If your competition is outranking you online, don’t chalk it up to the luck of the draw or to happenstance. There is a reason the other guy has taken the lead on this one, and data analysis can help you get to the bottom of the matter and hone your competitive edge. There’s more to get out of the data that’s available to you than simply identifying the brand of content for which your target audience clamors. When you analyze data in relation to what readers want and what your hottest competition is providing, it can give your online offerings the boost for which you’re looking.

Mind the Gap

There are gaps between where your digital marketing is at and where you want it to be, and an effective tool that can help you identify these disconnects is with an online tool, such as Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool, to help you – in the words of Semrush – analyze your competitors’ keywords (that you are not ranking for) to discover gaps in your SEO strategy. Those businesses that have you beat in terms of rank are doing something that you are not, and a gap tool can help you pinpoint the keywords that are eluding you. By plugging a range of your top competition into a gap tool, you’ll get the lowdown on where they are ranking, on where you are not, and on where you may be able to gain ground.

Exporting the data generated into Google Sheets allows you to shine a light on the information that is relevant to your cause and to bypass the information that is brand specific. You’re in the market for those keywords for which your competition is ranking on pages two through five – or thereabouts – where you might find some gems that you have the potential to do some serious outranking with (by employing well-crafted and well-positioned content, for example). The magic recipe incorporates high search volume and a low keyword density score (about one to two occurrences of target keywords every 100 words).

Give the People What They Want

You have a good handle on the basic content areas that your customers and potential customers are looking for, but exploring these topics further and fleshing them out can put you ahead of the game. This edge is where topic research tools come in, and again, Semrush has a solid option that allows you unique inroads into and a new perspective regarding your content categories. Your topic research tool will generate keywords that augment what you’re already working with – while exploring the questions that actual users are actually asking in relation to specific keywords. These questions may inspire entirely new content, but they can also help you expand and enrich current content.

Analyzing what’s trending in a specific category – such as top headlines – can sharpen your insight into that category of content. For example, if you see a specific term popping up in top-ranking headline after top-ranking headline, you’re well advised to pay attention – the people have spoken. Let’s say you offer content related to grilling steaks, and you notice that the relevant headlines that rank tend to include a form of the word perfect – there is a good reason for this occurrence that you may want to explore further.

What Makes the Competition Tick?

When you analyze your competition’s content, you get a bird’s eye view of what it is that sets that competitor apart. While this task may strike you as daunting, it needn’t be. The primary steps include:

Gathering about a dozen pieces of each competitor’s top content
Adding the pieces to a spreadsheet that is dedicated to this endeavor
Compiling, consolidating, and analyzing the relevant information gleaned

The kinds of questions you should be asking yourself along the way include:

What is popping out at you regarding their URLs and page titles?
What focused keywords are they using?
What is the average keyword volume?
How long is the content (in relation to specific topics)?
What kind of backlinks are they garnering?

One of the first things to be on the lookout for is those places where your content intersects with your direct competition’s content. This intersection can provide you with a roadmap forward for your own piece – creatively applying the insight you gain to existing content can elevate it considerably.

Reinvent Your Content

The competition has more to teach you than simply what kind of new content you should be generating. Your competitors’ ability to consistently outrank you can help you create a more robust infrastructure for your content, including providing you not only with a window into new avenues of content but also with a deeper understanding of how to enrich your existing content. Don’t underestimate what a savvy new heading or two – that highlights a trending topic amongst your core audience – can do for an article that’s already out there.

I Saw the Sign

Don’t let the competition get you down. Sure, the other guy may be outranking you (right now), but there is a lot of information to be mined from what they have on offer. And there is nothing stopping you from analyzing the heck out of that data and using it to turn the tables. There is valuable information in data, and whether or not you make the most of it is up to you.

A Digital Marketing Professional Has the Savvy to Help

If you are overwhelmed by the sea of digital information out there, you are not alone, but the digital marketing pros at The Web Guys are standing by to help. The competition has a lot to teach you – if you know what you’re looking for, and we know what you’re looking for. The other guy may be ranking above you right now, but there are no brakes on your forward trajectory when you give it your all, and we can help you with that. To learn more about showing the competition how it’s done, give us a call at (317) 805-4933 or contact us today.