How to do competitor analysis content marketing

Competitor analysis is one of your most valuable assets for creating high quality, SEO and user-friendly content. It offers you a window into what industry tactics have succeed, which you can use as a springboard for your own content.

This doesn’t mean straight up copying. It’s about knowing what Google is ranking in the SERPs, seeing how pages are put together, and making sure the content you are producing is thorough in its coverage.

There are several methods for analysing competitor content and several tools available to streamline the process. At Edge45®, we conduct competitor analysis every day as part of our content audits.

What is competitor analysis in content marketing?

Competitor analysis is when you look at competitor content and compare it to your own brand to understand the differences and opporunities.

This includes finding strengths and weaknesses, but also data and analytics, KPIs and conversion rates. All of which tap into successful tactics for content marketing, revealing methods by which your company can grow.

Competitor analysis can reveal what users expect and want. Analysing a high-converting competitor will be informative regarding what is causing those customers to convert. Perhaps they have very strong calls to action (CTAs), high quality content, or use engaging mediums like videos. All this could be contributing to their success in the SERPs.

Further research into what users need that is not being provided by competitors will illuminate your content strategy, along with your unique selling points and perspectives that you can work into your content, making it even more valuable and brand specific.

How important is a competitor marketing analysis?

Competitor analysis is fundamental for:

• Optimising user experience (UX): It provides benchmarks for how competitor content structure are improving UX through readability, engagement, and quality.
• Finding content gaps: You will discover hot topics competitors have not covered, giving you the chance to fill that gap.
• Tracking performance: You get insights into how your content compares to that of competitors in terms of traffic, rankings, and engagement, helping you to set practical goals.
• Understanding audience wants: It shows you what type of content your audience expects, and what resonates with them. It also helps you assess how topics are covered in terms of depth, quality, and accuracy, so you can match or outshine these.
• Spotting trends: You will stay ahead of the game by recognising emerging trends and formats, helping you to stay relevant. You will also see which content types (blogs, videos, infographics) land the best engagement, as well as find innovations for storytelling, content formats, and unearthing the potential for fresh ideas.
• Backlink opportunities: You will find how competitors are achieving backlinks, providing you with a potential site to pursue for backlinks.
• Improves EEAT strategies: Competitor analysis shapes EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) which when implemented, help Google and other search engines to see that your content is user friendly and good quality.
• Brand differentiation: The best way to make your brand unique is to understand how other brands in your industry are presented. The clearer you know it, the easier it becomes to make your brand distinctive.

Step by step guide to competitor research

1. Identify your competitors

The first step is to pinpoint which competitors to analyse. How many you look is dependent on your industry and resources. To keep it manageable, go for a minimum of three. These could be ones that rank for similar keywords, competitors you come across at events, or simply the big name in your industry.

Consider factors like their reputation, external reviews, and their USPs. All of these can help you to decide on the success of the brand and whether to emulate their more successful practices.

To get started, either go into incognito mode and search for key industry terms and find your competitors in the search results or use SEO tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs.

2. Analyse their output

Now it’s time to analyse the output. You can approach this from a few different angles. You can look on-page at its content quality and structure to learn how they are approaching and disseminating topics. You could also consider off-page factors like backlinks and PR.

By running your chosen competitors through SEMrush’s Keyword Gap Tool or Ahrefs’ Content Gap Tool, you can fast-track to the content gaps and refine the topics and keywords covered to your USPs. Simply input your domain and competitor domains into the tool to compare keyword overlap and content gaps.

When running the tools, look for high-traffic or low traffic, high intent keywords your competitors rank for that are missing from your strategy – these are prime opportunities to create or enhance content around those keywords.

Also, focus on keywords that align with your own USPs and are less competitive, as these will give you the best chance to rank quickly.

3. Add your own flavour

Adding new elements to the content is vital to make it distinctive on its own merits. Think about:

• Tone of Voice: Injecting a unique tone of voice makes a lot of difference to a brand, whether it’s copy, video, or illustration. Plan, illustrate, and write with your brand’s tone, values, and energy – whether it’s casual, formal, authoritative, or humorous.
• Case studies & unique experiences: You can inject your personal and professional experiences into your content to generate an unreplicated brand, highlighting successes and challenges. Also consider highlighting your reviews.
• Additional insights: Consider points that competitors have touch on and how you can expand upon them, offer a different perspective, or even dialogue or challenge existing ideas.
• Unique visuals: You can create custom visuals and data to make enhance the unique feel of your content.
• Incorporate new trends: Stay on top of and incorporate new industry happenings, especially those that effect your industry directly.
• User generated content: Content that users have created about your brand gives unique content that also brings with it social proof.

A combination of these additions will go a long way in making your content cohesive with your brand and stand out from the pack.

Where to begin with competitor analysis

It takes time and resources to conduct a thorough competitor analysis. But if you lack either, there are ways to make the process less distracting from your primary duties.

Consider outsourcing to an SEO agency. At Edge45®, we offer competitor analysis as part of a wider technical SEO strategy designed to increase visibility, search engine friendliness, and organic traffic.

We offer bespoke copywriting services designed to grab and retain your audience’s attention. Writing content can be time consuming and difficult, and businesses often don’t have the time to do it. So, allow us to remove the burden of writing copy from your shoulders.

The Verdict

Competitor analysis is a fundamental part of content marketing, which is vital for success in SEO. By conducting a comprehensive competitor audit, you uncover the best ways to exceed user expectations and get ahead of the game.

If you are looking for ways to innovate your content, and by extension your growth and branding strategies, then a competitor analysis is a fantastic place to start.

Our team of experts can help you uncover hidden opportunities and optimize your content strategy to outrank your competition. Get in touch to discuss your competitor analysis strategy with us today!