How to find my SEO competitors丨How to analyze competitors’ websites

How to Check Competitors’ Keyword Rankings

In SEO, the top 3 ranked pages on average receive 3 times the clicks of positions 4-10, with the #1 rank’s CTR often exceeding 30%.

If your competitors dominate the top spots for your core keywords, your traffic might be only 1/10 or even less of theirs.

Data shows:

 
• 60% of websites do not analyze competitor keywords before optimizing, leading to inefficient content strategies.

 

• Top 10 ranked pages usually cover 3-5 times the keyword volume of average sites.

 

• Long-tail keywords (low search volume but high conversion rate) account for 40-70% of competitors’ traffic, but most webmasters only focus on head terms.

Manual Search + Tool Verification

(1) Manual Search for Core Keywords

When manually searching for core keywords, pay attention to pages ranked 4-10—the CTR for these positions is 60% lower than the top 3, but the difficulty of surpassing them is 50% less.

For instance, when searching for “best yoga mats,” the 5th rank might be a thin e-commerce product page, and your optimization opportunity lies in a more detailed comparison of materials and usage scenarios.

Tool verification can uncover 30% of neglected long-tail keywords; for example, SEMrush might show a competitor gaining 15% extra traffic from precise terms like “non-slip yoga mat for hardwood floors.”

 
• Search your target term on Google (e.g., “best running shoes”)

 

• Record the top 10 ranked pages, observe their titles and content

 

• Note: Highly ranked pages are not necessarily your direct business rivals (they might be review sites, forums, or e-commerce platforms)

(2) Use SEO Tools to Bulk Extract Competitor Keywords
Recommended Tools:

 
• SEMrush (“Organic Research” feature)

 

• Ahrefs (“Organic Keywords” report)

 

• Ubersuggest (Free version provides partial data)

Operation Steps:

 
• Input the competitor’s domain into SEMrush/Ahrefs

 

• View the “Top Organic Keywords” list

 

• Sort by Volume and Position, prioritize:
   
  • Keywords ranked 2-10 (easiest to surpass)

   

  • High-volume keywords (1000+) where the competitor’s ranking is unstable (high fluctuation = opportunity)

Case Study:

A fitness website discovered a competitor ranked 4th for “home workout plan,” but the content hadn’t been updated in 2 years. The website published a more detailed guide and rose to 2nd place after 6 months, increasing traffic by 120%.

Analyzing Competitors’ Keyword Strategy

Research shows that head terms only account for 35% of the traffic for TOP websites; the remaining 65% comes from long-tail and question-based keywords.

For example, an outdoor gear site places “hiking boots” (volume 12,000) on its homepage and simultaneously incorporates 50 related question terms like “how to break in hiking boots” (volume 800, 3x higher conversion rate) in its blog.

Observing the competitor’s use of LSI keywords is also crucial—the #1 ranked page on average covers 42% more related terms than the #10 page, such as supplementary vocabulary like “breathable” and “ankle support.”

(1) Study Keyword Distribution Patterns

 
• Head Terms (High volume): Usually placed on the homepage or Pillar Content.

 

• Long-Tail Keywords (Low volume but precise): Distributed in blogs, FAQs, or product pages.

 

• Question-Based Keywords (How/Why/What): Common in blogs or Q&A content.

Title, Outline, and Detail Optimization

Data analysis shows that titles with specific numbers (e.g., “7 Ways”) have a 23% higher click-through rate than ordinary titles, and titles marked with a year gain an average of 35% more impressions in search results.

In terms of content structure, TOP pages generally adopt a “pyramid-style” information organization: answering the core question in the first 2-3 paragraphs, then expanding with 5-7 H2 points, and finally concluding with a call to action.

For example, a financial comparison site’s conversion page increased its conversion rate by 28% by embedding an annual interest rate calculator directly into the body of the text.

(1) Title Formula Analysis

Collect and categorize titles of competitor’s high-traffic pages:

• Contains Year (e.g., “Best Phones 2024”) → Accounts for 35%
• Question-type (e.g., “How to Fix XX Problem”) → Accounts for 25%
• Comparison-type (e.g., “A vs B: Which is Better?”) → Accounts for 20%

Optimization Suggestions:

• If 60% of competitor’s titles include a year, your new content should also include it
• Avoid identical titles (e.g., if the competitor already covers “Best X for Y”, change to “Top X for Y”)

(2) Content Outline Breakdown

Use tools (like MarketMuse) to analyze competitor’s content coverage, or summarize manually:

Opening Pattern:

• Directly answers the question (40%)
• Introduces with a story/case study (30%)

Body Structure:

• Step-by-step (e.g., “5 Ways to Do XX”) → Common in tutorials
• Comparison by dimension (e.g., “Price/Performance/Design”) → Common in reviews

Conclusion Design:

• Includes CTA (e.g., “Download Our Guide”) → Increases conversion
• Includes FAQ → Enhances information coverage

Case Study:

A B2B website found that competitor case studies always follow the “Customer Background → Pain Point → Solution → Result” structure. The company adopted the same framework, increasing external link acquisition efficiency by 50%.

