Semrush Competitor Analysis 2024 (How To Do Competitor Analysis In SEO)

Summary

In this video, the host offers a comprehensive guide on performing SEO competitor analysis using Semrush. Key areas covered include evaluating backlinks and identifying valuable keywords. The tutorial showcases how to assess a competitor's domain authority and backlink profile, highlighting the importance of relevant and non-spammy links. Additionally, the host demonstrates how to find low-hanging fruit in organic keywords, focusing on those with low keyword difficulty for easier ranking. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to try Semrush for free via an affiliate link.

Takeaways

• 📕 The video is a tutorial on using SEMrush for competitor analysis in SEO, highlighting the importance of backlinks and keywords.
• 💵 The presenter uses 'Popular AIT tools' as an example domain to demonstrate the analysis process.
• 💲 The video emphasizes checking a competitor's backlink profile and authority score to determine the quality and relevance of their backlinks.
• 💴 The presenter advises focusing on active and dofollow backlinks for SEO value, while being cautious of spammy or low-quality links.
• 💳 The tutorial suggests filtering organic keywords by keyword difficulty (KD) to find 'low-hanging fruit' or easy-to-rank keywords.
• 💰 The video explains how to identify transactional and navigational keywords, such as those including 'pricing', which can be valuable for generating leads and sales.
• 💱 The presenter shares strategies for capitalizing on keywords that competitors may be neglecting, especially those with lower search volumes.
• 💷 The tutorial encourages using SEMrush's organic research tool to find and analyze keywords that competitors rank for.
• 💸 The video provides insights on how to leverage review articles and address common questions (like 'is it free?' or 'is it legit?') to target specific long-tail keywords.
• 💶 The presenter suggests engaging with Reddit threads and other platforms to drive traffic to articles and potentially monetize through ads or affiliate links.
• 💼 The video concludes with a reminder of the value of competitor analysis in SEO and encourages viewers to try SEMrush with a provided affiliate link for a free trial.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video?

The video focuses on teaching viewers how to perform competitor analysis for SEO using the SEMrush tool.

What are the two key areas to consider when doing competitor analysis for SEO?

The two key areas to consider are backlinks and keywords.

Why is it important to look at a competitor's backlinks?

Backlinks are important because they can provide insights into the quality and relevance of the links, and potentially reveal opportunities for acquiring valuable backlinks.

What does the authority score indicate in SEMrush?

The authority score in SEMrush indicates the strength of a domain's backlink profile, with a higher score signifying a stronger profile.

Why might a high number of backlinks not be desirable?

A high number of backlinks might not be desirable if they come from spammy or low-quality sources, which can negatively impact SEO efforts.

What is meant by 'low-hanging fruit' in the context of organic keywords?

In the context of organic keywords, 'low-hanging fruit' refers to keywords that are relatively easy to rank for, often due to lower keyword difficulty.

Why are 'transactional' keywords valuable?

Transactional keywords are valuable because they often indicate a user's intent to purchase, making them more likely to convert into customers.

How can the keyword 'copymatic pricing' be beneficial for SEO?

The keyword 'copymatic pricing' is beneficial for SEO because it is transactional, indicating that users are likely looking to make a purchase, and it has a lower keyword difficulty, making it easier to rank for.

What is the significance of 'free trial' keywords in the context of the video?

Keywords related to 'free trials' are significant because they can attract users who are interested in trying a product or service without commitment, potentially leading to conversions.

How can analyzing a competitor's organic keywords help in SEO strategy?

Analyzing a competitor's organic keywords can help identify gaps in the market and opportunities for ranking by targeting keywords that competitors are not optimizing for.

What is the role of the SEMrush affiliate link mentioned in the video?

