SEO competitive analysis plays a key role in improving your online visibility. This process helps you understand how your competitors dominate search engines and identify the actions necessary to outdo their strategies.
Did you know that 75 % of Internet users never consult the second page of Google's results ? This shows how essential it is to optimize your positioning to appear on the first page. In addition, 53 % of web traffic comes from organic research , which highlights the importance of a well thought out SEO strategy.
By analyzing your competitors, you can discover their most efficient keywords, their quality backlinks, and the content opportunities they exploit. This approach allows you to better orient your efforts, attract targeted organic traffic, and improve your conversion rates.
Key points on a SEO competitive analysis
Studying your SEO competitors helps be more visible online.
Find the effective keywords of your rivals to attract more visitors.
Use tools like Semrush and Ahrefs to see their links and content ideas.
Check if your site works well to provide good experience and get into the results.
Analyze your competitors every 3 to 6 months to stay up to date and improve your plan.
Understand the SEO competitive analysis
What is an analysis of SEO competition?
The analysis of SEO competition is to examine the referencing strategies of your competitors to better understand their positioning on search engines. This process helps you identify their keywords, backlinks, and efficient content. You can adapt your own strategy to improve your online visibility.
For each strategic keyword, note the sites positioned in the first 20 to 30 places of Google. Then classify these areas according to their frequency of appearance and attribute points according to their position. For example :
75 points for the second.
31.65 points for the fifth.
This method allows you to prioritize your efforts on the most competitive keywords.
Definition and objectives of SEO competitive analysis
A SEO competitive analysis aims to achieve several key objectives. You can follow measurable indicators such as the conversion rate, the rebound rate, and the number of pages viewed per session. These data help you assess the effectiveness of your strategy and identify improvement opportunities.
Here are some useful types of data:
Data type | Examples of metrics |
|---|---|
Analytics data | Organic traffic, user behavior, conversion rate |
Search console data | Impressions, clicks, ctr, average position |
Classification data | Current positions on strategic keywords |
Technical data | Core Web Vitals performance, loading speed, indexing errors |
By analyzing these metrics, you can prioritize your SEO actions and optimize your pages for better classification.
Differences with other types of SEO competitive analysis
SEO competitive analysis is distinguished from other analyzes by its approach centered on search engines. Unlike tools like Google Analytics, which focuses on internal data, tools like SEMRUSH or AHREFS provide information on the overall and organic traffic of your competitors.
Comparative studies show that these tools reveal significant differences between internal and external data. For example, a sample of 10 e-commerce sites has shown that the global traffic data provided by SEMRUSH differ from those of Google Analytics. These differences highlight the importance of a SEO competitive analysis to assess your position on the market and adjust your strategy.
Why carry out a SEO competitive analysis?
Identify the strengths and weaknesses of competitors
To outdo your competitors, you must understand their strengths and weaknesses. A SEO competitive analysis allows you to examine their referencing strategies and identify the elements that work or require improvements.
Here are some essential metrics to monitor:
Organic traffic : Evaluate the volume of visitors from search engines.
Keywords positioned : Identify the keywords that generate the most traffic.
Backlinks : Analyze the quality and quantity of incoming links.
Technical performance : Check the loading speed and the core web vitals.
These data help you identify the weaknesses of your competitors and adjust your strategy to maximize your results. For example, if a competitor has a small number of backlinks, you can strengthen your netlinking to take the advantage.
Discover unexploited opportunities
The SEO competitive analysis reveals opportunities that your competitors have not yet exploited. You can identify little competitive niches thanks to the analysis of the keywords. Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs also allow you to view the positions positioned and estimated traffic.
Here are some tracks to explore:
Little competitive niches : Find keywords with a low level of competition.
Unexploited backlinks : Locate sites that could become Netlinking partners.
Featured snippets : Identify the star extracts that your competitors hold and try to recover them.
By studying the content gaps of your competitors, you can create articles or pages that meet specific needs and attract targeted traffic.
