When any business is developing a search engine optimization strategy, it is essential that they do in-depth research on their competition. There are a ton of questions to answer, from how much content should be created to how many links a website needs so it’s important to know your industry. Many of the answers needed to develop a strategy really depend on two questions, “How saturated is your market?” and “What is your end goal?”
The example below can be used to help readers grasp a better understanding of how competition defines a search engine optimization strategy.
Travel Example
As seen by the countless travel sites advertised on television and billboards, travel is an extremely competitive market space. Below is a list of the top 10 results that appear when anyone does a Google search for “travel”.
As you can see, other than Austin Travel, a majority of the results are well known websites with countless amounts of backlinks and indexed pages. Austin Travel is most likely in the mix due to Query Deserves Diversity (QDD), which is the notion that all the results on the page shouldn’t be the same. Obviously, companies should not rely on QDD if they are serious about their search engine optimization rankings. As seen through these results, in order to compete on a search phrase like “travel,” it is important for a business to plan its campaign on a large scale. This requires large scale content development, link building campaigns, high quality links and so much more. Unless a business is ready to take a deep dip into their bank account, it would not be wise to compete in a big business like travel.
How Small Travel Agencies Survive in a Competitive Market
Many small travel businesses compete well in their industry by becoming more vertical and using a more localized set of keywords. Here are the top ten results for “Orlando travel agents.”
These small businesses implement a lot more local content than the big name competitors. Additionally, to attain search engine optimization, these businesses pick link targets that are more approachable to their target market. These people know their market and found a way to compete without being lost in cyber-space.
Furthermore, in-depth research into a business’ industry and competition is really the first step in developing a search engine optimization strategy.
By Jacquelynn M.