The SEMrush affiliate link is provided for viewers to get a free trial of the tool, allowing them to follow along with the tutorial and potentially benefit from using SEMrush for their own SEO efforts.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Introduction to Competitor Analysis with SEMrush

The speaker introduces a tutorial on using SEMrush for SEO competitor analysis. They suggest using an affiliate link for a free trial to follow along. The focus is on analyzing backlinks and keywords, starting with a case study of a popular AI tools website. The presenter explains the importance of checking a competitor's domain authority, organic traffic, and backlink profile. They emphasize the significance of referring domains and the quality of backlinks, suggesting that not all backlinks are valuable. The tutorial encourages a critical examination of backlinks, using ChatGPT as an example of a site with high authority but potentially low-quality links.

05:01

📈 Evaluating Competitor's Backlinks and Keyword Opportunities

The speaker continues the tutorial by diving into the competitor's backlinks, looking for active and do-follow links that provide SEO value. They demonstrate how to sort and filter backlinks by domain authority and discuss the potential issues with low-quality links. The presenter then shifts to exploring organic keywords, emphasizing the pursuit of 'low-hanging fruit' keywords that are easier to rank for. They guide viewers on how to filter keywords by keyword difficulty (KD) and target those with lower KD scores. The summary also touches on the value of transactional and navigational keywords, particularly those related to pricing, which can generate leads and be profitable for advertising.

10:03

🌐 Discovering Untapped Keyword Opportunities in the AI Niche

The tutorial moves on to identifying keyword opportunities within the AI niche. The speaker highlights the advantage of targeting less competitive keywords related to AI tools and software. They discuss the effectiveness of going after keywords with lower search volumes that competitors may be overlooking. The presenter provides examples of such keywords, including those related to pricing, free trials, and legitimacy inquiries. They also suggest leveraging Reddit threads and other platforms to drive traffic to content optimized for these keywords. The summary underscores the potential for newcomers to gain traction by targeting niche-specific, less competitive keywords.

15:04

👋 Conclusion and Call to Action

In the final paragraph, the speaker, James, wraps up the tutorial by summarizing the key points covered: the importance of backlinks and keywords in competitor analysis. He invites viewers to ask questions in the comments and promises to respond. James also reminds viewers of the affiliate link for a free trial of SEMrush, encouraging them to try the tool for their own competitor analysis.

Keywords

💡Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analysis refers to the process of evaluating an organization's competitors to gain insights into their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. In the context of the video, the presenter uses SEMrush to analyze a competitor's SEO performance, focusing on backlinks and keywords. This analysis helps in understanding what strategies the competitor is using to rank well in search engines and identifying potential opportunities to improve one's own SEO.

💡SEMrush

SEMrush is a digital marketing tool that provides various features for SEO, PPC, competitive research, and marketing analytics. In the video, the presenter uses SEMrush to conduct a competitor analysis, demonstrating how to access data on backlinks, organic traffic, and keyword rankings. SEMrush is portrayed as an essential tool for understanding where competitors are getting their traffic and what strategies they are employing.

💡Backlinks

Backlinks, also known as inbound links, are links from one website to another. They are a crucial aspect of SEO as they help search engines determine the importance and credibility of a website. In the video, the presenter examines the competitor's backlinks to assess their quality and relevance, looking for potential opportunities to acquire similar links or identify poor-quality links that might be harming the competitor's SEO.

💡Organic Traffic

Organic Traffic refers to the visitors who come to a website through search engines without any form of paid advertising. The script mentions that the competitor has 7.4k organic search traffic, indicating that a significant portion of their website traffic comes from search engines. This metric is important for understanding the effectiveness of the competitor's SEO strategy.

💡Authority Score

Authority Score is a metric used by SEMrush to estimate a website's ability to rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). It is based on the number and quality of backlinks a website has. In the video, the presenter checks the competitor's Authority Score to gauge the strength of their backlink profile and determine if it's above average or not.

💡Referring Domains

Referring Domains are the unique websites that link to a particular website. The script mentions that the competitor has 538 referring domains, which implies that there are numerous sources driving traffic to their site. This is an important metric in SEO as it indicates the diversity and reach of the backlink profile.

