How to Quickly Size Up SEO Competition

Last Updated on Saturday, 2 May 2009 04:55 Written by vc1026 Saturday, 2 May 2009 04:55

Here’s some quick pointers on how to get an idea of the competition you face for a certain search phrase or keyword.

type the keyword or phrase into Google and see how many results there are.  Then, type in the keyword phrase with quotes around it and see how many results there are for that exact phrase.  This 2nd measure gives you a better idea of how many pages you’ll be competing against.

You can take it even further by using the intitle operator.  Type intitle:”keyword phrase here with quotes” and see how many results you’ve got then.  This will tell you how many results there are with your specific keyword phrase in the title tag.  This gives you a good idea on the number of pages you’ll have to compete against.  Keep in mind, though, this technique does not give any clues on how strong those results are.

To get a better idea of the strength of a competitor, take a look at their URL.  Does it contain the keyword phrase?  If so, then they will be harder to beat.  Also, check their backlinks in both Google and Yahoo to see how many links they’ve got.

SEO is a bit of a science and an art.  There is no ‘easy’ way to tell by just 1 factor whether or not a site will have the ability to rank well.  But, after you do this several times, and have experience getting sites to rank and stay there, it’s easier to take a look at some of these factors as well as some others and get a very good idea of how things will play out.  Sometimes G does like to shake things up a bit, but it usually comes back down to fundamentals – Offer unique, value-added content that preferably fresh and attracts links in a natural way.