what is your competitor doing online? #sem11

What is your competitor doing Online?

SEM Konferansen - Oslo

Before We Start

Introduction

Summary

Analytics data

Tools

Organic data

Other data

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What is your competitor doing Online?

Agenda

PPC data

Introduction• With the web close to transparant, we can see how

the competition moves online• We can see their:

– PPC spend– Organic traffic– In-bound links and Anchor-tags– Estimate their traffic– Understand their type of traffic

The Opportunities• Study Your Competitors

– What are they doing now?– What will their next steps be?– What is their budget?

• Understand them– Know their strengths and weaknesses

• How should you use your analysis?– Benchmarking– Forecasting– Forensics– Act on it!

But there is more...• You can also call out “shady” usage of PPC such as: - Trademark use in ads - Are they steeling your content - Not playing by rules

BE ONE STEP AHEAD!

THE TOOLSWhat is your competitor doing Online?

THE GOALS WITH THIS SESSION?

The Tools• Spyfu for International

– UK and USA

• SEMRush for International– Russian, German, French, Brazil and more

• Trellian• MajesticSEO• Google Keyword Tool• Alexa• Keywordspy.com• trafficestimate.com ... and the list goes on

PPC DATAWhat is your competitor doing Online?

PPC data• The data out there is public, so there is nothing

unethical about gathering it• The data might be wrong

– Make sure you normalize it

• Look at it in terms of the big picture– Don’t take things out of context

• Is it actionable?– What can you really do with it?

SpyFu• Limited to USA and UK• Monthly cost ranging from around $69• Gives both organic and PPC data• Focuses on Google

PPC Data

Boots.com in the UK PPC Data

SEMRush• Cost per month from $49.95• Does similar things as Spyfu but adds languages and

locations– Beside USA and the UK there is Russia, Germany, France,

Spain, Italy, Brazil and Australia

PPC Data

Trellian• Expensive (around $199 per domain per month)• Takes longer time to collect/show data• Shows Yahoo!/Bing data• Has some indications of Norwegian keyword data• Allows you to monitor without paying

PPC Data

Google Keyword tool• Free to use and International• Gives insights into how Google sees the competition• Use to full potential to find missed opportunities in

regards to keywords and cost• You need login information

PPC Data

Google Keyword Tool• Even shows the landing page

PPC Data

KeywordSpy• The most Norwegian friendly PPC/Organic friendly

tool

PPC Data

ORGANIC DATAWhat is your competitor doing Online?

Organic Data• The data out there is public, so there is nothing

unethical about gathering it• The data might be wrong

– Make sure you normalize it

• Look at it in terms of the big picture– Don’t take it out of context– Collect data over a period of time

• Again, is it actionable?– What can you really do with it?

Organic Data

MajesticSEO• Who is linking to your competition?• With what type of anchor tags?• What are the most prominent landing pages?• You can use this for free for your own site and get

basic reports for others.

Organic Data

Organic Data

MajesticSEO• Aptotek1 versus vitusapotek.no

– Vitusapotek ranks number one for Apotek– Has less inbound links

• Referring domains 176 (307) total external backlinks 2,127 (4,353)

– Gulesider.no strong in referring to Vitusapotek• Opportunity for Apotek1?

Organic Data

Keyword Spy Organic Data

Alexa• Remember to collect over a period of time and

normalize the data

Organic Data

SEMRush• Gives insight into keywords returning traffic

Organic Data

Google Alerts• Google Alerts is a fantastic way to monitor brands

and search terms

Organic Data

Others• SEOmoz• Keyword Competitors• Ad Gooroo• Compete• Xenu• The SITE: and the LINK: commands in Google• Webmastertools

Organic Data

ANALYTICS DATAWhat is your competitor doing Online?

Analytics Data• Look at your own analytics and check if the

competition is coming in• Are they reading your press releases?• Are they interacting with your content?

– What content?

OTHER DATAWhat is your competitor doing Online?

Trafficestimator.com• How much traffic is the competitor getting

– Remember to normalize the data

Other Data

Alexa• Gives you traffic data and top organic keywords

– Remember to normalize!

Other Data

Compete.com• Struggles outside of the USA• Organic ranking seems to be close to reality• Costs from $199 per month

Other Data

QUICK CASE STUDYWhat is your competitor doing Online?

When I Google Apotek, I get... Case

When I analyze the links• Apotek 1 has more inbound links• Apotek 1 has more mentions of the word Apotek in

the title, and the flow of internal links is smoother• Apotek 1 has more traffic, 110k monthly versus 83k

– Alexa does not agree and gives me NO Rank 979 for Vistus and 1501 for Apotek1 (lower is better)

• Then there are pages and links– Vistusapotek.no has more pages indexed

• Vitus: Omtrent 6 880 resultater (0,14 sekunder)• Apotek1: Omtrent 2 170 resultater (0,14 sekunder)

– Vitus has has the Gullesider.no links

Case

There is a twist to this! Case

Conclusion in short• Vistus seems to have stronger links with a better

build of anchor tags, giving them the little nudge needed to rank number one for Apotek in Norway– This would need to be analyzed further

• But both sites have left room for the competition to gain that number one seat– Can do much better in regards of onside SEO– Lack of strategic build of external endorsement

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Case

What are the “Authority Sites?”

Organic ranking was run against all Tier 1 & 2 + keywords (1,700) looking for ranking in the first 10 pages of results

* No site dominates!

Dominating Domains

Cats.about.com: 428 (information) Petco: 276 (retail site)Purina.com: 170 (pet food brand)

Case

SUMMARYWhat is your competitor doing Online?

Summary• Follow best practices and take competitive data as

guidance - Directional• Monitor competition focusing on any PPC clues

– Remember you could be monitored also

• Try different tools to help give insight into missed opportunities

• Be Sensible– Don't obsess over Competitors

• Worry more about bettering yourself• Be aware of Intelligence limitations/blind spots• Also manual searches on keywords• Geographic ad presentation• Be ethical

THANK YOUKristján Már Hauksson