💡Keyword Difficulty (KD)

Keyword Difficulty (KD) is a metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank for a particular keyword in organic search results. In the video, the presenter filters for keywords with low KD scores to identify 'low-hanging fruit'—keywords that are easier to rank for and thus potentially quicker to generate traffic.

💡Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail Keywords are longer, more specific phrases that users enter into search engines. They are typically more targeted and less competitive than shorter, more generic keywords. The presenter suggests targeting long-tail keywords as part of the competitor analysis process, as they can be easier to rank for and attract more qualified traffic.

💡Transactional Keywords

Transactional Keywords are search terms that indicate a user's intent to make a purchase. They often include words like 'buy,' 'order,' or 'pricing.' In the video, the presenter identifies 'copymatic pricing' as a transactional keyword, suggesting that it's a valuable keyword to target because it indicates a high likelihood of conversion.

💡Lead Generation

Lead Generation is the process of attracting and capturing the interest of potential customers. The video discusses how certain keywords, particularly those related to pricing or reviews of software tools, can be effective for lead generation because they attract users who are likely interested in purchasing a product or service.

💡AdSense

AdSense is Google's advertising program that allows website owners to display ads on their sites and earn money when visitors view or click those ads. The presenter mentions AdSense as a potential revenue stream for websites that rank well for certain keywords, indicating that effective SEO can lead to increased ad revenue.

Highlights

Introduction to competitor analysis for SEO using Semrush

Importance of backlinks and keywords in competitor analysis

Using Semrush to find a specific competitor's domain overview

Analyzing a competitor's organic traffic and backlinks

Evaluating the quality of backlinks based on referring domains

Assessing the value of a competitor's backlinks

Checking a competitor's Authority score for backlink profile relevance

Filtering active and do-follow backlinks for analysis

Identifying low-quality backlinks from platforms like chat GPT

Evaluating the potential of backlinks from WordPress blogs

Finding organic keywords and low-hanging fruit for SEO

Filtering keywords by keyword difficulty for easier ranking

Identifying transactional and navigational keywords for high conversion potential

