SEO services are focused on driving traffic to your website. However, you’re not the sole contender in this race; your competitors are also vying for higher rankings. Without the right strategies, they can potentially divert a significant portion of your potential leads.To ensure the success of your online marketing, you need to attract valuable traffic, often by drawing it away from your competitors.Naturally, the term “steal” might be misleading in this context. There’s no unethical behavior in redirecting traffic to your website; quite the opposite, in fact. The most effective way to gain traffic is by producing content that offers genuine value to your users!But how exactly does this manifest? What strategies can you employ to effectively divert traffic from your competitors?Below, we delve into four effective tips for achieving this goal. Keep reading to expand your knowledge, and then reach out to us to explore the possibility of collaborating with an SEO agency with over 28 years of industry experience!P.S. Assess your website’s traffic with our free Website Traffic Checker tool now and gauge how your site measures up against your competitors!Before you can divert traffic from your competitors, it’s essential to identify who they are and understand their tactics.Identifying Your CompetitorsBegin by identifying your competitors. You likely already have a general sense of who they are, especially considering you frequently compete with several businesses. In the context of SEO, however, we define competition by examining who is ranking higher than you for relevant keywords.First, compile a list of keywords you wish to target with your web content. You may already have this list. If not, you can discover suitable keyword ideas using tools such as KeywordsFX.Once you have your list, perform a Google search for each keyword. Analyze which sites are ranking for those keywords. These are your competitors.Click on the search results to see what type of content you’re up against.Understanding Your Competitors’ TacticsUtilize WebFX’s free SEO Checker tool to input a few of your competitors and compare their metrics and SEO performance to your site. This can inspire new ideas, refine your strategies, and provide a clearer picture of the competitive landscape in your niche. No more guessing about what’s working for your competitors or the volume of traffic they’re receiving.SEO Checker empowers you with hard data, enabling you to strategize for reclaiming web traffic from your competitors.Once you begin analyzing your competitors’ content, you can start pinpointing their strengths and weaknesses.Emulating StrengthsGiven that the main competitors you’ll be examining are those at the top of the search results, you can assume they’re utilizing top optimization techniques to rank higher. Analyze their pages to identify the strategies they use to improve rankings. For instance, if a competitor excels and their content is predominantly long-form, it’s reasonable to deduce that longer content contributes to their higher rankings.As a result, you can adopt a similar approach with your content. While you don’t want to directly steal ideas from your competitors, analyzing their strengths can inspire your content strategy.Addressing WeaknessesWhile your competitors will likely get many things right, they will also have areas for improvement. You’re likely to find numerous aspects where they could enhance their approach.For example, if a competitor isn’t effectively addressing user intent for a particular keyword, you can create content that better fulfills the query.Understanding the number of backlinks on a competitor’s site can be valuable. Backlinks, which are links from external websites pointing to a page on your website, contribute to your content’s credibility and higher rankings with Google.Generating New BacklinksSince backlinks significantly impact SEO, ensure you acquire at least a few for each piece of content you publish.A strategy for earning backlinks involves reaching out to industry websites and inviting them to explore your content. If they find it valuable, they may link to it on their own pages. What constitutes an ideal number of backlinks?It varies, but in general, focus on the quality of your backlinks over quantity. A select few backlinks from highly credible websites are far more valuable than numerous backlinks from forums or social media.Acquiring Competitors’ BacklinksWhile building your own backlink supply is beneficial, you can also chip away at your competitors’ by adopting this approach. While seeking backlinks from external sites, target the ones currently linking to your competitors. If you find broken links on their websites that require updating, and you have content that could serve as a suitable replacement, you can request they replace the old links with new ones pointing to your site.This way, you’re not only gaining backlinks but also assisting in improving those sites.A critical factor in SEO is the layout of your website. Poor web design can deter users and lead to penalties from Google in search rankings. Therefore, another effective way to surpass your competitors is to have an exceptional web design.This encompasses various aspects, but two are particularly crucial: page load speed and responsive design.Page Load SpeedOver half of users will leave a page if it takes more than three seconds to load. Therefore, it’s vital for your pages to load quickly. A great method to achieve this is by compressing your images – large, high-resolution images can significantly slow down your loading speed.Other tactics for improving your site load time include:
Using HTTP compression
Applying stylesheet and script references
Caching your web pages
Reducing 301 redirects
When checking competitor website traffic in CompetitorSpyFX, you can see how quickly your competitors’ pages load and compare them to your own.Responsive DesignWith over half of all internet traffic originating from mobile devices, mobile optimization is fundamental in driving traffic. In fact, Google ranks content based on its appearance on mobile devices! One of the most common mistakes a site can make is neglecting mobile optimization.Should your competitors make this error, it’s beneficial for you – and if they don’t, it’s even more crucial for you to excel in responsive design. A good way to assess how your mobile format compares to your competitors’ is to use a website traffic checker. If desktop traffic is notably higher than mobile traffic, it may indicate an issue with mobile optimization.Ready to divert your competitors’ traffic and enhance your own?If so, consider partnering with WebFX! Our competitor tracking tool, CompetitorSpyFX, allows you to analyze competitor website traffic and other metrics, providing you with the information needed to outperform rankings. To begin working with us, call 888-601-5359 or contact us online today!
