To understand what makes your competition successful online, Spyfu is the answer. In my new book, Marketing Espionage: How Speakers Can Leverage Competitive Intel to Dominate Online (coming out next spring), I divulge how to conduct essential keyword research to uncover competitive SEO strategies. SpyFu.com is an incredible resource for this exact purpose.
I interviewed Dave Fiske, senior founding partner of SpyFu, to get the low down on this powerful keyword search tool for my students. Dave explained how his site provides access to in-depth intel on your competitors regarding their use of keywords for both organic searches and paid advertising.
To start, simply enter a domain name into the search box and a comprehensive report is produced. You’ll be able to dig into loads of data that will help you understand how competitors are using keywords and driving traffic.
With this keyword tool, you can discover your competitors’ SEO strategy, as well as their trends and results. Nothing is held back or secret anymore! Here is a brief list of what is available through the SpyFu reports:
- Discover what keywords your competitors use
- Find out how competitors rank for those keywords
- Learn their spending history for pay-per-click advertising
- Uncover how much traffic is organic vs. paid
- See their budgets monthly and the number of clicks provided
With SpyFu you’ll gather intelligence about your competition that can help you understand why they rank when you don’t and how to plan your attack to rise up in the rankings. Once this knowledge is in hand, you can reverse engineer how you want to build your SEO site map or start from scratch.
One of the top tools from the SpyFu arsenal, Kombat allows you to compare three domains. Look at websites that lead the pack for your industry and business on a local basis. This deep-dive keyword tool let’s you peak behind the curtain to see where your competitors’ SEO strategies overlap. To be a player, you need to use the same keywords that have worked well for your competitors. The reports show you where you are missing the most opportunities.
Gaining access to this kind of intel provides an incredible advantage and helps you uncover areas that would be good to leverage. In addition, there are reports that reveal where your competitors are getting their leads. Plus, your research can be refined by location and by industry.
Dave pointed out that when gathering this kind of data, you are looking for companies to emulate. Ideally, you want to investigate businesses spending more than $500 per month on SEO ad budgets so you can see what savvy, active competitors are doing. Then make sure those strategies delivered good results.
I asked Fiske what to pay attention to regarding competitive keywords. He suggested looking for low hanging fruit that’s easy to go after. In other words, is it fairly easy to rank for those keywords and do they drive the traffic you want? You can see how they rank monthly, not just for particular keywords, but also for how difficult those keywords are to rank under.
Run some reports using this undercover keyword tool so you can see why that pesky competitor ranks for a particular keyword phrase and you do not. SpyFu has so many great offerings, it’s worth setting up a free 30-day trial.
Contact me if you need help gaining traction with your competition and improving your Findability at 1-888-588-9326.