Conducting Keyword Research and Competitive Analysis

Remaining competitive in today’s small business environment can be challenging, regardless of the industry. Staying updated on trends, technology, and best practices can be overwhelming, especially in the realm of digital marketing, such as keyword research and competitor analysis.

To provide perspective and show that small businesses can make significant progress without excessive stress, we’ve assembled a panel of SEO, content marketing, PPC, and digital strategy experts. We’ve asked them to share their tips, advice, and guidance in this area.

Whether your business is just starting or you’re looking to enhance your efforts, the insights and expertise from these professionals should provide a strong foundation for competitive keyword research and analysis.

What Is Keyword Research?

In simple terms, keyword research helps you understand what people are searching for and how to customize your online content and digital marketing to match those terms, phrases, and items.

So, why is keyword research crucial? Nowadays, most people use Google instead of flipping through a phone book. Therefore, knowing what your customers are searching for and how they are searching for it is essential to reaching them.

“Keyword research is fundamental to our overall client strategy, not just for SEO. Messaging plays a significant role in every marketing strategy, and knowing the words people use to ask questions, describe their challenges, or search online is crucial for creating a relevant and targeted message.” — Pavel Buev, SEO expert at Ocean Power Agency.

Keywords are like the currency of search engines, and they are also the key to achieving a better position for your business on search engine results pages (SERPs). Even though everyone is trying to get to the top spot, including large organizations with significant resources, small businesses still have a chance to compete and enhance their position on SERPs.

Perform Keyword Research

Performing keyword research is a fundamental aspect of any SEO strategy, and it’s also highly beneficial for your overall marketing strategy. It helps drive organic traffic, enhance content strategy, and identify valuable keywords and phrases for CRM efforts and social campaigns, making it incredibly valuable across the competitive landscape.

Like any marketing endeavor, starting requires a plan. When it comes to keyword research, your plan should start with a readiness to set aside any assumptions about your audience and strive to learn as much as possible about what they are searching for and how they do it.

Due to its cost-effectiveness and accessibility, search engine optimization is a crucial part of small business marketing. By starting with competitor keyword analysis and reviewing their websites, business owners and marketers can gain valuable insights into content gaps, existing content, and new keyword ideas. However, analyzing competitor keywords and content doesn’t have to be confined to the online realm.

How Should You Use The Results Of Keyword Research?

Keyword research and competitive analysis work together to help you discover valuable new keywords, competitor rankings, and areas where you can make progress with your marketing efforts. Once you have the initial data, how should you use it effectively? Apart from creating a list of keywords for your content, the first step is to develop a plan.

You require a plan for your research, but your research also guides and shapes your next plan: the implementation. Once you have valuable insights from your analysis and SEO tools, there is a lot to be done with the keyword gaps you’ve identified, new long-tail keywords, and more.

Your competitive keyword research and Google search findings are more than just about creating a list of target keywords for your content creation team. High-quality research can benefit every part of your sales process, from improving your organic search results to reducing your ad campaign’s cost per click (CPC). This is as long as you approach things with a broad view of business needs and opportunities.

What Should a Competitive Analysis Include?

Competitive analysis, also known as competitor analysis, can extend far beyond just identifying particular keywords that you may have overlooked or organic keywords that you can incorporate into your marketing materials. The scope of competitive analysis can be as wide and comprehensive as you and your team desire.

The important thing is to acquire valuable insights about your position in the market, where your competition has an advantage, and how you can respond to their efforts and expand your market share using all available means.

“Competitor analysis involves carefully identifying and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors to help you make better business decisions. This includes looking at things like your competitor’s name, the products or services they offer, their marketing strategies, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. It also involves examining their strategies and tactics, and identifying any opportunities and threats they may pose to your business.” — Pavel Buev, an SEO expert at Ocean Power Agency.

Competitive Analysis Tips

Looking at the reviews, feedback, and comments on your competitors’ pages can provide you with really useful information. This kind of research can help you understand what your competitors are doing well, where they might be falling short, and how you can highlight your company’s unique strengths, products, and values. When it comes to your marketing, competitor analysis is a serious task, not just something you do for fun. Whatever method you use for your research, make sure you start with thoughtful questions that you want to answer and insights you want to gain.

Benefits of Competitive Analysis and Keyword Research

By taking these steps for your business, you can gain a wealth of valuable information. It’s no surprise that there are numerous benefits to be gained from competitive analysis and keyword research. One of our experts’ favorite benefits was the chance to get a clearer understanding of your business’s current position in the market: where you’re succeeding, where there’s room for improvement, and overall, where you stand. For most of our panelists, learning was the most valuable part of these processes. In a field that requires content development and continual adjustment, there’s no such thing as having too much knowledge. Information about your competition is one of the most powerful resources available. While we’ve mentioned “strategy” several times in this article, the strategic value of keyword research and competitor analysis cannot be overstated.