includes a template to be filled out by a VA and a strategy deck to be built in-house by an SEO analyst. This division of labor makes the process scalable for agencies handling multiple clients.
Using the Data
The chart helps identify websites the algorithm believes are best for target queries. Use this data to inform your keyword targeting, content strategy, and link building priorities.