Track Your Competitor's SERP Rankings

Did you know that 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine? This makes SERP analysis a must-have tool in your SEO toolkit. SERP analysis involves examining search engine results pages for specific keywords to gain insights into the competitive landscape. This means looking at various elements such as organic listings, SERP features, and paid advertisements. The main goal? To figure out why certain pages rank high and how you can use this information to improve your own search visibility.

Why Track Competitor SERP Rankings?

Here are a few reasons why tracking competitor SERP rankings is a game-changer:

1. Competitive Analysis: By learning to track competitor SERP rankings, you can identify their strengths and weaknesses in the search landscape. This is probably the most important thing you need to do and understand in order to beat your competition.

2. Opportunity Identification: Analyzing competitor rankings can help you spot gaps in your own strategy and uncover new keyword opportunities.

3. Performance Benchmarking: When you track competitor SERP rankings, you can measure your performance against industry standards.

4. Content Strategy Insights: Discover what type of content ranks well and use this to guide your own content creation.

5. Algorithm Adaptation: By observing shifts in competitor rankings, you can quickly identify and adapt to search engine algorithm updates.

Key Components of SERP Analysis

When conducting a SERP analysis and learning to track competitor SERP rankings, it's important to pay attention to several key components:

1. Organic Search Results: These are results that are shown based on what you type on Google.

2. SERP Features: Look for elements like featured snippets, "People Also Ask" boxes, image carousels, and local packs.

3. Paid Advertisements: While not directly related to organic rankings, understanding the paid landscape can inform your overall digital marketing strategy. If you are able to afford a paid tool like SEMRUSH you will be able to see how much the cost per click is for a keyword. The higher the dollar the more competitive it is, so keep that in mind.

4. User Intent Signals: Analyzing the types of content that rank well helps you grasp the search intent behind specific queries. Now, there are tools out there that can expedite this process like https://answerthepublic.com/.

How to Track Competitor SERP Rankings

Now that we understand the importance of tracking competitor SERP rankings, let's go over the practical steps to implement this strategy effectively.

Step 1: Identify Your Competitors and Target Keywords

Start by listing your main competitors, including both direct rivals and websites that rank for the same keywords. Then, pick a set of keywords crucial to your business—think high-volume keywords and long-tail phrases relevant to your products or services.

Pro Tip: Do not just look for High-volume keywords are those tend to be difficult to rank. The sweet spot has a high-volume keyword with low competition. These are rare, so if you find one, try to incorporate it to your strategy. That said, the most common find is a low-volume keyword with low competition.

Step 2: Utilize SERP Tracking Tools

Investing in reliable SERP tracking tools is essential for effectively monitoring your competitors' rankings. Many SEO platforms offer features that allow you to track competitor SERP rankings for chosen keywords over time. These tools provide valuable insights into ranking changes, helping you identify trends and react accordingly.

When selecting a tool to track competitor SERP rankings, consider factors such as accuracy, reporting features, and integration capabilities with your existing SEO software stack. Some popular SERP tracking tools include:

1. SEMrush

2. Ahrefs

3. Moz Pro

4. SE Ranking

5. Serpstat

Step 3: Set Up Regular Monitoring and Analysis

As the adage goes, consistency is key. Set a schedule for regular monitoring and analysis—weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, depending on your industry’s competitiveness. During your analysis, keep an eye on:

1. Ranking Changes: Look for significant shifts in your competitors' positions for key terms. This goes back to the competitor analysis mentioned above.

2. New Entrants: Keep an eye out for new websites entering the top rankings for your target keywords. But also keep an eye out for new websites that are around the block. We’ve noticed the Spyfu is great a finding competition.

3. SERP Feature Ownership: Monitor which competitors are capturing SERP features like featured snippets, local packs, and knowledge panels.

4. Content Updates: Note any changes in the content of top-ranking pages that might be influencing their position. For businesses that have most of their traffic coming through blog posts, this is something you want to add to a weekly checklist to make sure your competition is not pushing you down the ranks.

