How Competitor Analysis Can Help With Your Keyword Research | Lesson 7/8 | SEMrush Academy

Semrush Academy

7 Jul 202006:02

Summary

TLDRIn this keyword research lesson, Greg Gifford, VP of Search at Wikimotive, emphasizes the importance of competitor analysis for SEO insights. He suggests using tools like SEMrush to discover which keywords competitors rank for and analyzing their ad copy and backlink profiles to identify valuable keywords and content strategies. Gifford also recommends a manual review of competitors' sites to understand their content quality, optimization techniques, and unique selling propositions, providing actionable insights for keyword research and SEO strategy.

Takeaways

🔍 Competitor analysis is a valuable tool in keyword research, providing insights into effective strategies and keyword choices.
🛠️ Leveraging competitors' SEO efforts can be particularly helpful when starting with a new client or entering an unfamiliar industry.
📈 Competitors' keyword research and content strategy can offer clues about high-value keywords and phrases.
🌐 Using tools like SEMrush to analyze competitors' ranking keywords and their difficulty scores can help assess the potential traffic and value.
💰 Examining both high and low cost keywords from competitors' ad campaigns can reveal important and potentially high-converting phrases.
📝 Analyzing ad copy can provide insights into competitors' messaging strategies and what they believe will attract customers.
🔗 Investigating competitors' backlink profiles can highlight important content and concepts that have resonated with their audience.
📚 Paying attention to unique links and pages with fewer competitors can identify less competitive but worthy concepts to target.
👀 Manually reviewing competitors' sites can reveal content quality, writing style, and optimization techniques that are effective.
📋 Checking the raw code of competitors' pages can uncover schema markup, heading usage, and page structure that contributes to their SEO success.
🎯 Reviewing title tags, H1 headings, alt text, and meta descriptions can provide insight into competitors' optimization strategies and customer engagement tactics.

Q & A

Who is Greg Gifford and what is his role in the video?
-Greg Gifford is the Vice President of Search at the US-based SEO agency, Wikimotive. In the video, he is teaching a lesson on how competitor analysis can be beneficial for keyword research.
What is the main topic of the seventh lesson in the keyword research course?
-The main topic of the seventh lesson is the use of competitor analysis to aid in keyword research, providing insights into valuable keyword phrases and optimization strategies.
Why is competitor analysis important for SEO?
-Competitor analysis is important for SEO because it allows you to gain insight into what strategies are working for others, especially in unfamiliar verticals or locations, and helps you understand which keyword phrases are most valuable.
What does Greg Gifford suggest doing with a new client in an unfamiliar vertical?
-Greg Gifford suggests leveraging the competitor's work by analyzing their SEO strategies, content, backlinks, and page optimizations to quickly learn about the vertical and identify valuable keywords.
How can competitor research help with local business SEO?
-Competitor research helps with local business SEO by providing insights into what works best in a specific location, allowing you to understand local keyword preferences and optimization tactics.
What tool does Greg Gifford recommend for analyzing competitors' keywords?
-Greg Gifford recommends using SEMrush to pop in a competitor's URL and analyze which keywords they are ranking for, including their keyword difficulty scores and potential traffic.
Why should you check both high-cost and low-cost keywords in competitors' campaigns?
-Checking both high-cost and low-cost keywords in competitors' campaigns provides insight into what phrases are valuable enough for them to pay for, indicating potential profitability and conversion rates, as well as identifying less competitive, yet targeted, long-tail keywords.
What can ad copy analysis reveal about a competitor's marketing strategy?
-Ad copy analysis can reveal the most important aspects of a concept that a competitor believes will entice customers to click through to their site, showing their understanding of customer engagement.
Why is analyzing a competitor's link profiles part of keyword research?
-Analyzing a competitor's link profiles is part of keyword research because it helps identify pages with the most inbound links, indicating important content to their audience and potential areas of opportunity for your own content.
What should you pay special attention to when analyzing a competitor's backlinks?
-You should pay special attention to unique links where a competitor has a page about a concept that's getting inbound links but no one else is, as this indicates a worthy concept with less competition.
How does a manual review of a competitor's site contribute to keyword research?
-A manual review of a competitor's site helps you assess the quality of their content, their writing style, content length, media usage, schema markup, and page structure, providing insights into what works for them and why.
What should you check on a competitor's site to understand their optimization strategy?
-You should check the optimization of title tags, H1 headings, alt text on images, and meta descriptions to understand how they are attracting and engaging customers.
What is the final step suggested by Greg Gifford for learners of the keyword research course?
-The final step suggested by Greg Gifford is for learners to take the test on the SEMrush Academy page to become officially SEMrush certified.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Competitor Analysis in Keyword Research

Greg Gifford, VP of Search at Wikimotive, discusses the importance of competitor analysis in keyword research. He highlights that understanding competitors' SEO strategies can provide valuable insights, especially when working with new clients or in unfamiliar verticals. Competitor research helps in identifying effective keyword phrases by observing their content creation, backlink building, and page optimization efforts. Gifford recommends using SEMrush to analyze competitors' ranking keywords and assessing their value based on keyword difficulty and potential traffic. He also suggests examining both high-cost and low-cost keywords used in competitors' ad campaigns for additional insights. Analyzing competitors' ad copy can reveal key messaging strategies. Gifford also emphasizes the importance of analyzing competitors' backlink profiles to identify important content and unique concepts that may have less competition but are worth targeting. He concludes by advising a manual review of competitors' sites to understand their content quality, optimization techniques, and unique selling propositions.

