First steps in competitor research and SEO

Search engine optimization is the process of optimizing a website and making it rank well in the search engine results pages (SERPs). When you are a new business, there are bound to be established and powerful names in your particular industry already. For you to succeed in your market, it is necessary you be better than your competitors. Only if you beat your competition and make your website appear higher than their websites can you seek to taste online success.

Otherwise you would just be another unknown name in the industry. To rank better than your competitors, you will first need to reach their level and do what they do well. Next, you will need to slightly better the procedures to steer ahead. Here are some tips to do the same.

Identify your Competitors
Enter the keywords and key phrases that you have determined for your website in the search engines and note the results. The websites which rank well for your chosen keywords are your competitors. Examine their websites closely and look for other keywords that they have chosen. This will help broaden your reach and identify key areas of competition.

Check Their Backlinks
Perform a backlink search for all the competitor websites and see where they acquire their backlinks. Try to contact these places and get backlinks for your site as well. You will not be able to score well with all the places because your competitors might be established names in the industry. However, it is a good point from which to start your search engine optimization process.

Scan the content of Your competitors' sites
Thoroughly examine the contents of the web pages of your competitors and note the following points:

• Number of pages on the site
• Number of words on the web page that you are competing with
• Internal link structure of the website

The number of pages on the site and the number of words on the web pages will give you an idea about how much content you need to place on your site to match theirs. Don't judge just by a couple of sites. Rather, look at at least 5 to 10 well established sites belonging to your industry and look for ideas for your own site. By studying the sites closely, you can acquire some valuable tips on how they made their sites rank well.

Look at the Quality of Web Pages
Apart from the number of web pages on the site, look at their quality as well. High-ranking websites not only have search engine friendly content but also user focused content. That is what drives in high volumes of Internet traffic that in turn pleases the search engines as well. Success causes more success. Apart from regular pages like About Us, Products & Services and Contact Us pages, they may also have valuable resources such as articles and a corresponding blog to provide their online audience with valuable information about the industry. Do the same thing on your site and try to make your articles and blog posts richer than theirs, both in terns of information and keyword density. The quality of your articles will attract heavy traffic and you can acquire natural backlinks.

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