Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Don’t Overlook Your Competitors

The Search Engine Optimization phase that you conduct includes different steps. One of the most important steps you should pay close attention to is your competitive analysis. Being able to analyze your competition should be placed at the very top of your to-do list, along with site tagging and keyword analysis.

Competitive analysis can be defined as an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This process provides you with a defensive mechanism from any threats and also helps with any opportunities.

During a competitive analysis, you should identify the following:

Your specific industry
Your competitors
Your customers and what benefits they expect
Key success factors in your industry

When conducting your thorough competitive analysis, it is very important to not only identify your direct competitors but also ones who are indirect. Look at those competitors who are ahead of you in search engine rankings, even if they’re offerings are unlike yours.

Additional competitive analysis tips:

Page saturation: Are their pages indexed? Look to see what you should include or exclude on your site pages.

Meta data: Look at what meta data your competitors are including. How is it worded? You can access the source code of a site by selecting 'Source from the View' menu on your web browser.

Page titles: Is the sites page titles consistent? What keywords do they use, if any at all? How competition uses page titles should give you an indication of what you’re doing right or wrong with your own site.

Site rankings: Where in the SERPs is the competitor’s site ranked? Make note of the top three to five sites.

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CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

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