Identify Content Shortcomings

SEO audits reveal that about 42% of pages ranking in the top 10 have fixable technical flaws: 31% lack Schema markup, 22% have unoptimized image lazy loading, and 19% have duplicate H1 tags.

User behavior data further indicates that the bounce rate surges by 65% when a page’s first screen presents more than 3 “unresolved questions.”

By analyzing forums like Reddit, users’ main complaints about TOP pages center on three pain points: “case studies are not specific” (38%), “outdated data” (29%), and “lack of practical steps” (24%).

(1) Find High-Ranking but Low-Quality Content

Use Google search “site:competitor domain + keyword”, and manually check:

• Outdated information (e.g., 2022 data)
• Lack of detail (e.g., “Best VPN” but no speed test mentioned)
• Poor formatting (no subheadings, overly long paragraphs)

(2) Analyze User Comments/Feedback

Check the competitor’s article comment section and forum discussions (e.g., Reddit):

• What unanswered questions do users frequently ask?
• Are there complaints about “incomplete content”?

Operation Steps:

1. In Ahrefs, find competitor pages ranking in the top 10 but with a dwell time of less than 2 minutes
2. Google search these pages to see if users point out problems
3. Create more high-quality content addressing these shortcomings

Case Study:

A travel website found a competitor’s “Packing List for Europe” ranked #4, but the comment section had multiple complaints about “not considering winter travel.” The site published a “Winter Europe Packing List” and ranked #1 after 3 months.

How to Check Competitor Backlink Sources

Data shows that the top 3 ranking pages have an average of 3.2 times the number of external links compared to the 10th rank, with 65% of high-quality backlinks coming from non-competitor websites (such as industry media, educational institutions).

If your competitor has 500 external links and you only have 50, the traffic gap could be as high as 5-10 times.

Key findings:

• Backlinks with DA (Domain Authority) 40+ contribute 8 times more to ranking than low-quality backlinks
• Guest Posts account for 25-40% of high-quality external links
• 30% of backlink resources can be replicated through simple methods (e.g., applying to the same industry directories)

Bulk Export Competitor Backlink Data with Tools

Data shows that backlinks with DA 40+ contribute 8 times more to ranking than low-quality backlinks, yet 85% of webmasters only focus on the quantity, not the quality, of backlinks.

Using Ahrefs’ “Backlinks” report, it can be found that TOP competitors usually have 12-15 links from authoritative industry sites, such as recommendations from government (.gov) or educational (.edu) institutions.

Although these high-authority backlinks only account for 5-8% of the total external links, they contribute over 60% of the SEO value.

When manually filtering, prioritize backlinks from “resource” pages (e.g., “best tool lists”), as their conversion rate is 3 times higher than ordinary backlinks.

(1) Free Tools: Google Search Operators

• Search link:competitor domain (partial data)
• Search site:*.edu "industry keyword" to find educational institution backlinks
• Search intitle:"resources" + "industry keyword" to find resource-type backlinks

(2) Paid Tools: Ahrefs/SEMrush
Operation Steps:

1. Enter competitor’s domain in Ahrefs, go to the “Backlinks” report
2. Sort by DA (Domain Authority) in descending order, prioritize viewing backlinks with DA 40+
3. Filter for Dofollow links (directly impact SEO)

• Brand Terms (e.g., “Company Name”) → Accounts for 30-50% (Natural Backlinks)
• Keyword Anchor Text (e.g., “Best XX”) → Accounts for 20-40% (Possibly Manually Built)
• Generic Anchor Text (e.g., “Click Here”) → Accounts for 10-20%

Risk Warning:

• Excessively high keyword anchor text proportion (>40%) might result in a Google penalty.

Content Type:

• Resource lists (e.g., “50 Recommended Industry Tools”)
• Product reviews (e.g., “XX Software Usage Experience”)
• News reports (e.g., “XX Company Secures Funding”)

Page Authority:

• Use Ahrefs to check “Page Rating” (PR)
• Prioritize replicating backlinks with PR 2+

Case Study:
An e-commerce site found that its competitor’s backlinks primarily came from “Best XX of the Year” lists. The site contacted the list administrator, submitted its own product, and gained 5 DA 50+ backlinks. After 6 months, its core keyword ranking entered the top 3.

