A Guide to Using SEO Tools for Competitor Analysis

Muhammad Usama bin ALI

24-05-2024

A Guide to Using SEO Tools for Competitor Analysis

In SEO, competitor analysis helps you figure out what strategies your competitors are using to get visitors and sales. 


The use of SEO tools for effective competitor analysis transforms raw data into actionable insights. With these tools, you can see what keywords your competitors are using, how many backlinks they have, and a lot more.


Therefore, you can use this information to come up with better ways to compete. You can also benefit from trends in the market that other businesses might not have thought of yet. Here, we will go through the various aspects of SEO and the tools used for competitor analysis.


But first we should know:

Why is Competitor Analysis Important?

It is very beneficial to study the struggles of your competitors. It helps you to:


  • Compare your SEO efforts to theirs to see where you stand in relation to them in your industry.

  • Find some interesting SEO opportunities, such as under-targeted keywords, potential backlinks, and content gaps.

  • Keeping track of them will enable you to have a quick response to changes in the market without losing your search engine position.

What Tools Are Used for Competitor Analysis?

Accurate competitor analysis requires SEO tools. Competitor analysis is easily done through these tools due to the fact that they aid in the collection and analysis of data. This can help boost your SEO planning since this gives you the needed insight into what other players in your industry are up to. These tools generally have features like keyword research, backlink tracking, content scrutiny, and performance checks.

Using Ahrefs for Competitor Analysis

Ahrefs is particularly renowned in the SEO community for its deep and detailed insights. Ahrefs is known for its large database and accurate analytics. Some of the best tools you can use for competitor analysis are Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, and Content Gap analysis

Ahrefs helps you to see:


  • Which keywords do your competitors rank for.

  • Understand their backlink strategies.

  • Check the overall health of their SEO efforts. 


This makes it a very useful tool for both keeping an eye on your SEO landscape and making plans for proactive strategies that look ahead to how the market will move.


Ahrefs is equipped with several powerful tools specifically designed for competitor analysis. Let's look at them one by one.

Site Explorer

This tool offers a comprehensive look at a competitor’s backlink profile, organic keywords, and PPC campaigns. You can find out how many backlinks a competitor has, how good those links are, and where their search traffic is coming from by entering their URL.

Keywords Explorer

This tool shows you the keywords that your competitors are ranking for. Also, it gives you information about those keywords, like:


  • How often they are searched for? 

  • How hard they are to rank for.

  • How much traffic can you expect from those keywords?

In this way, you can plan ahead for which keywords to use in your own SEO work.



Here’s how you can use Ahrefs:

1. Start with Site Explorer

Enter your competitor’s domain here. It will show you the top organic keywords, top pages, and the backlink profile of your competitor.

2. Analyze Keywords

To elaborate on the particular keywords, utilize the Keywords Explorer. Explore your competitors’ rankings for high search volume as well as low competition keywords.

3. Check Content Gap


To find keyword opportunities, use the Content Gap tool to compare your domain with multiple competitors so that you target words in which all competitors rank without your own website.

4. Explore Backlinks

Find possible link-building opportunities for your own site by looking into how your competitors' sites get backlinks.

5. Track Rankings

You can keep improving your SEO strategy by setting up alerts to keep an eye on changes in the rankings of your site and your competitor's sites.

Using SEMrush for Competitor Analysis

SEMrush provides tools for traffic inspection, keyword gap analysis, and backlink audit. It is well known for its vast SEO database.


Using ETTVI for Competitor Analysis

Ettvi is a very efficient platform for competitor analysis. It provides multiple tools for gaining valuable insights about your competitor's SEO strategies. Here are the most useful tools for competition analysis: 

Page Authority Checker

This tool helps assess the authority of your competitor’s pages. You can look at their best-performing pages. And use the same strategies that helped those pages rank higher to boost the authority of your own page.

Free Backlink Checker

You can use this tool to see the backlink profiles of your competitors. Find out how the sites that link to you are building links. This can help you improve your own SEO.


Website Links Count Checker

This tool can be used to find the way in which links to websites are distributed within and outside your competitor’s website. It enables you to know whether they are considering the PR value of an internal linking structure as part of their linking strategy or not. It will enable you to improve website performance as far as SEO is concerned by concentrating on internal link structure.

Link Analyzer

ETTVI’s Link Analyzer helps you dissect the links on your competitor’s website. This tool lets you check the quality and usefulness of their internal and external links. It gives you useful information that you can use to improve your own linking strategy and get higher rankings.

Keyword Competition Checker

You can find out keyword difficulty with ETTVI’s Keyword Competition Checker. This can help you know what keywords are responsible for your competitor's website ranking. And how tough it will be to get a search engine ranking using those same terms.