Using competitor analysis to find gaps in the market

Optimizing for long-tail keywords that competitors may be忽视ing

Leveraging review articles to naturally rank for product pricing keywords

Strategizing keyword research to find valuable opportunities

Encouraging viewers to try Semrush with a free trial

Transcripts

hello and welcome to my semrush

competitor analysis here I'm going to be

showing you how to do competitor

analysis for SEO using the semrush tool

and if You' like to follow along I will

leave my affiliate Link in the

description and if you click that you

can get a free trial to Su Rush where

you can actually follow along with me

let's begin so when it comes to

competitor analysis there are a few

things that you want to look for in fact

there's probably a lot that you can look

for in my opinion two of the biggest are

going to be backlinks and keywords what

we want to do is find a specific

competitor in this example I went with

popular AIT tools. I'm very big even on

YouTube when it comes to software and AI

so I thought I would use this as an

example what we want to do is type that

in in the domain overview section and

upon doing that like I talked about

backlinks and organic traffic is what

we're looking for as you can see here

they have an authority score of 33 which

isn't too bad I did a different video

about that but in a nutshell the bigger

it is the better it's going to be they

have 7.4k for organic surge traffic not

too bad they also have 6.3 th000

backlinks but if you look right here 538

referring domains so what that means is

that there's going to be plenty of

domains that have a ton of links from

which could be quite a spammy tactic are

these backlinks worth going after let's

find out because that's going to be one

of the most important things when it

comes to competitor analysis let's click

on their domain or excuse me their

Authority score right here and here's

going to be a more closer look at their

Authority score right here it says above

average this domain's backlink profile

is fine but it's link network isn't as

relevant as other domains in the same

niche as you can see there's going to be

a lot of like suspicious links as well

so that's kind of like what my guess was

going to be but more specifically what

we can do is look at say some of the

backlinks that they have let's click

right here or just simply go to

backlinks right here and here's where it

gets fun what we can do is simply click

on active I don't know about you but I'm

looking for ones that they currently

have if they lost them yes it is an

opportunity for maybe you to go and pick

them up but in this specific scenario

I'm looking for active I also want

follow we want to get link juice from it

while no follow links do have their

place in SEO I'm just placing a much

higher priority on looking at follow

links and as you can see they're going

to be sorted by the um Authority overall

The Authority score excuse me and what

we can do is this kind of scroll through

now if you're not really sure which

links are going to be good and which are

not going to be good just having a quick

look at this just from the ones I've

seen they don't look all too great and

I'll give you a couple reasons why first

and foremost this is going to be on chat

GPT so allow me to open this up very

quickly all right and they have their

own you know way of using the GPT

overuse phrase remover and it looks like

their website this is going to be their

link a very quick note is that if anyone

at any time can go in and place a link

on a website it's probably not going to

be a great link okay so that's going to

be with chat GPT despite the fact that

the authority score is really high

because of for it of course chat GPT is

a very powerful platform still

nevertheless Let's see we have Nancy

done I'm looking for some in specific

articles that are say related to like

top AI software tools for your online

business once again this is just going

to be on a WordPress blog like anyone

can go and create this just because

wordpress.com has a big Authority score

which they've built up over years

doesn't mean this is going to be a good

link obviously you can just go there and

create it we have an ed edu one we have

a forums one like once again not very

big a board one here and it looks like

we're getting more into like the kind of

like gibberish type stuff here you know

Cloud links. us Southeast one so on and

so forth more of those more of those we

have like more gibberish down here so it

looks like their backlinks aren't all

that great and that's a good thing okay

cuz when you're doing competitor

analysis not every competitor or every

competitor that you go after there's

going to be links that you want to get

and some are just going to be like uh

you can keep them like I don't want to

get any links from where they're getting

from in fact maybe you might not even

want to get a link from this competitor

if it came down to it but from what it

looks like nothing worth going after and

that's completely fine that's a part of

the competitor analysis process

sometimes you're going to get some great

juicy spots where you can get backlink

opportunities and some you're going to

be like nope I'll leave it to another

competitor nevertheless we didn't have a

lot of luck with that which is fine like

I said a part of the process however now

what we can do is look for the organic

keywords what we want to do is look for

the lwh hanging fruits some of the

easier to rank keywords that we can go

after especially if one you're a newer

website or two if you're a bigger

website it's probably going to be much

quicker for you to rank assuming you

have a much higher authority and maybe

you've been building it up for years and

so on and so forth so I'm going to go

right here and I'm going to be in the

organic research spot I have the same

domain right here and I'm going to be

under positions right here as

well so as you can see there's going to

have some of the organic surge positions

they're