Optimize your SEO strategy
A SEO competitive analysis helps you refine your strategy to get tangible results. For example, Leroy-Merlin outperform in SEO traffic compared to Castorama thanks to better visibility on 108,800 keywords against 86,800. By inspiring this data, you can adjust your efforts to maximize your king .
To optimize your strategy, focus on:
Improving your content : Create articles that fill the identified gaps.
The strengthening of your netlinking : reproduce the success of your competitors in terms of backlinks.
Technical optimization : Improve the loading speed and correct indexing errors.
Using tools like Ahrefs, you can compare your site to those of your competitors and view opportunities to improve your positioning.
Steps for an effective SEO competitive analysis
Identify your SEO competitors
To start, you need to identify your direct and indirect competitors. This allows you to better understand their strategy and position your site competitively. A simple method is to use Google Search to search for your strategic keywords . The sites that appear in the results are your potential competitors.
Here are the key steps to identify your competitors:
Perform manual search on Google to locate the sites that position themselves on your main keywords.
Analyze SERP (search engines results pages) to understand the types of sites present (blogs, e-commerce, forums, etc.).
Use SEO tools like SEMRUSH or AHREFS to detect additional competitors.
Study opinion leaders and influential content creators in your sector.
Tools like Ahrefs or Sistrix offers precious data to segment your competitors according to their SEO visibility. For example, the Sistrix visibility index analyzes more than 100 million areas in 40 countries , which helps you understand market trends and target your efforts effectively.
💡 Tip : Do not limit yourself to your direct competitors. Sites that target similar keywords, even if they do not sell the same products or services, can also be SEO competitors.
Analyze their keywords and content
Once your competitors have been identified, analyze their keywords and their content to understand what attracts their organic traffic. This step helps you identify the opportunities for unexploited keywords and improve your own strategy.
Here are the key indicators to monitor :
Organic traffic : Evaluate the volume of visitors they attract thanks to their keywords.
Keywords positioning : Identify the keywords that generate the most traffic for your competitors.
Duration of visits : Analyze if their content is relevant and engaging for users.
Tools like Ahrefs allow you to view the keywords positioned by your competitors and estimate their traffic. For example, if a competitor is positioned on a keyword with a high research volume, but you have not yet targeted it, this represents an opportunity for you.
📊 Concrete example : If a competitor gets significant traffic thanks to a blog article on a specific subject, you can create an even more complete and optimized content to surpass its classification.
Study their backlinks and netlinking
Backlinks play a crucial role in SEO. Studying your competitors' netlinking strategies helps you understand how they strengthen their authority online. A good Link Building strategy is based on regular analysis of links.
Here is what you need to examine:
Backlinks quality : Identify the sites that refer to your competitors. Favor links from areas with strong authority.
Quantity of backlinks : Compare the number of incoming links of your competitors with yours.
Diversity of sources : Check if their backlinks come from different niches or types of sites (blogs, forums, media, etc.).
Using tools like Ahrefs, you can analyze the metrics of your competitors and identify opportunities to get similar backlinks. For example, if a competitor receives links from an influential site in your sector, you can consider collaborating with this site to improve your own links profile.
🔗 Practical advice : do not only focus on quantity. The quality of backlinks has a much more significant impact on your SEO ranking.
Identify opportunities (content gaps, featured snippets, etc.)
To improve your SEO strategy, locating unexploited opportunities is an essential step. These opportunities include content gaps, featured snippets, and long-dragged keywords. An in -depth analysis allows you to discover areas where your competitors position themselves, but not you. This opens the way to the creation of targeted and relevant content.
Content gaps : Identify the keywords where your competitors are well positioned, but where your site is absent. These gaps represent opportunities to produce articles or pages that meet the needs of users. For example, if a competitor attracts traffic thanks to a detailed guide on a specific subject, you can create even more complete content to capture this audience.
Featured snippets : These star extracts often appear at the top of the search results. They attract a large part of the organic clicks. Optimize your content for these snippets by directly answering user questions and structuring your pages with lists, tables, or concise paragraphs.
