How’d They Do That?

Ever wonder how your competitors get such good rankings in Google and other search engines, or why they always seem to come up ahead of your company for common search terms? Or worse yet, how do they get listed in the search results when your company doesn’t get listed at all?

The First Page
This can be very frustrating for small businesses, especially those that want to improve their search engine rankings or pull ahead of the competition.  Most small businesses know that being listed on the first page of the search results can mean more web site traffic, better name recognition and visibility, and most importantly – big increases in qualified leads and sales! 

The Year In Review
This is the perfect time of year to do a quick check-up on the competition, to see what they have been up to over the past year and where they stand now, especially when compared with your company.  For instance, you may want to know:

• Where do they currently rank in the major search engines for certain keywords?
• How many inbound links do they have that “point” to their web site?
• Where are the inbound links coming from? (so you can also get inbound links from these sites)
• What types of meta data are they using on their web pages, and what keywords are they targeting?
• How many of their web pages are currently indexed in the major search engines?

This type of information can help you define a strategy to improve your own search engine rankings based on what the competition is already doing and what is working for them.  It can also show you how far you have to go to catch up or surpass them in the search engine rankings.

More Links = Better Rankings
Other information that may be helpful to know is if your competitors have been sending out press releases during the year, if they have published any articles or white papers, or if they are regularly posting to a company blog. All of these marketing activities are great ways to produce inbound links, which in turn can improve a web site’s rankings in the search engines.

By reviewing the competition, you can also gain valuable insight into new industry shifts or trends, major customer wins and losses, new competing products, and even the online reputation of your competitors. 

Check ‘Em Out!
Of course, you must always stay within legal and ethical bounds when looking at competitor information, but there’s nothing wrong with checking out the competing information that your customers see in the marketplace everyday.  After all, just as you are checking out your competitors, they are probably checking out what you’ve been up to this year, too!