If you are going to properly take advantage of paid search advertising, you first need to know where you stand in comparison with your competition. Knowing what your competition is doing can help you create your full ad campaign and utilize methods that will help you become a top competitor. In order to get the best information, here are some SEM competitive analysis tools.
Use These Tools for SEM Competitive Analysis
Semrush
Semrush has a number of competitive analysis tools that can help you understand where you stand among your competitors. The Keyword Magic tool will show you the SERP for each keyword, how your competitor is ranking for that keyword, and even let you group keywords into niches. Domain Overview will give you more of a general analysis of a specific domain, and the Backlinks Comparison tool will allow you to compare backlinks of up to five different domains. From here, you can begin to develop your SEO strategy.
Semrush is a professional tool and ranges from $99.95-$399.95 monthly.
SpyFu Adwords Advisor Report
SpyFu has a number of tools, but for these purposes, we’re focusing on the Spyfu Adwords Advisor Report. This PPC report will give you recommendations on what keywords you should be buying and suggestions on what ad copy is working for your competitors. They’ll even give you a recommendation on how strongly they advise certain campaigns. This report is a great start if you’re looking to invest in paid search ads, and just one of the many tools SpyFu has to offer.
SpyFu offers a number of monthly plans, ranging from $39-$299/month, with additional discounts for paying annually.
Cognitive SEO
Reports in CognitiveSEO make comparative analysis quick and easy. You enter the URL, specify if you want to limit sitewide links, and click “Start”. You can compare metrics, anchor text, deep link ratio, and link data. The site has tools to compare backlinks, penalties, and other necessary information to start your SEO strategy.
Pricing ranges from $99 per month to $999 per month.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
This tool is a website crawler. It basically allows you to crawl websites and find different elements of the site, therefore allowing you to conduct an analysis.
This tool offers a free version and an annual version for a reasonable annual fee.
If you’re ready to start delving into the logistics of what makes your competition rank above or comparatively to you, these tools will help you get there. Which tool will you try first? Let us know in the comments below!
Steve Scott is the CEO & Director of Training at the New York SEO Training Academy. He has taught SEO skills to people from around the world and currently offers his hands-on search engine optimization training workshops in New York to individuals and businesses of all sizes. Corporate SEO training classes and consulting are also available.
