Our clients commonly request that we examine their competitor’s well-ranking websites and duplicate those on-site optimization features in effort to achieve similar SEO results. В Clients seem to think that if their competitors are achieving results this way, then they will too.
We usually take a look at your competitor’s web sites to become better acclimated with the terminology of the particular industry for keyword research purposes.В That said, we never imitate the on-site SEO characteristics of other web sites. В Here’s why:
Web Site Structure. Your competitor’s sites are structured, designed, and built differently than yours is. Imitating on-page features may not be possible given the structural differences.
Domain Name and Age. If your top ranking competitor’s domain name consists of a highly searched industry keyword, this provides them with a huge advantage from the get-go.В Trying to optimize for that same keyword presents a major challenge. В In addition, if the age of your competitor’s domain name is older than yours, then your competitor’s site is likely a more relevant and trusted site because it has been in each search engine’s crawl longer than yours.
Inbound Links and PageRank. If your high-ranking competition has been around a while, they’ve probably built a considerable amount of links, achieving a Google PageRank of 1-10. В Imitating the optimized content of a site that has many inbound links and a quality PageRank will not achieve the same results for your site since you do not have the same PageRank or amount of quality links.
These are just a few reasons why imitating your competition’s optimized content such as meta tags or keyword frequency is generally not a wise strategy. В Also consider that your low-ranking competitors might be in the same position as you and have a similar mindset of imitating the on-page content of your top competitors. В With everyone pursuing the same keywords and optimization strategies, achieving a competitive advantage and quality rankings becomes less likely.
At Search Concepts, we’re more concerned with what your competition is not doing. В The search engines can be crowded so it’s important to find unique approaches that give your site the advantage it needs. В We’re committed to this strategy, especially in keyword research. В Instead of pursuing only the most popular search terms, we also dig for the niche keyword phrases that are searched, but don’t have millions of other sites competing for them. В You would be surprised at how many relevant and searched keywords are often overlooked by your competition and their short-sighted SEO strategy.
In conclusion, discover what your competition is not doing and find a unique angle that will differentiate your site from the rest of your competition. A unique approach will get you the results you’re looking for in the search engines. Find out how Search Concepts can achieve the results you’re looking for by requesting a free quote.