Long-tail keywords : These keywords, while less searched for, often have low competition. They offer an excellent opportunity to attract qualified traffic. For example, a keyword like “best SEO tips for beginners” can generate targeted traffic with less effort.
💡 Tip : Use tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to identify these opportunities. These platforms allow you to visualize the missing keywords and the star extracts held by your competitors.
Evaluate their technical and traffic performance
The evaluation of the technical performance and trafficking of your competitors is a crucial step to understand their success. This analysis helps you identify the points to improve on your own site.
Organic traffic : Analyze the volume of visitors that your competitors attract via search engines. This gives you an idea of their global visibility.
Keywords classification : Examine the positions they occupy on strategic keywords. This allows you to identify the terms you could surpass them.
Click rate (CTR) : A high CTR indicates that their titles and meta-designs are optimized. Take inspiration from their practices to improve your own results.
Part of visibility : This metric shows the proportion of traffic that a site captures for a set of keywords. It helps you to assess their domination in your sector.
Analysis of backlinks : Study the quality and diversity of links pointing to their sites. This gives you ideas to strengthen your own netlinking strategy.
To carry out this analysis, use tools like Google Analytics, Semrush, or Ahrefs. These platforms provide detailed data on traffic, keywords, and technical performance. For example, Ahrefs allows you to visualize the core web vitals of your competitors, such as loading speed or indexing errors. This information helps you optimize your site to provide a better user experience.
🔍 Practical advice : Do not neglect technical performance. A quick and well -structured site not only improves your classification, but also user engagement.
Tools for a SEO competitive analysis
Semrush: analysis of keywords and backlinks
Semrush is an essential tool for analyzing the keywords and backlinks of your competitors. It allows you to follow their positions on search engines and to identify strategic opportunities. Thanks to its advanced features, you can explore in detail the performance of keywords and incoming links.
Here is what Semrush offers you:
Analysis of keywords with specific metrics such as research volume, difficulty and cost per click.
Monitoring of positions to understand the evolution of rankings.
Backlinks audits to assess the quality and relevance of incoming links.
Estimation of the click rate to detect the content to be optimized.
With SEMrush, you can also use the Backlink Audit tool to monitor the evolution of your competitors' link profiles. This helps you identify opportunities to strengthen your own netlink building strategy.
Ahrefs: in -depth study of competing strategies
Ahrefs is distinguished by its ability to analyze in -depth the SEO strategies of your competitors. This tool gives you a clear overview of their strengths and weaknesses, which allows you to adapt your own strategy to remain competitive.
Ahref key features include:
A detailed analysis of the keywords positioned by your competitors.
An overview of backlinks to understand their netlinking strategy.
Reports on content gaps, helping you identify unexploited opportunities.
Using Ahrefs, you can identify the elements that work for your competitors and integrate them into your own strategy. This allows you to maximize your efforts and improve your online visibility.
Ranxplorer: SEO analysis specific to the French market
Ranxplorer is a tool designed for the French market, ideal for a local SEO competitive analysis. It covers a wide range of data, making it a relevant choice for companies targeting audiences in France.
Some impressive figures on Ranxplorer:
Data type | Value |
|---|---|
Research results | |
Keywords | 100 million |
Sites analyzed | 30 million |
Ranxplorer allows you to explore more than 100 million keywords and monitor the performance of 30 million French sites. This tool is particularly useful for identifying local opportunities and optimizing your SEO strategy according to the specifics of the French market.
💡 Tip : Combine Ranxplorer with other tools like Ahrefs to get a full view of your competitors and maximize your results.
Google Search Console and Analytics: free data to complete the analysis
Google Search Console and Google Analytics are essential tools to complete your SEO competitive analysis. These free platforms offer you valuable data to better understand user behavior on your site and optimize your performance.
With Google Search Console, you can follow key indicators to assess your visibility in search results. Here are some data that you can analyze:
The number of clicks generated by your pages.
The volume of impressions, which indicates how many times your pages appear in the results.
The click rate (CTR), which measures the efficiency of your titles and meta-descriptions.
This information helps you to identify the keywords that attract the most traffic and adjust your content to maximize your results.