Step 4: Analyze Competitors' SEO Strategies

Use the information you’ve gathered to understand your competitors’ SEO strategies. Are they focusing on content quality, backlinks, specific types of content, or technical SEO?  Our team at Alterior Digital can conduct an in-depth analysis of your competitors' SEO strategies and help you refine your own approach for better results. Consider investigating these areas::

1. Content Quality and Depth: Analyze the length, structure, and comprehensiveness of top-ranking content.

2. Backlink Profiles: Examine the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing to competitor pages. There is a whole strategy on this, but typically you want to pick out the backlinks that are topical to what you do as those are the ones that will really help with boosting your website up the ranks.

3. On-Page Optimization: Look at how competitors are using keywords in titles, meta descriptions, headers, and body content. Make sure not to keyword stuff as that will get you penalized. Follow the simple rule of using your primary keyword for every 125 to 150 words of content. So if you are writing content that is 1,500 words, you would want to mentioned your primary keyword about 10 to 12 times.

4. Technical SEO: Assess factors like page speed, mobile-friendliness, and schema markup implementation.



Step 5: Implement Strategic Responses

Based on your analysis of competitor SERP rankings, develop and implement strategic responses to improve your own search visibility. This might include:

1. Content Enhancements: Create more comprehensive, higher-quality content that addresses user intent better than your competitors.

2. On-Page Optimization: Refine your keyword usage and meta tags.

3. Link Building: Identify high-quality backlink sources that your competitors are leveraging and develop outreach strategies to acquire similar links.

4. Technical Improvements: Address any technical SEO issues that might be holding your site back.

Leveraging SERP Analysis for SEO Success

Now that you have a better grasp of what SERPs are and how to use them to keep an eye on your competition. Let’s go over some ways on how you can use that information to leverage to improve your own SEO.

Identify and Fill Content Gaps

By analyzing the top-ranking pages for your target keywords, you can spot topics or content types you might be missing. Use this information to create new, high-quality content that fills these gaps and provides value to your audience.

For example, if you notice that many top-ranking pages for a target keyword include video content, consider creating your own video to complement your written content and potentially capture more SERP real estate. Our team at Alterior Digital can also help you identify these content gaps and create engaging content to fill them.

Optimize for SERP Features

As you track competitor SERP rankings, if you notice certain competitors consistently appearing in SERP features like featured snippets, adjust your content strategy to target these opportunities. This might involve:

• Restructuring your content to directly answer common questions related to your target keywords
• Implementing specific schema markup to increase your chances of appearing in rich results
• Creating content in formats that are likely to be featured, such as lists, tables, or step-by-step guides

Enhance User Experience and Technical SEO

SERP analysis often reveals the importance of user experience factors in achieving high rankings. Ensure your website is:

• Mobile-friendly and responsive across all devices
• Fast-loading, with optimized images and efficient code
• Easy to navigate with a clear site structure
• Secure, with HTTPS implementation

Focus on technical SEO elements such as:

• Proper implementation of robots.txt and XML sitemaps
• Optimized internal linking structure
• Elimination of duplicate content issues
• Implementation of structured data markup

Refine Your Link Building Strategy

If you notice competitors with significantly stronger backlink profiles as you track competitor SERP rankings, focus on improving your link-building efforts. Identify high-quality websites linking to your competitors and develop strategies to earn similar backlinks. This might include:

• Creating linkable assets such as original research, infographics, or comprehensive guides
• Engaging in strategic outreach to relevant industry websites and influencers
• Participating in industry events or webinars to build relationships and earn natural backlinks

Continuously Adapt and Improve

Remember, tracking competitor SERP rankings is an ongoing process. Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, and your competitors are likely adjusting their strategies as well. Regularly revisit your SERP analysis and be prepared to adapt your approach based on new insights and trends.

Are You Ready to Track Competitor SERP Rankings Like A Pro?

Tracking competitor SERP rankings is a critical component of a successful SEO strategy. By understanding your rivals' performance, you can refine your approach and climb the SERP ladder. Consistently monitor your competitors, analyze the data, and implement strategic responses to stay ahead in the ever-changing world of search engine optimization.

While in-house tracking is possible, partnering with a professional SEO agency like Alterior Digital provides valuable expertise and saves time. Our comprehensive SEO services include competitor analysis and SERP tracking, helping you interpret data and develop strategies to outrank competitors effectively. As always, we recommend getting your free SEO Audit to get started and we can go from there.