shawn cohen - “a programmatic approach to seo competitive analysis”

How Competitive Analysis Saved GM…in 1921

Mustang Colors

Mustang Colors

Mustang Colors

Mustang Colors

Mustang Colors

Mustang Colors

Ford Quote

“Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” Henry Ford, 1908

Model T Black

Competitive Manufacturer

F*ck that sh*t.

Competitive Manufacturer

Competitive Manufacturer

Competitive Manufacturer

Ford acquiescence

Ford acquiescence

Ford acquiescence

Ford acquiescence

Want to motivate a client or an executive?

Show them what the competition is doing.

HOW TO LEVERAGE COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

FINDING THE STORY IN THE DATA

Financial technology softwareSoftware helps CFOs make better decisions

Where’s the data?

We have 127,000 leads in our CRM.

LEVERAGE DATA FOR INSIGHT AND ACTION

Where’s the Story? Email Marketing

@midnight

Themes by popularity in SEMRush

@midnight

Themes by popularity in SEMRush

@midnight

Themes by popularity in SEMRush

Post about jobs for veterans in August.Don’t post about jobs for veterans in March.

Comp analysis and content gap analysis

Who is beating me?How are they beating me?

What is Competitive Analysis?

What content is winning?How can I create something better?

What Is a Content Gap Analysis?

Where Competitive and Content Gap Analysis Fit In

Brand Identity $Marketing

Objectives

Digital Goals

Objectives& KPIs

Business Objectives

Testand

Learn

Comp Set and

Content Gap

AnalysisKeyword Research

Content Strategy

and Execution

Market Research

Offline Media

Demand Generation

PPC and Display

Advertising

Market Execution

SoftwareDevelopment

Social Media

StrategySocial Media

Analytics

Social MediaAdvertising

Social Listening

Lead Nurturing

ConversionOptimization

MarketingAutomation

User Experience

TagManagement

Email Marketing

PersonaDevelopment

Planning the Overall Marketing Mix

Old Process: Competitive Analysis

Identify keywords we want to rank forType keywords into Google manuallyRely on gut-level feelings about what’s worthwhileGain an understanding of domain-level competitors

Old Process: Content Gap Analysis

Search the keywords we want to rank forLook for content patternsProduce content to beat competitors

Old Process: What’s Missing

EfficiencyA comprehensive view of the digital landscapeFull understanding of competitor URLs’ visibility Keywords that aren’t on your radar yetDomains we aren’t competing directly against

Advantages of the New Process

Fast and efficientUncovers new keywordsIdentifies new competitorsOffers comprehensive view of direct competitors

Competitor’s competitor’s competitor

Competitor’s competitor

A Growth Strategy Based on Competitive Analysis

Competitor 1 KW set

My KWSet

Competitor 2 KW Set

Competitor 3 KW Set

Success Story: Texas Veterans’ Land Loans

Problem: organic landing page had stagnated in rankings and traffic

Objective: Increase keyword rankings and traffic from the organic channel

Success Story: Texas Veterans’ Land Loans

Problem: organic landing page had stagnated in rankings and traffic

Objective: Increase keyword rankings and traffic from the organic channel

Success Story

Success Story

Problem: Rankings and traffic weren’t growingObjective: Rank higher, rank for more terms, and increase organic trafficCurrent state: 25 keywords represented on 2,800 searches per month

Success Story: Texas Veterans’ Land Loans

Success Story: Texas Veterans’ Land Loans

Outcome: KWs volume doubled, visibility up 150%, traffic tripled

BUT WHY?

WHY did I know it should be 800 words?WHY not 500 or 1,000?WHY not video or a pretty graphic?

Combining the Competitive and Content Gap AnalysesHook into the SEMRush APIPull results for all keywords I rank forPull results for all keywords my competitors rank forAnalyze top resultsMake necessary changes to my client’s content

The Process

Subscriptions- SEMRush- Moz Excel Skills- VLOOKUP- Pivot tables- Turning add-ins on/off

REQUIRED SKILLS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

WHAT IS SEMRUSH?

@midnight

Themes by popularity in SEMRush

Copy/paste

Process: Plug into API

OPEN THE SERP ANALYSIS SPREADSHEET

Process: Add Moz KW difficulty

Open in Pivot

PASTE KW DIFFICULTY INTO SERP ANALYSIS

Open in Pivot

Process: Pivot table

Use OneTabMake observations- Content type- Word countDo link and social analysisEval Excel spreadsheet

EVALUATE MOST AUTHORITATIVE URLS

EXCEL SKILLS TO LEARN

VLOOKUPPivot tablesTurning add-ins on/off

WHY THIS COMBINES COMP AND CONTENT GAPWhile you’re identifying competitors, you’re also granularly analyzing their content to find a solution to your biggest SEO growth inhibitors.

Conclusion

View large amounts of data at onceDon’t waste timeDon’t conflate offline and online competitorsBeat the hell out of them

Analysis Manifesto

Shawn Cohen

Twitter: @shawnccpr

Email: shawn@creativelink.com