7,917 but I think the best part of this

is going to be these positions and how

we can really just filter a lot of this

out so if we go to fish positions here

let's let that load great so this is

going to be everything that's going to

be in the top 10 and to make our lives

even better like some of these are going

to be much more difficult you know maybe

you don't have enough Authority in your

website yet where you want to go with

those so what we can do here is go to KD

and we can Target anything that's going

to be very easy and easy so aside from

just clicking on it right here we can go

custom range we can do from zero let's

say to 29 that's going to be very easy

and easy keywords let's click on apply

and see what we get all right and what

we can also do you notice how we have

the keyword difficulty percentage we can

click on this where it's going to show

like all the higher ones first and then

we can change it again so we get the

lower so now what we're doing is we're

going for any keywords that they have on

like you know the first page top 10 and

we're looking at the easiest to rank

keyword so if we scroll down ever so

slightly we're going to notice that we

can have plenty to kind of look at and

it looks like right here what they're

doing is just say like toasty doai they

just have a you know tools and then

toasty AI kind of like an overview SL

review of it is my guess where they just

you know talk about the features what

it's all about and my guess is that

there's so many AI tools out there that

anytime they're maybe writing about them

they might not be as popular yet but

they'll be popular enough to at least

generate some volume and the cool thing

about this is that let's say for example

you know you might be in a different

Niche but this is with AI if you're

creating something about say AI software

and you're only getting quote unquote 40

people and you're doing that multiple

times for a lot of software that's going

to be perfect for generating leads

because obviously you're getting people

who are interested in software and

software is also a pretty big deal

because one it usually pays a lot when

it comes to AdSense two leads usually

cost more if you want to do paid

advertising which is why organic is

fantastic and three you can obviously

build a list that way and send them to

specific offers and so on and so forth

so there's a lot of value in that just

scrolling down a lot of these are going

to be like the basic keywords but

something like this looks fantastic we

have copymatic pricing right here it

says it's a transaction

as well as navigational you know in my

opinion this is a fantastic keyword

where you have product name and then

pricing the reason for this is cuz

someone usually has that one last

question like how much does it cost how

much is it going to be monthly what is

the price for the specific plans are

there any discounts is there a trial I

do a lot of software like that's my

favorite niche in terms of like online

business and software so I'm very

familiar with that and pricing keywords

are very good for that especially when

they're very easy to rank for if we look

at this the keyword difficulties is to

and you'll notice this is coming from

their copymatic review so they're not

even targeting copymatic pricing exactly

it just happened to be showing up when

they did their long review so let me to

open an incognito window and I'm going

to TP type in copy medic pricing and

we'll take a look at the top 10 and see

what they have to offer all right so we

have copymatic pricing here at the top

we have copy maic okay aside from that

people always ask so let's see the four

best content writing services we have

copymatic review uh this is just going

to be once and copy medic what's the big

deal we have review you'll notice this

happens a lot usually when you do

reviews like there's going to be a small

pricing guide with it that's why they

say review features price you'll notice

pricing is coming up here so what's

happening is people are writing reviews

for this software and they're just

naturally getting ranked because they

talk about it $29 per month talking

about the prices there we have pricing

here this looks like the only one that

is somewhat targeting it so it says AIG

C list AI tools and it says the imate

guide to copymatic pricing and

Alternatives I would probably just call

it copymatic pricing and then like then

Alternatives but you know to each their

own so that's like one that's kind of

optimized for it not fully in my opinion

and once again there they are I think

there were like nine or 10 but once

again they're going this is going to be

the only one that's somewhat optimized

for it if you just create an article

that's copymatic pricing you have a much

higher chance of ranking quicker

especially if you're a website that at

least has some type of authority this

makes it a fantastic keyword to go after

as we talked about before it's

transactional people are looking to

purchase and it's also great for

generating leads because if someone is

interested in copymatic AI they're

probably interested in other AI

softwares that you can obviously build a

list to and then you know review those

talk about those and so on and so forth

so despite the fact I think this one had

around quote unquote 40 traffic per

month or so like I said those are

ballparks this is a fantastic keyword to

go after go after great opportunity and

I'm just mentioning this cuz this is

kind of like how my brain works when I'm

saying like is this a good keyword to go

out after you might not be in the AI

Niche but you can use these examples to

think about like what else everyone else

is doing in Google are they going after

this keyword specifically is it yours

for the taking and so on and so forth

let's TT it out and look at maybe one or

two

more so like I said these are all the

low hanging fruit ones you can always

change the KD if you want to like maybe

look for something a little bit more and

so on and so forth so what it seems