Google Analytics, for its part, allows you to explore the behavior of visitors to your site. You can :
Check the number of pages viewed by each Internet user.
Measure the average time spent on your site.
These data give you a clear vision of the commitment of users and pages that perform best.
💡 Tip : Combine data from these two tools to get a 30 best AI tools for marketing to use in 2025 Supplete. For example, identify your most clicked pages in Search Console, then use Analytics to understand how visitors interact with these pages.
Using these tools, you can detect improvement opportunities and monitor the impact of your SEO efforts. Their regular use will allow you to remain competitive and optimize your strategy continuously.
Use the results of the SEO competitive analysis
Adapt your keyword strategy
To take full advantage of the results of your SEO competitive analysis, start by adjusting your keyword strategy. The data collected allow you to target the most relevant and efficient terms. Here are the essential steps to adapt your approach:
Research volume : Priorify keywords with high volume to maximize your traffic potential.
Competition : assess the difficulty of classification. Keywords with moderate competition offer a good balance between effort and result.
Relevance : Make sure that the keywords correspond to your activity and the expectations of your audience.
Research intention : Understand what users are looking for to create content that meets their needs.
Seasonal trends : Use research peaks for specific keywords at certain periods of the year.
💡 Tip : Use tools like Ahrefs to identify keywords that generate traffic in your competitors. This helps you identify opportunities and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Create content to fill the gaps
Content gaps identified during your SEO competitive analysis represent valuable opportunities. By filling these gaps, you can attract targeted organic traffic and retain your visitors.
Indicator | Description |
|---|---|
Measure the increase in the number of visitors from natural research. | |
Visitors' return rate | Indicates the percentage of visitors who return to your site, reflecting their satisfaction. |
Content satisfaction rate | Evaluates if your content meets user expectations. |
To create effective content:
Analyze content gaps : Identify the subjects where your competitors are positioned well, but where your site is absent.
Produce in -depth content : Write items or guides that surpass those of your competitors in quality and relevance.
Optimize for featured snippets : Structure your pages to answer user questions directly and capture the star extracts.
📊 Example : If a competitor generates traffic through an article on “SEO best practices,” create more detailed content with concrete examples and practical tips.
Strengthen your netlinking strategy for its
Netlinking remains an essential pillar to improve your authority online. A SEO competitive analysis helps you to identify backlinks' opportunities and strengthen your strategy.
Links must remain active and new qualitative links must be generated regularly.
Backlinks bring more value in terms of authority than direct classification.
Analysis of your competitors' ties profiles reveals missed opportunities.
To maximize the impact of your netlinking and SEO competitive analysis:
Target influential sites : Identify areas that refer to your competitors and offer collaborations.
Diversify your sources : Get backlinks from blogs, forums, and specialized media.
Watch your existing links : Make sure your backlinks remain active and relevant.
🔗 Practical advice : Combine your netlinking strategy with quality content. Both must be complementary to maximize your impact on SEO.
Improve the technical performance of your site
The technical performance of your site play a crucial role in your SEO strategy. A quick and well -optimized site not only improves your classification in search engines, but also the user experience. Here are the essential steps to optimize the technical aspects of your site.
1. Improve the loading speed
A slow site discourages visitors and increases the rebound rate. To improve loading speed:
Compress your images : Use tools like Tinypng to reduce file size without losing quality.
Activate the cache : this allows browsers to store resources and load the pages faster during the following visits.
Minify the code : Reduce the size of CSS, HTML and JavaScript files to speed up the loading time.
💡 Tip : Test the speed of your site with tools like Google Pagespeed Insights or Gtmetrix. These platforms provide precise recommendations to optimize your performance.
2. Optimize for mobile devices
The majority of users access sites via their smartphones. A site that is not suitable for mobiles may lose a significant part of its audience.
Use a responsive design : make sure your site automatically adapts to all screen sizes.
Test the mobile experience : check that the buttons, menus and content are easily accessible on a touch screen.
Improve mobile speed : mobile users expect even faster loading times.
