Top 6 Powerful Tools for SEO Competitors’ Analysis

No matter the niche you operate in, chances are that you are not alone. Competition is a constant, so it’s important to know where you stand in regard to other businesses in the same industry. According to studies, 42% of content marketers admit that their SEO ranking is on a significant rise in the past several years. The question is – are they to thank for that rise or is something else aloft in SEO itself?

To that end, numerous tools exist which can help you analyze other websites and see how successful they really are. Let’s take a look at several representative examples which can help you SEO analyze the competition and use that data to your advantage.

1. MozBar

Ongoing site analysis is an important part of healthy SEO of your own website. MozBar is a small but powerful plugin which can help you determine how search engines see certain websites with a click of a button. The tool is integrated into your browser and has access to momentary domain authority (DA) ranking.

This means that you can easily see how “powerful” a brand is in Google’s eyes as well as how much of a foothold they have in the industry. MozBar is fairly straightforward and doesn’t provide in-depth data like some other tools out there. It is however a great starting point for any business to start analyzing their competition’s SEO performance.

2. Sprout Social

Social media activity plays a major role in the grand scheme of things when it comes to SEO and brand authority. Sprout Social is a tool which allows you to passively monitor the competition’s numerous pages and sites across the web. For example, brand A can be monitored for their Facebook and Instagram activity apart from the standard website analysis.

This can prove helpful since you will always have access to the analytics of each piece of content they post. You can then extrapolate your findings and apply the themes of successful content pieces to your own brand. It effectively lets someone else experiment with their brand’s SEO while allowing you to take the best parts from that process. Sprout Social features a spreadsheet design which is easy to operate and export for your leisure.

3. SEM Rush

As one of the most prolific SEO tools on the market (rivaling Google Adwords), SEM Rush has a lot to offer. The tool represents an all-in-one site analytics hub. You can set a number of websites to be tracked for their SEO performance and get very extensive reports of their online activities.

Everything from keyword optimization to backlink integration is a part of SEM Rush, which means that nothing will get away unnoticed. It also provides a detailed look at a site’s ad revenue performance and what kind of advertisement was implemented in their SEO methodology. SEM Rush can also be used to optimize your own website as a result of said findings, meaning that you can centralize your SEO activities in this one platform.

4. Alexa

It’s easy to confuse Alexa with Amazon’s own AI-algorithm voice application. However, Alexa is an SEO analysis platform first and foremost – with no relation to the mentioned AI. What distinguishes Alexa from other tools on our list is its ability to dive deep into traffic analysis. This is the most dominant feature of the platform since it allows you to measure your own content against other websites.

The visualization features of Alexa allow for very clear data analysis which is why it is suitable both for professional and casual SEO aficionados. And while traffic by itself might not sound as useful as SEO optimization insight, it still represents an important piece of information about your competitions online performance.

5. SpyFu

Keyword optimization is a pivotal part of global SEO. That’s why monitoring your competition for their keywords is a very useful activity. SpyFu allows you to track and analyze keywords based on your competition’s activity. For example, you can set their websites and most dominant keywords as targets for SpyFu.

After that, you will have ongoing information about the changes in their SEO methodology, the performance of their links and the ad revenue they attract to the brand. Using SpyFu will effectively allow you to pick and choose which keywords to implement in your own content without worrying about whether or not they are suitable. After all, you will only select the most predominant ones, leaving the rest for the competition.

6. SERPstat

What better way to have access to fresh SEO information than by analyzing Search Engine Result Pages (SERP). SERPstat is a tracking tool which uses Google’s search engine algorithm as its base. It allows you to monitor your competition’s specific pages for their overall ranking and brand authority.

You can also monitor an entire niche of websites if you choose to do so, allowing for even more data to show up at your doorstep. It’s easy to use this tool to make real-time changes to your site and see how it fairs in SERP in just a few seconds. SERPstat can effectively be used to growth hack your website into higher SEO ranking.

Ongoing SEO (Conclusion)

Using one (or several) of these tools on an ongoing basis is vital to your online success. While it may seem unsportsmanlike to monitor your competition’s websites, keep in mind that the internet is built around this activity. If you don’t take the initiative and upgrade your tracking information stream, someone else will do it and make your site irrelevant as a result. Do what is best for your website and use SEO analysis tools on an active basis.

Author Bio

Steven Mehler is an Editor at Top Writers Review. He holds a Master’s degree in Interpersonal Communication which has led to his five years of experience as a writer and an editor. Steven loves technology and one of his favorite pastimes is to build gaming computers. He also enjoys fishing and visiting national parks across the world.