SEO Blog

Whilst there is plenty that you can do to improve your site under your own steam, sometimes it’s just as good getting a bit of a free ride. Finding ways of getting new links and working out what keywords to target next can be a bit of a chore, particularly when you hit a creative brick wall. So why not let your competitors do some of the legwork?

We’re all in the same boat when it comes to search engine rankings. We all want a competitive advantage and will work hard to ensure that we get to the top. Unfortunately there will always come a time where you have to find new avenues to explore and you won’t be flush with ideas. By studying a competitor’s link profile you can gain ‘inspiration’. By reviewing more competitor’s, you can be all the more inspired.

Okay, so that might sound a little underhanded, and I guess it is, but everybody is doing it all the time – your site included. Even using something freely available like Yahoo Site Explorer will give you an idea of the strong links that a site is receiving, which will allow you to find directories, blogs and websites that might be able to throw a link your way too.

Of course you’ll have your own unique link profile already, many of which your competitors won’t share, so by adding theirs too you can double up your benefit and get some decent rankings as a consequence.

This type of piggybacking is far from rare and forms an important part of many sites’ ongoing SEO strategies. Of course you can’t be purely reliant on this form of linking plagiarism; if you were, you’d find it pretty tricky to outrank anybody. But when you hit a sticky patch in your link building you can get renewed inspiration just by looking into other people’s profiles.

Don’t forget about keywords either. If you’re trying to get a ranking for something that is proving difficult, you should look at your competitors’ strength. If they have a high PageRank, old domain and a well-optimised site, you are probably going to struggle. Set your sights a little lower if you’re just starting out. Don’t try to out-gun the big guys just yet, find alternatives to the keywords they are targeting – at least in the first instance – and find something a little less competitive.

It goes without saying that you do ultimately want to beat all your competitors and achieve the top ranking for the vast majority of keywords. But to get to this level you have to find a way of creating a natural link profile and emulating the success of those who have achieved high rankings already. Find out what you can and use it to your advantage.