though is that a lot of these are just

like main you know product pages or like

kind of like reviews overviews where you

talk about feed features and so on and

so forth there's so many AI tools now

that it's probably going to be much

easier to ring for them because not

everyone is creating articles about them

so uh literally anything AI okay let's

see let's see Blue Willow AI pricing so

once again just blue willow they don't

have blue willow pricing but they are

ranking for it just for the fact that

they created an article about this tweet

Hunter pricing once again another good

one they're just doing tweet Hunter

these lyrics don't

exist and let's see what else do we have

here how to cancel is soul gen free

here's another good one is something

free this is kind of like saying you

know if there's a free trial is it free

to use despite the fact that a lot of

people say like something someone is

looking for something that's free that

means they're not going to pay I

couldn't disagree anymore just because a

lot of free trial keywords convert very

well okay plus it's the software you

know that's going to be in charge of

that like turning someone into a lead

into a customer they're usually very

good at that so just because someone is

asking if something is free doesn't mean

you shouldn't go after it in fact once

again so they have the soulen air

generator review so this is coming off a

review post I bet if we were going to

look for this not many people are

creating articles just based on this

keyword and let's check it out all right

so we have the main website uh let's see

anyone know how to use it

without couldn't see what else it was

saying so we have a free alternative we

have pricing is it really safe so that

could be probably another keyword

exploring Solen once again though like

no one is really I think they're coming

up two times right there yeah so free

trial free and so on and so forth Just

Another example of a keyword where

people just really aren't targeting it

about 30 searches per month not too bad

in my

opinion oh let's see we have a cancel

subscription those are also not too bad

when you think about it some someone's

looking to cancel but if they're

canceling something it's cuz they don't

like it and what that means is they

might be looking for an alternative okay

so that's something to keep in mind

there's always ways to go after specific

keywords you're like well James I don't

want to go after like that keyword well

you can you know there's you can show

them how it's done give them a tutorial

and say hey if you weren't happy with

soulen here's an alternative that you

might want to read more about in this

review article I have okay just giving

you some uh extra ideas there and here's

a perfect one let's see

content at scale free trial free Master

AI content detection so free trials are

great ones now we have some reviews

these are going to be it looks like you

know let's see 13 a little bit more

difficult and we have tweet Hunter price

and so on and so forth is soul gen legit

how about something like that let's type

that in I think that was one we looked

for similar so give me one second all

right so is soul gen legit and it's

funny how like number one is going to be

AI where someone's saying avoid but

never we have a lot of reviews here I am

not specifically familiar with this

company so I don't know if they are

legit despite you know a lot of people

saying that it looks like it might not

be but just to kind of give you an idea

here you could make an article

specifically just about this you'll

notice that it's mostly like exploring

is it really safe which is kind of

similar and they're answering that

question in this because they know they

can pick up some traffic from it but if

you optimize specifically for that

keyword you'll most likely do better

assuming you have you know some type of

Authority on your website and the cool

thing is you notice a lot of like Reddit

threads are popping up what you can do

is actually go in there and answer it

and then link to your article in case

you want to send some people to your

website that way what that allows you to

do maybe if you have ads AdSense on

there you can make some money that way

you can generate leads or of course if

you have a compelling article that leads

to an affiliate link you can make a

commission that way by say recommending

in this case Soul genen like I said once

again I'm not too familiar with it I

don't know what it's all about this is

just in this specific example but

nevertheless that's how like I go about

doing keyword research I look and I see

sometimes I'll even go for those much

longer keywords that no one wants to

optimize for because they look for it

and they say well it's only getting you

know 30 for volume a month around there

why don't I just create a review and

then answer it in a frequently Asked

question which you can do but in the

beginning when you're looking to get

traction these are some of my favorite

keywords the ones that people aren't

going after I don't know why you know

maybe they have bigger fish to fry like

entrepreneur might not be going for like

one of these really micro keywords but

you know someone who's just getting

started might and uh that's kind of what

I have to say about that in terms of

doing keyword research a fantastic way

of doing it when it comes to looking at

your competitors there's so much more

that you can do but like I said when it

comes to like the semrush competitor

analysis backlinks keywords the two

biggest things that are going to help

you get up and running and if you have

any other questions feel free to leave a

comment down below and I will do my best

to get back to you I hope you enjoyed

this competitor analysis tutorial and of

course if you haven't gotten the test

out sem rush I will leave my affiliate

Link in the description and if you click

that you can get a free trial with them

my name is James thank you so much for

watching and I will see you in my next

video