by Dan Dixon, Web-Reach Consulting

Competitor research can be as detailed and tedious as you want it to be.  Many times it’s helpful to get an overview of the landscape to determine your competition and assess the value of SEO.  Here’s a 15 minute checklist that will give you a quick perspective of your online competition.

  1. Search your Services with the Google Keyword Tool
    A quick way to develop a list of keywords is to search the service names from your website with the Google Keyword tool.  This tool will provide synonyms, search quantity, and also let’s you easily export a keyword list to Excel.
  2. Add Local Modifiers at SEO Book if Applicable
    If targeting local search, add local modifiers to your terms via the SEO Book Keyword Phrase Generator.  Make sure to use slang terms as well as proper names.
  3. Search Competitors at Fuzz Find
    Once you have a list of 20 or so terms, go to Fuzz Find and find the top 5 or 10 sites that rank consistently for your search terms.
  4. Document Their Keywords via a Keyword Density check at Rank Quest
    One RankQuest search per competitor will give you an idea of their keyword strategy in META tags, Titles, and content as well as other page elements.  Log the most commonly found terms for monitoring.
  5. Log the Top 3 Competitors and their Keywords
    Keep a log of what you find so you can check your rankings for your keywords and theirs.  You can also monitor the terms to find up-and-comers.