One of the questions we often get from clients is how they can find out what their competitors are doing online. Seeing what your competition is doing is a great way to get inspiration, a better sense of what is working and not working for your ideal audience, and more.
While there’s not a “cut in stone” way to find out what the competition is doing, there are a few tricks you can do to find out what they’re doing that works.
More than likely, you’ve Googled some of your major keywords and phrases and have discovered some of your competitors there. Then try using the “site:[competitor’s web address]” keyword trick. This way, you’ll be able to see what keywords your competitors are using on their pages: in both the page titles and the meta-descriptions.
Website
Obviously your competitors’ website is a great place to see what they’re up to. Here, you can check out everything from web copy to navigation to imagery. Plus, you can see what type of content creation your competition creates between their blog and email newsletter.
Incoming links
One of the biggest barriers to your online success in comparison to your competitors is the amount of incoming links you have compared to one another. These days, there are very few ways to find our this information other than paid services. My favorite is Open Site Explorer via Moz.
Social media
Last but certainly not least, be sure to check out the competition’s social media accounts. Specifically, you’ll be able to see where they are reaching an audience…and where they aren’t.
Plus, Facebook specifically will show you exactly what kind of engagement your competition is getting on their Facebook page. Simply click on the “likes” at the top left of the page. Here are the stats from Mashable’s page, as an example:
What are your favorite ways to keep up with the competition?