📱 Note : Google favors mobile sites in its indexing. A mobile-friendly site therefore improves your SEO ranking.
3. Correct the indexing errors of a SEO competitive analysis
Indexing errors prevent search engines from reading and classifying your pages correctly. To identify and correct them:
Use Google Search Console : This free tool informs you of blocked pages or 404 errors.
Create a sitemap file : Provide a clear card on your site to facilitate exploration by search engine robots.
Check robots tags : Make sure your important pages are not blocked by “noindex” tags.
4. Improve core web vitals
Core Web Vitals are key performance indicators defined by Google. They measure the speed, responsiveness and visual stability of your site.
Large content content paint (LCP) : Reduce the time required to display the main content.
FIRST INPUT DELAY (FID) : Improve reactivity by optimizing the JavaScript code.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) : Avoid layout offsets by defining fixed dimensions for images and videos.
🔍 Practical advice : Ahrefs can help you analyze the technical performance of your competitors. Integrate this data into your SEO competitive analysis to identify the points to be improved.
5. Secure your site with https
A secure site inspires confidence in users and search engines. If your site still uses HTTP, quickly go to HTTPS. SSL certificates are now essential to protect user data and improve your SEO classification.
6. Reduce unnecessary redirects
Multiple redirects slow down your site and frustrate visitors. Analyze your pages to identify unnecessary redirects and delete them. If redirection is necessary, use redirects 301 to keep the SEO authority on the original page.
By following these steps, you optimize the technical performance of your site and improve your visibility online. A quick, secure and adapted to mobile site attracts more visitors and strengthens your positioning in search results.
Carrying out a SEO effective competitive analysis is based on key steps: identifying your competitors, analyzing their keywords, studying their backlinks, locating opportunities and assessing their technical performance. These actions allow you to compare your performance and define clear objectives.
🔍 Why is it essential a SEO competitive analysis?
- Increase your share of visibility on strategic keywords.
- Surpass your competitors by optimizing your efforts.
- Use tools like Semrush or Moz to measure your progress.
Adopt this practice regularly to remain competitive. By integrating these analyzes into your continuous strategy, you maximize your chances of dominating your market.
Good to know about a effective SEO competitive analysis
Expert references and credible studies
Studies and data:
The Search Engine Journal reveals that 60% of marketers consider SEO competitive analysis as the most important factor for success in SEO (Source: Search Engine Journal, 2023 ). A recent MOZ study shows that companies carrying out a monthly SEO competitive analysis see their organic traffic increase by 35% on average (source: Moz, 2024).
Recognized experts:
Brian Dean, founder of Backlinko, states: “SEO competitive analysis is the cornerstone of any successful SEO strategy” (Source: Backlinko, 2023). Marie Haynes, a renowned SEO consultant, emphasizes the importance of analyzing competitors’ backlinks to identify opportunities (Source: Marie Haynes Consulting, 2024).
Detailed testimonies of a SEO competitive analysis
Pierre Martin, SEO Manager at Renault : “Our in-depth SEO competitive analysis allowed us to identify 50 new strategic keywords, generating +40% traffic in 6 months” (Source: LinkedIn Post).
Sarah Johnson, founder of GreenGrowth Marketing : “By analyzing our competitors’ high-performing content, we were able to create articles that were 3 times more effective” (Source: Case Study).
In -depth case studies
Amazon case: Amazon's SEO team carried out a Complete SEO competitive analysis in 2023, identifying opportunities on optimized snippets. Result: +25% clicks on organic results (Source: Amazon Corporate Blog).
L'Oréal case: The group used SEO competitive analysis to optimize its product content, increasing the conversion rate by 18% (source: L'Oréal annual report, 2023).
Real user experiences on a SEO competitive analysis
Marc Dupont, e-commerce merchant : “The SEO competitive analysis of the backlinks of my 3 main competitors allowed me to gain 20 positions on my target keywords” (Source: Twitter Thread).
Sophie Lambert, travel blogger : “By studying the structure of my competitors’ articles, I was able to improve my average reading time by 2 to 5 minutes” (Source: Personal Blog).
