Analysis of keywords and competitor sites for the manager

Why should a manager conduct a keyword analysis?

There is a TOP manager and he has a task: to do keyword analysis, optimize the site for targeted queries. As a rule, he will prefer not to delve into this topic. He will look for a contractor, set tasks for him, demand reports based on which he will make decisions.

Search engine optimization is a complex topic. It is complicated by the fact that the algorithms of search engines change often and quickly. That is why many people call SEO “dancing with a tambourine”, etc. Of course, it is easier to find a person who is “in the topic” and cooperate with him.

But you must agree, when a customer has at least a minimum of knowledge on keyword analysis, analyzes a competitor’s website for keywords, then the tasks are set more correctly, and quality control is present.

Moreover, next you will see a simple way to analyze keywords and competitor sites, which will take no more than 30 minutes.

Analysis of competitors’ website and keywords on the topic: what can I find out?

1. How and what is the target audience looking for
2. What is asked more often, what is less often
3. How competitors respond to audience requests
4. How to answer better than competitors

Keyword analysis by example

For example, I am the head of an English language school in Kiev. I need to analyze the queries “English courses in Kiev”.

So, the tasks:

• Collect a list of target requests
• Find out the competitiveness of these requests
• Frequency
• Analyze competitors

Collecting keywords for analysis

To do this, I need to collect as many search queries as possible. Specialists use software of the keycollector type, but I will use more easily accessible means.

Google Adwords Keyword Planner

We go in adwords.google.com

Create a new account or log in to an existing one.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

We need to click on the key, select “keyword planner” from the “planning” section in the drop-down list.

I am interested in “searching for new keywords”. We introduce the main keyword: “English language courses”. And click on the “start” button.

So, we have a new beautiful page in front of us, where everything is clear and not clear at the same time. Let’s go in order.

The first thing to do is to put the correct location. I am from Ukraine, so the geo “all Ukraine” is in the default account. We change it to Kiev (you can change it to Kiev and the region).

To the right of the “Location” we see the “Language” setting. Previously, the scheduler allowed you to collect keywords for several languages at once, but with the new interface it has to be done separately for each language.

Let’s take the Ukrainian language and see about the same number of requests as for Russian.

We collect keywords in all the languages we need and click on the “download options” button. words”

Keyword Overview

Now we need to find some needles from the downloaded haystack. This is easier to do if our stack is given neatness.

The list of keywords is in a csv file, which I will open through Excel. We see such a terrible picture:

Now we need to bring this list into a less strange and more understandable form.

1. The first two lines can be deleted
2. We stretch column A so that we can see all the keywords
3. Min search volume, Max search volume, Competition, Top of page bid (low range), Top of page bid (high range) are all the columns we need. We remove the remaining columns mercilessly.
4. Align all columns to the left
5. Ctrl+A and set a readable font size

It’s not so scary anymore.

If you have downloaded several files with the same key in different languages, combine them into one file. If the main keyword for the search was different, it is more convenient to work in different files, and combine the finished result (more on this below).

Yes, at the expense of the columns that we left:

• Min search volume, Max search volume shows from as many to how many times a month users have searched for a single query on average over the past 12 months (the time period setting can be changed when collecting keywords). The planner will show you the exact figure if you have already spent advertising budgets in your account. For new accounts, “from” and “to” are shown.
• Competition is an indicator of competition. The ratio of the number of advertisers in AdWords to the number of requests for a specific keyword. Again, there are no exact figures for new accounts.
• Top of page bid (low range), Top of page bid (high range) — the minimum and maximum bid for impressions of your ad in Google AdWords on the first page. We need it just to understand the high cost of keywords.

Keyword dropout

846 keys only in Russian… Do I need them all? Of course not. I need only the tops from this pasochka for a quick analysis. Alas, but I will have to go through all the lines and find the most interesting queries. Routine, but what did you want? Most of the work with traffic is routine.

In order not to stretch the article too much, I will take for example 10 of these words:

You can take more, 20, 30… it all depends on the time.

IMPORTANT: it is in the process of dropping out keywords that you will see what people are looking for and how often they do it. Which of your competitors are the most popular, which services are most often asked, etc. In general, very useful information.

We look at competitors for each keyword

We drive each key into the search bar and the TOP 10 competitors detected!

For 10 keywords, it is worth watching the first three competitors (they will be repeated), for a quick analysis.

Here are a couple more “secret” tricks:

• We enter into the search engine line: “intitle:”English courses” “. And we see the number of pages that have our keyword in the title.
• We enter: ” inanchor: “English language courses” “. We see the pages to which the links lead and in the text of these links there is our key.
• If you use these two operators at the same time, you can find out the approximate number of real competitors

You can do similar actions by entering a keyword in Ukrainian. Entering a query without quotes, without an operator, you will see links at the top of the page with the note: “Advertising” is also your competitors and if you see the same domains in advertising regularly, then it is logical that they are visited and bought.

What are we looking at when analyzing competitors

An SEO optimization specialist looks at the number of text on the page, the % of keyword occurrence, PR, etc., you don’t really need it. You are much more interested:

• First, look at the right competitor. This is an important point. We are often asked to set up traffic to the landing page and are given a list of competitors that I can’t find either in the TOP 20 search results or in the context. It is important to understand that a user who is looking for some product or service on the Internet opens several sites from the TOP at once. Smart approach: look at the current TOP and think about how to make the best offer among those that are currently relevant.
• Page structure. What follows what, how the user is brought to action.
• The competitor’s UTP. I recommend even writing out competitive USPS, so it will be easier to develop your offer.
• After reading the competition page, write down the objections that arose when you read it. And remember them when developing your page.
• And most importantly: think about how to stand out among the competitors’ offers.

Now you know what you’re dealing with!

You know how to watch what and how often your audience is looking for. You know how to find the right competitors. You know which way to move in order to become better than those who are now in the top.

Apply this information correctly and get the result!