Keyword Density Checker 

ETTVI’s Keyword Density Checker Tool helps you analyze the keyword distribution on your competitors’ web pages. It reveals how often they use specific keywords. 


Keyword Position Checker

This tool lets you track your competitors' keyword rankings. You can figure out which keywords are helping them do well. And change your strategy to compete better for the top search rankings.

Using Moz for Competitor Analysis

 Moz has a group of tools, such as a keyword research tool, a site audit tool, and a backlink analysis tool with lots of features.

Using SpyFu for Competitor Analysis

It focuses on researching competitor keywords and keeping an eye on PPC competitors. This lets users see the most profitable keywords and ads for both paid and organic search.

Let’s Compare Major Competitor Analysis Tools 

Ahrefs has a large database of backlinks and deep keyword insights. SEMrush, on the other hand, is great at combining digital marketing elements that are not just SEO, like social media and advertising analytics. 


Moz is very easy to use and has a lot of resources for people who are new to SEO. SpyFu, on the other hand, is focused on competitor intelligence in terms of SEO and PPC functionalities. 


On the other hand, ETTVI’s outstanding feature is the numerous uncomplicated tools used for competitor analysis in simple SEO terms. These tools also provide much information on backlinks, keyword rankings, and page authority. If you use these tools together, you can get a full picture of both your SEO and your competitors' SEO.

How to Interpret the Data Collected from SEO Tools?

The information that SEO tools give you needs to be seen through a strategic lens:


  • Keywords: Look for trends in keyword usage and gaps where your site can potentially rank.

  • Backlinks: Check the number and quality of backlinks to see how authoritative competitor websites are.

  • Content Quality: Evaluate the engagement metrics like bounce rates and average time on page to assess content quality.

Tips for Competitor Weaknesses and Strengths

Weaknesses

Look for areas with poor performance metrics. Such as keywords with high search volumes but low rankings or pages with high bounce rates.

Strengths

Find strategies that are working well for your competitors. Like content that gets high rankings, keywords that work, or strong backlinks, and think about how you can use the same ones.


You can find useful SEO insights by using tools to carefully look at competitor data. These insights can help you make smart strategy decisions that will give you an edge in the digital market.

Strategic Implementation of Insights

You must leverage the insights gathered from your competitor analysis as it directly informs and enhances your SEO strategies. Here’s what you can do:


  • Identify gaps in your keyword strategy and incorporate keywords that competitors are ranking for but you are not. It is suggested to adjust your content and SEO campaigns to target these valuable keywords.

  • Analyze the top-performing content of your competitors. Develop similar content that is more comprehensive or presents a unique angle to attract more traffic.

  • Review the backlink profiles of successful competitors. Identify common sources of their backlinks and target these sources to enhance your own backlink profile.

  • If competitor sites have better user engagement metrics, examine their layout, content structure, and calls to action. Implement similar strategies to improve user experience on your own site.

Examples of Actionable Strategies That Can Be Applied

  1. Develop content that addresses topics your competitors have missed but are in demand by your target audience.

  2. Create comparison content that positions your products and services against those of your competitors.

  3. Launch guest blogging outreach to sources that backlink to your competitors to expand your backlink portfolio.

Trends in SEO Competitor Analysis

The future of SEO competitor analysis is likely to see significant advancements with the integration of AI and machine learning technologies. These technologies will enable more dynamic and real-time competitor analysis. Insights will be given based on past data and will be predictive in nature.


As SEO tools evolve, you must stay updated with the latest versions and understand new features. In fact, your competitor analysis will stay up-to-date as long as you keep learning new things and getting used to new features in tools. All just to maintain your competitive advantage.


You should know that competitor analysis must be a part of your regular SEO practices. In fact, studying your competitors on a regular basis makes sure that your plans adapt to changes in the market and stay ahead of the competition. Use these tools and methods to improve your online presence and position in the market over time.

Final Words

Competitor analysis is a crucial part of any effective SEO strategy. You can learn a lot about how your competitors do things by using tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, ETTVI, Moz, and SpyFu. This will help you improve your work and stay ahead. 


These tools give you useful information about keywords, backlinks, and how well your content is doing. So you can make smarter decisions based on facts. Your SEO strategies will adapt to changes in the market if you regularly look at your competitors. This will set your business up for long-term success in the digital world.



Muhammad Usama bin ALI

Muhammad Usama bin ALI

Faisalabad, Pakistan

Be the best

Muhammad Usama bin Ali – Full-stack Developer with over 4 years of professional experience. Proficient in a wide range of projects across various domains, including SEO Tools, E-commerce platforms, AI Applications, SaaS-based, Small Business & Blog Websites and Software Applications.

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