05:02

📝 Advanced SEO Techniques and Certification

In the second paragraph, the focus shifts to advanced SEO techniques and the process of obtaining SEMrush certification. The speaker encourages a detailed examination of competitors' websites, including their schema markup, heading structures, and page organization. It's important to review optimization elements such as title tags, H1 headings, alt text for images, and meta descriptions to understand what engages customers. The speaker also promotes the SEMrush Academy and invites learners to take the course test for official certification. The summary wraps up with an invitation for questions and engagement on social media, emphasizing the collaborative learning environment fostered by the SEMrush Academy.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is the process of evaluating a business's competitors to gain insights into their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. In the context of the video, Greg Gifford emphasizes its importance in keyword research to understand what competitors are focusing on and how they are ranking. It's a strategic move to learn from those who have already invested time and resources in SEO, which can be particularly valuable when entering a new market or vertical.

💡SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO refers to the practice of improving a website's ranking in search engine results to increase its visibility and traffic. The video discusses how competitors' SEO efforts can be a valuable source of information for keyword research. It suggests that by examining what strategies competitors are using, one can identify effective keyword phrases and optimization techniques that could benefit their own SEO campaign.

💡Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of identifying and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines when looking for information related to a particular topic. In the video, it is highlighted as a fundamental aspect of SEO, where competitor analysis can provide insights into which keywords are driving traffic and conversions, helping to inform one's own keyword strategy.

💡SEMrush

SEMrush is a digital marketing tool used for SEO and competitive research, among other functions. Greg Gifford mentions using SEMrush to analyze competitors' ranking keywords and to assess keyword difficulty and potential traffic. It serves as an example of the kind of tools that can be instrumental in competitor analysis and keyword research.

💡Keyword Difficulty

Keyword difficulty is a metric that estimates how hard it will be to rank for a particular keyword in organic search results. The script mentions using this metric to evaluate the competitiveness of keywords that competitors are targeting, which can help in deciding which keywords to focus on in one's own SEO strategy.

💡Backlinks

Backlinks, also known as inbound links or incoming links, are links from one website to another. In the context of the video, analyzing a competitor's backlinks is suggested as a way to understand which pages or topics are considered valuable by others in the industry, as indicated by the number and quality of links they receive.

💡Link Profiles

A link profile is the collection of all backlinks pointing to a website. The video script discusses analyzing competitors' link profiles to identify pages with a high number of inbound links, suggesting that these pages are important and potentially effective for targeting specific keywords.

💡Ad Copy

Ad copy refers to the text that appears in an advertisement, which must be compelling and concise to attract clicks. The video mentions examining competitors' ad copy to understand the messaging and value propositions they are using to entice customers, which can provide insights into effective marketing strategies.

💡Content Optimization

Content optimization involves enhancing the content on a webpage to improve its visibility, relevance, and appeal to both users and search engines. The script discusses various elements of content optimization, such as title tags, headings, and image alt text, as part of the competitor analysis process to understand what techniques are being used to boost performance.

💡Schema Markup

Schema markup is a form of microdata that helps search engines understand the content of a web page more accurately. In the video, checking for schema markup in competitors' pages is suggested as part of the content analysis, indicating that it can be an important factor in SEO and user engagement.

💡Meta Description

A meta description is a brief summary of a webpage's content that appears in search engine results. Although the video notes that it does not affect search rankings, the meta description is important for attracting clicks by providing a concise and engaging overview of the page's content.

Highlights

Competitor analysis is a valuable tool in keyword research, providing insights into what's important for SEO.

Analyzing competitors can be particularly helpful when working with a new client or in an unfamiliar vertical.

Competitor research is crucial for local businesses to understand what works best in a specific location.

Competitors have already conducted keyword research and optimization, which can offer significant insights.

SEMrush can be used to identify keywords competitors are ranking for and assess their value.

Keyword difficulty scores and potential traffic are important metrics to evaluate keyword value.

Examining competitors' Google Ads campaigns can reveal valuable keywords they are willing to pay for.

High CPC terms indicate competitors believe in their value and potential for conversion.

Low cost, long-tail keywords can also be worth targeting due to less competition.

Analyzing ad copy can provide insights into what competitors believe is most important for customer engagement.

Link profile analysis of competitors can identify important content and concepts.

Pages with a high number of inbound links are likely important to competitors' audiences and customers.

Unique links on competitor pages indicate a worthy concept with less competition.

Link overlap among competitors suggests an important concept that should be targeted.

Manual review of competitors' sites is essential to understand content quality and optimization strategies.

Checking the raw code of pages can reveal schema markup and page structure.

Optimization elements such as title tags, H1 headings, and alt text provide insight into competitors' strategies.

Meta descriptions, while not ranking factors, can offer insights into customer engagement strategies.

Encouragement to engage with the SEMrush Academy for further learning and certification.