Finding Replicable High-Quality Backlink Resources

• Industry Directories (Search “Industry Name + directory”)
• Local Chambers of Commerce (Search “City Name + chamber of commerce”)
• Alumni/Association Pages (Search “Industry Name + association members”)

(2) Upgrading Competitor’s Backlink Strategy

• Replacing Outdated Resources:
  • Find a competitor’s 5-year-old backlink, contact the webmaster to update it with your content
• Creating Superior Resources:
  • Competitor has “10 Tool Recommendations,” you publish “50 Tool Recommendations”

Operational Steps:

1. Filter the competitor’s “.edu/.gov” backlinks in Ahrefs
2. Check if these backlink pages still exist
3. Contact the webmaster to add your link (Success rate approximately 5-10%)

Case Study:
An SEO agency found its competitor’s backlinks came from a “2019 SEO Tool List.” The agency published a 2024 updated version and contacted the original webmaster to replace the link, gaining 3 DA 60+ backlinks.

How to Study Competitor Website Structure

Studies show that pages with optimized website structure typically receive an average of 53% more internal link equity transfer than those with messy structures.

Data shows:

• Websites using a three-level deep structure have a 78% higher indexing rate than those with a five-level structure.
• Websites that appropriately use breadcrumb navigation reduce user bounce rate by 32%.
• New pages on websites including an XML sitemap are indexed 40% faster.

83% of websites ranking in the top 10 follow the standard “Homepage – Category – Subcategory – Content Page” structure.

Using Crawler Tools to Analyze Website Hierarchy

Crawler data reveals that the internal page indexing rate for websites with a directory depth exceeding 4 layers drops by an average of 42%.

A Screaming Frog scan can show that high-quality websites typically keep core content within 3 layers (e.g., Homepage > Category > Product), while poorly performing sites have over 15% orphaned pages.

For example, a health website improved its index volume by 180% by fixing a 5-layer deep product catalog structure.

Furthermore, 93% of high-ranking websites use a standardized URL structure, avoiding repetitive parameter issues (such as redundant parameters like ?sessionid=).

(1) Basic Structure Scan

Recommended Tools:

• Screaming Frog (Free version crawls up to 500 URLs)
• Sitebulb (Visual structure display)
• DeepCrawl (Enterprise-level deep analysis)

Operational Steps:

• Input the competitor’s domain and run a complete crawl
• View the “URL Structure” report, focusing on:
  • Directory depth (Ideally 3 layers)
  • Orphaned pages (No internal links pointing to them)
  • Duplicate content (Parameter issues)

Data Reference:

Case Study: An e-commerce SEO site found its competitor used a “Homepage-Category-Product” three-layer structure, while it used a five-layer structure. After simplification, the index volume increased by 210% in 6 months.

(2) Navigation System Analysis

Check the following elements:

• Does the main navigation include core categories (No more than 7 items)?
• Is breadcrumb navigation used (93% of TOP websites use it)?
• Are important links set in the footer (e.g., policy pages, contact pages)?

Analyzing the Internal Linking Network

Internal link audits show that pillar content typically receives 8-12 times the number of internal links compared to ordinary pages. Ahrefs data shows that the homepage of TOP websites links to an average of 3.8 core category pages, while average sites link to only 1.2.

A SAAS platform imitated a competitor’s internal link heat map, increasing the internal links to its product documentation page from 4 to 9. The keyword ranking for this page improved by 27 positions within 3 months.

28% of websites experience ranking fluctuations due to over-optimizing internal link anchor text (e.g., exact match exceeding 60%).

(1) Key Page Link Equity

Use Ahrefs’ “Internal Links” report:

1. View pages that receive the most internal links (typically pillar content)
2. Analyze the anchor text distribution (Brand/Keyword ratio)
3. Check if links pass equity (nofollow usage)

Typical Issues Found:

• 25% of websites have insufficient internal links to important pages
• 40% of websites have over-optimized internal link anchor text
• 15% of websites incorrectly use nofollow internal links

(2) Link Hierarchy Transfer Efficiency

Draw a link heat map:

1. Number of links from homepage to category pages (Recommended 3-5)
2. Link density from category pages to content pages (Recommended 5-8)
3. Horizontal links between content pages (Recommended 2-3)

Optimization Case: A B2B website, modeling its internal links after a competitor, increased product page internal links from 2 to 5, resulting in a 90% increase in traffic for that page.

How to Compare the Gap Between Your Site and Competitors (Metric Comparison)