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How competitor analysis is essential for a web marketing strategy

By 4 April 2024No Comments
Analisi competitor per una corretta strategia di marketing web

A good web marketing strategy

In today's web world build a effective web marketing strategy it is more crucial than ever. Identifying the objectives to be achieved, the tools to do so and the channels to be implemented is vital for any company that aspires to be successful, on and off the web. But this argument takes on even more validity if applied to the modern internet, into which more and more companies from all over the world appear every day.

To overcome the competition you must therefore do something more than others and exploit all the possibilities offered by the web to obtain an effective web marketing strategy. 

An essential component of this often overlooked strategy isanalysis of online competitors. By carefully evaluating your competitors, you can discover valuable insights that will guide your strategic decisions and help you position yourself optimally in the market. Here's how to do it.

Identification of competitors

The first step in analyzing online competitors is to accurately identify them. Your competitors can be classified into two categories: direct is indirect. Direct competitors offer similar products or services to yours and target the same customer segment. In contrast, indirect competitors may not offer the same type of product or service, but satisfy the same customer need or desire.

Researching keywords relevant to your products or services, using tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush or SEOZoom, is a great starting point. This will help you understand who you are really competing against online.

The process goes more or less like this: 

  1. use one of the tools described above to find the most typed keywords on the web by those looking for your products or services;
  2. search for these keywords on Google and see which companies appear in the results. 

These companies are among your main online competitors.

Analysis of online visibility

Once you've identified your competitors, examine how visible they are online compared to you. The goal is to evaluate theirs digital presence, including search volumes for their brand, search engine visibility for relevant key terms, and their social media activity.

  1. Brand search volumes: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or SEOZoom to collect data on monthly search volumes for your competitors' brand names. This will give you a direct measure of their popularity and recognition.
  2. Product analytics: Examine how your brand's products or services compare to those of your competitors in terms of online searches. Consider user search intent and evaluate seasonality and the effect of advertising campaigns on search volumes.

Evaluating customer reviews and feedback

Customer reviews and feedback are powerful indicators of a brand's reputation online. Platforms like Google Reviews, TripAdvisor, Booking.com and Trustpilot are valuable sources for this analysis. Examine not only the number and quality of reviews but also the frequency with which your competitors receive feedback.

Comparison of PPC strategies

A detailed analysis of your competitors' Pay-Per-Click (PPC) strategies can reveal which keywords they find most valuable and where they are investing their advertising budgets. 

Tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs can provide insights into your PPC campaigns, helping you identify gaps in your keyword strategy and unexplored opportunities.

Web traffic and SEO positioning

To evaluate the effectiveness of web marketing strategy SEO of your competitors, examine the volume of web traffic they receive and their positions in search engine results (SERPs) for critical key terms (the keywords you identified above). 

The analytics tools already mentioned can provide estimates of the monthly visits each site receives, giving you an overview of who dominates the online market.

Analysis of traffic sources

Knowing how much traffic your competitors attract is important but it's not enough: it's also important to know where this traffic comes from. 

Understanding where your competitors' traffic comes from will allow you to identify which marketing channels they are making the most of. This includes traffic from organic search, referrals, direct, social media, display and email campaigns.

The domain authority

Domain authority is a metric that predicts how well a website can rank in search engines. To discover the authority (or authoritativeness, if you prefer) of a site, simply consult one of the usual tools, such as SEMRush. 

This data will give you the measure of how much your website is taken into consideration by Google. 

Conclusions

Carrying out an analysis of your online competitors will allow you to define a more effective web marketing strategy. 

This process helps you understand your competitors' strengths and weaknesses, identify market opportunities, and adapt your strategy accordingly. Remember, success in digital marketing isn't just based on what you do, but also how you stack up against your competitors. With a data-driven approach, you can confidently navigate the digital landscape and propel your brand to success.

Contact us for more information for a preliminary analysis or to help you implement your web marketing strategy.