SEO stands for “search engine optimization. In simple terms, web optimization involves the most common way to work on your site to increase its visibility on Google, Microsoft Bing, and other web crawlers when people search for:
- Products you sell.
- Services you provide.
- Information on topics in which you have in-depth knowledge and/or experience.
The better the visibility of your pages in search results, the more likely they are to find and click on it. Ultimately, the goal of search engine optimization is to help attract website visitors who will convert into customers, customers, or an audience that keeps coming back.
If you are new to digital marketing, SEO, or search engine optimization, it is one of the most effective strategies to outperform competitors online. But how does SEO allow you to outperform the competition? On this page, we will talk about how to beat your competitors with SEO strategies.
Outperform Competitors: SEO Style
If you’ve ever wondered how to outperform the competition, and let’s be honest, every business owner has.
You’ve probably done your fair share of research. You’ve probably seen advice like “make sure your physical store is welcoming” or “price products and services competitively,” but one strategy you may not have considered is SEO.
Behind the scenes of SEO
SEO is a digital marketing strategy that helps you beat your competitors in many ways, but the most important benefit of SEO is beating competitors on search engine results pages (SERPs). Here’s how it works: When your audience searches Google for your products or services, Google offers them a long list of results, giving them plenty of options to choose from.
When you appear above the competition at the top of the results, more people can find and contact your business, and ultimately, you’ll earn more revenue.
As you might guess, results that appear higher in the SERPs get more traffic than those that appear lower down, or even on the second, third, or fourth page of search results. In fact, the top five SERP results receive a staggering 68% of clicks. However, keep in mind that Google does not choose which sites to display randomly.
Search results are based on Google’s algorithms, which are constantly changing.
Beat rivals with computerized display procedures like improving competitor’s website design
So, what does this mean for you? More importantly, it means you need to adopt a computerized display system that focuses on driving your site’s content to the top of the SERPs so that your target customers can easily find it online. This is where website optimization becomes arguably the most important factor.
SEO combines a wide variety of techniques that help your website rank high in search engines and, over time, even outperform your competitors. If you’re still wondering how to beat the competition with SEO, keep reading.
How To Beat The Competition With SEO: 4 Strategies To Drive Results
Now that you understand the importance of rankings for your website and that SEO is the go-to strategy for improving rankings on the SERPs, it’s time to talk about specific competitive SEO strategies. Keep reading to learn more about four SEO strategies that will help you beat your competitors in search.
1. Do an SEO analysis of the competition
If you want to beat competitors with SEO, you’ll need to conduct an SEO competitor analysis by researching their strategies to identify your plan of attack. Whether it’s a different SEO strategy to get them to the top of the search results, or just an entirely different digital marketing strategy, keeping an eye on what they’re doing online can help you get ahead. Pay attention to their website, the type of content they create, and the keywords they are targeting with their content.
Are they targeting a term you didn’t think is also targeting your audience? You should never create a carbon copy of someone else’s content or strategy, but you can take a page from their book. The information you get from your SEO competitor analysis can help you gain important information that will help you beat them in search.
2. Create content that your audience wants
Content is probably the most important part of your SEO strategy. The goal of your SEO campaign is to increase traffic to your website, and if you don’t have content to engage your audience, you’re losing the game. Not only do you need to create strong content, but you also need to create it often. Google loves when websites provide a constant stream of new content, like blog posts.
Blogs are a great way to provide fresh, new content to your target audience, as well as target a high volume of keywords since blogs are published regularly. You will also benefit from creating content related to your products and services. Keep in mind that the content you create should be based on the keywords you decide for the best performance. For example, if you find that a long-tail keyword has mediocre search volume but little competition, it pays to write content that focuses on that keyword. Just because you target a long-tail keyword in a piece of content doesn’t mean you can’t target its short-tail counterpart as well.
For example, if you sell countertops and your long-tail keyword is “gray marble countertop with beveled edges,” you could still target keywords like “marble countertop” and “gray countertop” on the same page. The main goal is to create content that covers topics that interest your target audience, and you can learn a lot about those topics through high search volume keywords.
3. Build a strong internal linking profile
Internal linking is one of the best SEO strategies out there because it essentially builds a web outside of your website. When a site visitor lands on one of your pages, it’s an opportunity to keep that visitor on your site for an extended period of time. This is a great opportunity, as spending more time on your site can help visitors learn more about your brand and products and may even encourage them to convert.
That being said, to keep users on your site longer, you should link to other pages on your site from your content. For example, if you create a page that talks about how you can select the right countertop for your kitchen, you could place links to your different countertops throughout the content. This not only makes users jump from one page to another within your site, but also helps them learn more about your products.
In addition to creating a positive user experience for users, building a strong internal linking profile also helps Google find new pages more easily. The faster Google finds your pages, the sooner they can rank for them and the sooner you’ll see an increase in traffic and sales.
4. Conduct keyword research to target high-value terms
If you want to beat the competition with SEO, one of the most important steps is to conduct keyword research for your industry. Keyword research opens the door to so many targeting options that allow you to reach your ideal audience, which is crucial for getting more website traffic, more sales, and higher revenue. When you do keyword research, you’ll gain insight into what types of terms your audience is searching for on Google, and once you understand what they’re searching for, you can then target those terms with your content.
Disclaimer:
Make sure you don’t use keywords that can hurt your ranking in Google. In terms of keywords, it’s important to consider both long-tail and short-tail keywords.
Long-Tail Keywords:
Long-tail keywords are detailed phrases that often drive less search traffic, but higher rewards. When users click on a page that targets a specific long-tail keyword, they likely already know what they’re looking for and are ready to convert.
Short Tail Keywords:
Short tail keywords are short, general keywords. These keywords often receive extremely high search volume and are difficult to rank for. They also do not create qualified website traffic because site visitors are likely not ready to convert, they are just interested in learning more.
To get the best results, you should target a mix of long and short tail keywords. Want to take your keyword research to the next level? Invest in a tool like Ahrefs that provides you with a gap analysis!
35 Tips to Help You Beat Your Competitors in SEO
1. Monitor the competition
2. Steal keywords from the competition
3. Poach Competitor Backlinks
4. Focus on creating evergreen content
5. Create x10 content
6. Create Link-Worthy Resources
7. Create Link-Worthy Tools
8. Post new content on a regular schedule
9. Do detailed keyword research
10. Aim for a sufficient number of words
11. Run spelling and grammar checks
12. Run Copyscape Plagiarism Checks If Necessary
13. Includes skimmable format
14. Include High-Quality Original Images
15. Implement great metadata
16. Implement Schema Markup
17. Monitor and correct Search Console errors and manual actions
18. Conduct routine content audits annually
19. Deindex or remove pages from thin systems
20. Emphasize internal links
21. Create more backlinks
22. Audit and Disavow Bad Backlinks
23. Use Ahrefs and fix bugs
24. Use Page Speed Insights and troubleshoot
25. Check and troubleshoot basic Web Vitals in Search Console
26. Avoid over-optimizing links and keywords
27. Never buy backlinks
28. Avoid PBNs
29. Optimize for mobile experience
30. Optimize for voice search
31. Reuse content for multiple channels
32. Keep an eye on SEO developments
33. Use alternative forms of SEO whenever possible
34. Analyze and track everything
35. Never stop