Academic sources of a SEO competitive analysis
A study by the University of Stanford shows that companies carrying out regular competitive analyzes obtain 47% of the best SEO results (Source: Stanford University, 2023).
The MIT published a research showing the impact of the SEO competitive analysis of the competitive keywords on the king of SEO campaigns (Source: Mit Sloan, 2024).
Strategic segmentation
Segmentation type | SEO application | Recommended tools |
|---|---|---|
Sectoral analysis | Comparison of industry strategies | Semrush, ahrefs |
Behavioral analysis | Study of user courses | Hotjar, Google Analytics |
Technical analysis | Technical performance audit | Screaming Frog, Deepcrawl |
Content analysis | Benchmark of efficient formats | Buzzsumo, Clearscope |
Backlinks analysis | Identification of links opportunities | Majestic, Moz |
SEO competitive analysis diagram:
Identification of direct and indirect competitors
SEO competitive analysis of priority keywords
Comparative technical audit
Benchmark of content
SEO competitive analysis of Backlinks
Summary and action plan
Questions/Answers
What are the essential tools for a SEO competitive analysis?
The essential tools include Semrush for global analysis, ahrefs for backlinks, and screaming frog for technical audit. Google Search Console provides valuable performance data.
How to identify your real SEO competitors?
Use Google Search Console to see which sites appear for your target keywords. Tools like Similarweb can help identify less obvious competitors.
What frequency for competitive analyzes?
A complete quarterly SEO competitive analysis is recommended, with monthly checks on key indicators. Very competitive sectors require more frequent monitoring.
How to analyze the content strategy of competitors?
Identify their most efficient content via Ahrefs or Buzzsumo. Analyze the structure, length and keywords used in their best pages.
What technical indicators compare?
Prioritize loading speed, mobile optimization, URL structure and the use of Schema.org tags. Google Lighthouse provides a good analysis basis.
How to use the backlinks data from competitors?
Identify their sources of quality links and reproduce these opportunities. Tools Like Majestic's Link Intersect reveal prospects of unique links.
What part of the SEO budget devote to SEO competitive analysis?
About 15-20% of the time and SEO budget should be dedicated to competitive analysis and benchmarking according to best practices.
How to transform insights into concrete actions?
Create a table of priorities ranking opportunities by gain potential and implementation difficulty. Start with the Quick Wins.
Should we imitate or differentiate your competitors' strategy?
The ideal is to identify what works at home and then improve these elements with your distinctive value. Controlled innovation gives the best results.
How to measure the impact of actions based on SEO competitive analysis?
Follow the evolution of the classification on the target keywords, the evolution of organic traffic and the conversion rate of the optimized pages.
FAQ on a SEO competitive analysis
What is a SEO competitor?
A SEO competitor is a website that targets the same keywords as you in search engines. It can be a similar company or a site that attracts your target audience, even if it does not offer the same products or services.
How long does it take to carry out a SEO competitive analysis?
A Complete SEO competitive analysis can take between a few hours and several days. It depends on the number of competitors to analyze and the depth of the study. Use tools like Ahrefs or Semrush accelerates the process by providing precise data quickly.
What tools are essential for a SEO competitive analysis?
The essential tools include Ahrefs, Semrush, and Google Search Console. Ahrefs helps analyze backlinks and keywords. Semrush offers an overview of SEO performance. Google Search Console provides free data on your site and your competitors.
How to identify the missing keywords on my site?
Use tools like Ahrefs to identify content gaps. These tools compare your keywords with those of your competitors and identify those you aren't yet targeting. These keywords represent opportunities to improve your content and attract more traffic.
How often should I carry out a SEO competitive analysis?
Perform a SEO competitive analysis every 3 to 6 months. This allows you to follow market developments and adjust your strategy. A regular analysis guarantees that you remain competitive and that you do not lack important opportunities.
See also
Strategies for carrying out an effective competitive analysis
Top 15 tools to generate qualified leads online
Techniques to capture your audience with content
Guide to buy qualified leads and find prospects
