With constantly changing dynamics and increasing competition in each industry, it is crucial to stay ahead of your competitors these days. Businesses and brands try out many different techniques or tactics to beat their competitors such as advertising, branding, rebranding, public relations, ORM (online reputation management), etc. These are effective but are usually too costly. Small businesses and startups usually cannot afford these brand promotion methods. That’s where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes into play.
SEO is a cost-friendly internet marketing technique to promote websites and online stores. It comprises a broad range of activities including on-page optimization and off-page optimization. All these activities are focused on boosting website ranking, search engine visibility, and higher conversion rates.
Business websites, services-based websites and e-commerce stores that are already doing pretty well on search engine result pages meticulously work on SEO strategies. They are most likely generating 25X more sales and revenue from their websites or stores. To beat them, you need a really great SEO strategy. Don’t you have any idea about it? No worries as the best SEO agency in Toronto is by your side. We will help you with everything and support you in overtaking your competitors in terms of SEO.
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Identifying the Actual Business Competitors
Very often, we have found that our clients are not aware of their actual competitors in the SEO landscape. Because of this, they keep chasing unrealistic targets, eventually ending up with just disappointment.
Each website or store that comes under your business category doesn’t need to be your competitor. Also, not each seller or service provider operating in the location you are active in is your competitor. There are a few factors that may help you in identifying your actual business competitors. Let’s find them out below!
- Business or Service Category: Obviously, the business or service category is the first factor to consider in identifying the actual business competitors.
- Location: The second obvious factor is location. Find out which businesses or service providers that come under your business category are active in the locations where you sell or provide your services.
- Target Audience: There may be two business websites from the same business category. But, possibly, the target audience may be different. The business website or store that is targeting the same audience that you are targeting can be your actual competitor.
- Similar SEO Keywords: This is an important factor. Find out which websites or online stores are ranked on the keywords that you are targeting on your web pages and blogs. You may find those websites either by conducting a simple Google search or using an SEO tool.
- Current Standing or Ranking Status: This is another crucial factor in correctly identifying your business competitors in terms of SEO. You will need to use an SEO tool for this.
Generally, identifying business competitors is easy, but not in the SEO landscape. It is a bit tricky and you may need to get help from a SEO company in Etobicoke. Give us a try for optimum results!
SEO Strategies to Beat Your Business Competitors
An aggressive SEO strategy is essential for overtaking the competitors. Below, we have listed down a few search engine optimization strategies that you must consider:
Website Competition Analysis
A competition analysis of your website needs to be the first step of your SEO strategy-making. Tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and more allow you to conduct a deep competitor analysis. You simply need to choose a reliable SEO tool, navigate to the competition analysis section, and then put in your website URL on the domain bar. Next, run the analysis and wait for the tool to fetch the data and show you the results. Within seconds, you can access the detailed data of your website and competitors’ websites. This data will give you a fair idea of your website’s current standing and the present status of your competitors’ websites.
Analysis of Competitors’ Websites
From step one, pick the top competitors. Your competitors are those websites or stores that are targeting the keywords that you are targeting on your website. Now, you need to conduct a deep analysis of those websites. Make use of an SEO tool with higher accuracy and reliability. This analysis will show all the crucial data that you may utilize to figure out:
- What’s missing on your website
- What’s they are doing differently to rank higher on the SERP
- What type of keywords they are focusing on
- What type of content do they have
- What’s their backlink profile
- What’s their on-page and off-page tactics
Create Valuable and Usable Content
Content is the most crucial part of your website SEO as it is what you offer to your website visitors. It must be valuable and highly usable. The audience must love this and read it till the end.
You may create high-quality usable content on your own, but the wiser option is to outsource an SEO agency in Toronto. They usually provide all-inclusive SEO and content creation services. They will help with the creation of content for the web pages and web blogs on targeted keywords and topics. You can also consider us for the same
Here, you need to consider a few things:
- Your content must convey the message clearly
- It must be optimized for both search engines and readers
- A catchy yet descriptive title is a must
- Use one or more call-to-actions to appeal audience to take action
- The content must be information-rich
- Provide additional value in your content by comparing competitors’ content
- Meta descriptions and meta tags should be optimized
Moreover, creating content is not enough. You must create and publish content on your website so often. Google loves a steady stream of content.
Create a Strong Backlink Profile
This is a bit of a tough job but the most important one. First, analyze the backlink profile of your competitor’s websites. This may give you a broad idea of which websites, forums, business listings sites, social platforms, and web 2.0 submission sites you can target. You may have to invest a bit. Do not hesitate as eventually it is going to pay you off.
Expand Social Network
Social networking sites are sometimes ignored. However, they are the most powerful platforms to expand your brand recognition, awareness, and credibility. Create and maintain your business’ social accounts on popular social media and integrate them into your website. Keep interacting with the subscribers and followers with meaningful yet funny posts and memes. This can have an incredible impact on your audience base.
Now, apart from the above SEO strategies, focus on the below factors as well:
- Create a strong interlinking profile.
- Target high search volume and low-competition keyphrases.
- Focus on local SEO and business listing.
- Stay up to date with recent SEO updates and developments.
- Track your website performance regularly and watch out for what content or keyphrases are working well for you.
Concluding Remarks
We tried to cover all the important SEO aspects in this comprehensive guide. By following the strategies we explained above, you can take your website to the top of the SERP and stay ahead of your competitors. If you have any doubts or confusion, speak to our experts and book a consultation with our SEO company in Etobicoke right away.