Introduction

Before we think about beating the competition and dominating the market, we first have to figure out who we are against. You have to find and analyze the competitors to strategize the forthcoming domination.

Contrary to what most of our customers believe, finding competitors in the digital world is not easy as it may look. While it might be easier to find paid competitors fighting for the same ad placements, it is far more challenging to pinpoint online organic competitors.

Therefore, you will need a strategy to find your competitors’ websites and efficiently surpass them on the search engines. Here we are with some of the best ways to find the websites you should compete with. Let’s get started!

Start with a simple Google search

That’s right. Use the most trustable online service available to you for free. Google has several valuable products that can complement your quest to find competitors’ websites. You can use Google Search and Google Keyword Planner, to begin with. Before you start looking for competitors online, you should know your target keywords.

In other words, you should have a list of search terms that you want to compete for with other websites. Once you have the keywords, search for these terms on Google. Take note of the pages that consistently rank in the top 10 positions. Also, look for the brands that are ranking on the paid results.

Another great way to use Google Search is by applying the ‘Related’ search operator in your searches. Just type ‘related:’ followed by your website domain.

You will get a list of websites that Google found similar to your site. You can consider these sites as your competitors.

Use competitor analysis tools

We don’t recommend paid tools to find competitors. There are so many free tools available online that can be used to identify your competitors and run extensive competitor analysis. Here, we have mentioned some of the best online tools to discover and analyze your competition.

BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is one of the best competitor analysis tools that will help you find the relevant topics in a particular niche. You can use the suggestions and make your marketing campaigns run better.

The competitor insights facilitate improved content creation. BuzzSumo considers the content being shared on social media as well. You can also figure out the topics that your competitors are using to generate the most engagement.

It will generate a list of topics that you can exploit in your marketing campaigns. It will also show you the competitors that are creating content on the same topic.

Mailcharts

Mailcharts is another competitor analysis tool that can bring your insights from advertisements and emails. In our experience, it is always challenging to conduct competitor analysis through emails. This is because it requires analyzing tons of emails and ads.

It makes things simple by tracking the advertisements and communications your competitors are sharing with their clients. They do that by analyzing the keywords and frequency of other key terms used in the communication.

You can compare two of your campaigns and ensure that your email marketing strategy is competent. You can use Mailcharts to analyze the paid advertisements as well and get inspiration from the insights.

Owletter

One of the most efficient tools in the market, Owletter, will help you identify your competition using keywords and emails. It will collect the emails your competitors have sent and organize them, so it becomes easier for you to comprehend.

Owletter uses screenshots to collect the data and information and highlights the changes in strategies as well. This way, you will have the best keywords to use in your marketing emails.

It will also assist you in the language and tone you need to have in your campaign to get more responses. Owletter recognizes the pattern in each campaign and helps you get a competitive edge against your competitors.

Similarweb

You will always need a website that will shortlist websites that are similar to your URL. Similarweb is a great online tool that will help you identify the websites that match the URL of your business website.

All you have to do is key in your site’s URL. It comes with a free version as well as a subscription service. The free version shows you up to 10 results once you enter your website URL.

We found this tool more useful when we key in the websites of our competitors as well. This way, we could find more competitors and generate even more insights.

MozBar

The last tool that we suggest you use is MozBar. It is an ideal competitor analysis tool to identify your competitors’ position on the search results. You can use it to check your performance in search rankings and further improve your SEO and marketing strategies.

We suggest you install the MozBar extension on your internet browsing software. This way, you will get the insights on the search engine result page itself whenever you enter a search query.

Consider the website’s content

Now that you know how to find the competitors’ websites, it is time that you analyze them as well. We have already shared some of the best tools for competition analysis. But, there are many other ways to learn about your competitors. You can always start by considering the website’s content.

You must take a look at what your competitors are doing to get traffic on their sites. What kind of content are they publishing? What is the information they cover that you don’t?

Can you find any loopholes in how they create and publish content? Are they getting traffic despite posting low-quality content? Buzzsumo, as we mentioned earlier, will help you find out the topics your competitors cover. Shortlist their top-performing content and find out ways you can create better content.

Evaluate the branding tactics

Pay close attention to how they emphasize branding on their website. Find out if they have a logo, notice the colors used on the site, the elements used consistently, and the personality they try to reflect through the overall website theme.

Brand identity matters when you are competing online. It helps improve your brand recall value and shows how professional and polished you are. Note down the branding tactics and try figuring out how you can implement a better version of them on your website.

Check the set of website tools

Modern-day websites depend on online tools and plugins to work efficiently. Therefore, you must know which tools your competitors are using on their websites. This will help you make your site more competent and useful for your target audience.

So, how can you look at the tools and plugins used on your competitors’ sites? Use Builtwith. This is a free service that will reveal all the features and plugins implemented on a site.

Not just that, it will also show the email services, hosting, and content idea tools that your competitors use. We suggest you use Builtwith and make the best of these tools.

Never ignore social media

You aren’t only going to use your website when it comes to competing online. Social media is another online real estate that you should make the most of. We understand that there are tons of social media tracking tools out there in the market. And many of them are quite expensive too.

In our experience, these tools do not do any justice to the money you spend on social media insights. Instead, we suggest you stick to the basics when monitoring competitors on social media. Simply follow your competitors’ social media pages and activities.

Take note of the content they push on social media. Find out the social media platform they are most active on, their posting frequency, the most performing content, and more. Look for opportunities to create an improved version of their social media strategy.

Take note of the pricing page

Another crucial thing that you should be targeting while comparing your site with your competitors is the pricing page. After all, you want your website to convert for your business too. Begin with the pricing.

Sure, the pricing for most of the competitors will be different. But at the same time, they will be offering different services for the pricing as well. Figure out the benefits and features they provide for the pricing.

Find out how the pricing compares to your website. Also, take note of any ongoing sale or discount they are running on their site. Come up with a better pricing page layout and strategies that make your brand an easy choice for potential customers.

Figure out their SEO strategy

Tools like SEMRush and Mozbar are pretty effective in identifying your competitors’ SEO strategies. You can use many other tools as well to dig deep into your competitors’ SEO strategy and get insights about their backlinks, keywords, content, and more.

All you have to do is type in the URL, and these tools will analyze the site inside and out. You will also get to know the traffic sources these sites use. It’s a great way to develop an SEO strategy for your website and eventually outperform your competitors on the search engines.

Try becoming a customer

Become an intelligent competitor. So, don’t just rely on tools and strategies to find and beat your competitors. Take one step further and engage with your competitors yourself. This is not a difficult tactic at all.

Just connect with your competitors and find out how they interact with their customers. Sign up for their services and figure out what their process looks like. It is an excellent opportunity to look at their products and services as an insider.

Look for ways their approach is different from yours. Identify the shortcomings and take advantage of the insights. Also, sign up for their newsletters to stay up to date with what they are up to.

Hire professionals to find competitors

The last tactic that we want to suggest is taking professional help to identify your competition. It can be quite cumbersome to figure out the sites that you should compete with, especially considering that there are so many websites in every niche.

Also, you don’t have to compete with every competitor’s website. It is vital that you choose your competition carefully as well! This is precisely why we recommend you hire online marketing professionals.

Keep learning !

Discovering new competition and executing competitor analysis should never be a one-time affair. As you move up in rankings, your competition will also change. It is crucial that you follow the tactics mentioned above at least once or twice a year.

We suggest you always stay up to date with what your competitors are up to. If you are not sure how to implement a competitor analysis strategy, you should always look forward to hiring reputable online marketing professionals.

Loved reading this post? Don’t forget to check out other informative posts on the blog!