Competing in the field of SEO involves more than just constant backlink purchases and generating numerous pages for every keyword query. It's also about the content you create. And coming up with it 'from scratch' is not necessary. Therefore, today we will explore how you can leverage others' ideas and improve upon them.
Google and Yandex prioritize the content of a page (meaning content and query relevance) when indexing. Search bots not only pay attention to the used keywords and purchased links but also to the content. Therefore, for effective promotion, it's necessary to create content that will appeal to Google and Yandex. One of the simplest methods is manual analysis of your competitors' approaches.
How to utilize texts from your competitors
To begin, determine the keywords you are promoting for. The simplest and most effective approach is to use mid- and low-frequency queries within your texts. Gather and segment your semantic core, and then see which websites appear in the top search results for them. It's essential to check headlines, Titles, Descriptions, and the presence of alt attributes for images. Initially, you don't need specialized tools for this: you can examine the search results and observe all the relevant data yourself.
In any case, the main keyword should be present in the H1 heading. It can also be repeated in H2 level headings. Secondary keywords are typically distributed across H3 headings and throughout the text.
And now, the most important part. Let's say you've found a competitor's website. How do you analyze its content?
And now, the most important part. Let's say you've found a competitor's website. How do you analyze its content?
- Open the article that search engines have provided for a specific keyword.
- Read and break it down into meaningful blocks. They might be initially divided by subheadings or indents. The key is that each block should provide an answer to a specific search query. Note that the entire page could be dedicated solely to 'online casino mirrors.'But in this case, you can check what other keywords competitors are using to promote the text for this query (for example, 1–2 main queries and 2–3 secondary ones).
- Analyze the text and highlight all the phrases you consider as keywords. If the competitor doesn't make an effort to incorporate the queries into the text, expressions like 'online casino,' 'brand + mirror' become immediately visible. At first glance, this might seem like a quite labor-intensive process, but with practice, you'll quickly identify which keywords competitors are using.
- Gather the obtained keywords and check their performance in Yandex.Wordstat, Google Trends, Ahrefs, and other services. In this case, it's important to filter out phrases with no queries from those entered by real users. By obtaining actual search queries and removing unnecessary ones (for example, those that don't fit into your semantic core), you'll understand how to enhance your own texts or skillfully rewrite a donor article.
- Prepare a brief for a copywriter (or for yourself) with the selected keywords and the main ideas of the text. Essentially, you're reworking the structure of the original text and indicating what needs to be added, which search queries should be included. If desired, you can specify the number of exact and partial occurrences, etc.
IMPORTANT: Formulate the task for the text based on simple parameters:
For instance, you can use a template like this.
In the end, you will receive a ready brief for rewriting and (ideally) a page that, in the eyes of search engines, will appear superior to others. This means you can rise in the search results not through link purchases, behavioral factor manipulation, and other tools, but by leveraging content ideas.
- Key queries that should be present on the page:
- Questions the text should address:
- 2-3 examples of donor articles from which ideas can be taken:
- Degree of uniqueness of the content according to plagiarism-checking services (Text.ru, Content Watch, Antiplagiat, etc.):
For instance, you can use a template like this.
In the end, you will receive a ready brief for rewriting and (ideally) a page that, in the eyes of search engines, will appear superior to others. This means you can rise in the search results not through link purchases, behavioral factor manipulation, and other tools, but by leveraging content ideas.
Useful services
Are there services that can quickly show the headings of different levels or check for errors on competitors' websites? Of course. The following will assist you:
- Seo Meta In 1 Click. A convenient browser extension. It displays the page structure with used subheadings, keywords, alt attributes for images, etc. Free access is a beneficial feature.
- KWFinder. A versatile tool that allows you to quickly find both regular search keywords and long-tail queries.
- Keyword Surfer. Another plugin for Google Chrome that displays CPC for keywords, frequency, and other parameters. A trial access is available.
- LongTailPro. This is a paid service that helps gather keywords tailored to your website. Among its benefits is the presence of the Keyword Analysis tool, which assists in selecting keywords that align with your goals based on competitors.
- SpyFu. A tool that aids in analyzing competitors' website changes, checking backlinks, gathering keywords, and more. There is no free access available.
We've already discussed website testers. However, the tools mentioned above will not only help save money (although this approach may require manual work), but also provide essential experience and an understanding of how you can enhance your websites and outperform competitors in the eyes of search engine bots.
Conclusion
Competition in SEO rankings involves more than just continuous link purchases, inflating behavioral factors, and creating a multitude of websites/pages for various search queries. It also entails consistent efforts to enhance content. In this case, manual site analysis and improving existing content will enable a steady income over the long term. Whether to invest effort and time into this is a decision only you can make.