How to Analyze Your Competitors’ Website Traffic to Improve Your Ranking

Today, there are plenty of great digital marketing tools that can help you analyze competitor website traffic. 

But why should you go delving into your competitor’s traffic data in the first place and what exactly are you looking for?

To use a sports analogy, the ability to analyze competitor traffic is sort of like being able to take a peek at a championship team’s playbook. 

Not only will you glean insight into the keys to your competitor’s success, but you’ll also be able to spot any glaring holes in their game plan.

Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to use their tactics to your own advantage and, hopefully, even outshine them.

What Is Competitor Traffic Analysis?

According to HubSpot, web traffic is one of the most common measures of a content marketing strategy’s success. 

Competitor traffic analysis is a tool that can help you find out how much traffic the competition is attracting and where it’s coming from.

A solid competitor traffic analysis report can reveal things such as:

• How much traffic your competitor enjoys and whether or not their audience is growing.
• Whether their desktop or mobile site is racking up more views.
• Which channels are driving the most traffic to their website? Are they scoring all those hits from ads, backlinks, or social media posts?
• The demographics and locations of the users who generate the most views.
• The quality of a website’s traffic as measured by its bounce rate. In other words, how successful is the website at not only attracting viewers but converting them into customers?

Some tools will even show you which sites customers navigate to next in order to help you understand their full journey. 

In essence, this information will help you better understand your competitor’s target audience and how successfully they’re interacting with them.

What Should Be Included in a Competitor Analysis?

While taking the time to analyze competitor website traffic is a great start, it’s just one part of a full competitor analysis strategy. 

For the full picture, you’ll likely need to dig a little deeper.

If you’re tired of constantly being outranked by your competition, then it’s time to see what you can learn from them. 

The first step can be as simple as identifying your top competitors and taking a good look at each of their websites.

Try to approach each from a customer’s viewpoint. As you go through each site, ask yourself questions such as:

• How easy is the site to navigate?
• Does the site effectively use the company’s branding?
• Does the site use photos, videos, or other media? If so, how often?
• What options are customers given for connecting with the brand? Are users prompted to follow the brand’s social media accounts or blog?
• Does the brand offer a newsletter?
• Do you spot any industry trends that have shown up on multiple sites?

Pay special attention to any CTAs throughout the website and how the company structures them.

It’s also important to analyze things like which products are highlighted and at what prices. 

This can give you a good idea of whether your website has what your customers are looking for and whether or not your prices are competitive.

Why Is Competitor Analysis Important in SEO?

Search engine optimization or SEO has become a go-to strategy that companies use to bring in more traffic from search engines.

The goal is to make sure your website is presented as one of the top search results when a user types in a word or phrase relevant to your industry.

But how do you go about it? Statistics reveal that 71% of content marketers count the use of keywords as their main strategy.

The process involves strategically using words or phrases that a user is most likely to type into a search engine like Google. 

If your competitors regularly claim the coveted #1 spot on search engine result pages (SERPs), then it’s time to find out which keywords they’re using.

Luckily, there are plenty of handy tools out there that can help you figure it out without scrutinizing their sites for clues.

What Is the Best SEO Tool for Competitor Site Analysis?

There are more tools than ever that can help you analyze competitor website traffic, highlight the most effective SEO keywords, and track your competitor’s best-performing content. 

Here are some of the most popular and what they bring to the table.

SEMrush

SEMrush offers all kinds of great marketing solutions, including killer competitor analysis tools. It’s a great choice if you’re looking for a thorough, in-depth way to analyze competitor website traffic.

SEMrush will key you in on a site’s reputation, as well as which other sites are providing links to it. 

It will also highlight the site’s best performers, from SEO keywords to its most popular content.

SimilarWeb

SimilarWeb’s suite of competitive intelligence analysis tools are also a great choice when it comes to uncovering the competition’s tactics. 

Not only do they analyze competitor website traffic, but they also provide an analysis of its quality.

Rather than just showing you where a website’s traffic is coming from, you’ll also be able to gauge things like the amount of time visitors spend on each page, the site’s bounce rate, and more. 

SimilarWeb’s tool can additionally help you glean insights into which channels and marketing strategies a given site is using most effectively.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is another excellent option that also comes with the perk of an impressive number of free SEO tools. 

If you end up finding them useful and decide to upgrade to a paid plan, you’ll gain access to Ahref’s Site Explorer.

It will clue you in on which keywords your competition is using to earn those top SERP rankings, as well as whether they’re using paid ads to draw in additional views. 

You can also discover which sites are backlinking to a certain site and get a breakdown of the credibility of each.

Wrap Up

In a nutshell, analyzing your competitor’s website traffic is crucial to ensure that you outrank them in the future. Using these tools and strategies will help you improve your ranking and stand out from the competition.

Want to learn more about how to uncover your competitor’s marketing secrets? Check out our article on how to perform a landscape analysis.