Please note – I have utilised AI to assist in the creation of some of the content.

How Do I Carry Out a Competitor Audit?

A strategic competitor analysis is a research method that helps businesses understand their competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they operate in the market. The goal of a strategic competitor analysis is to identify opportunities for growth and improvement, and to develop a competitive advantage. The analysis typically includes the following elements:

  • Identification of competitors: Identify direct and indirect competitors in the market.
  • Analysis of market share: Analyse the market share of competitors, this can include their customer base, revenue, and pricing strategies.
  • Analysis of product/service offerings: Analyse the products and services offered by competitors, including features, quality, and pricing.
  • Analysis of marketing and advertising strategies: Analyse the marketing and advertising strategies of competitors, including their messaging, targeting, and promotional activities.
  • Analysis of distribution channels: Analyse the distribution channels used by competitors, including their physical and online presence.
  • Analysis of strengths and weaknesses: Identify the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, including their areas of expertise and areas for improvement.
  • Analysis of customer base: Analyse the customer base of competitors, including demographics, psychographics, and buying behaviour.
  • Analysis of industry trends and future projections: Analyse industry trends and future projections to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.
  • Comparison of company performance: Compare the company’s performance with its competitors and identify areas for improvement.

How Do I Carry out a Strategic Competitor Analysis on a Website?

Conducting a strategic competitor analysis on a website involves analysing various elements of the website and comparing them to those of competitors. Here are some steps you can take to carry out a strategic competitor analysis on a website:

  • Identify competitors: Identify the websites of direct and indirect competitors in your industry.
  • Analyse website structure: Analyse the structure of the website, including the layout, navigation, and design. Look for elements such as the use of white space, colour scheme, and typography.
  • Analyse website content: Analyse the website’s content, including the quality, relevance, and uniqueness of the text, images, and videos.
  • Analyse website functionality: Analyse the website’s functionality, including the ease of use, speed, and responsiveness.
  • Analyse website SEO: Analyse the website’s SEO, including the use of keywords, meta tags, and alt tags. Check the website’s visibility on search engines and the quality of backlinks.
  • Analyse website performance: Analyse the website’s performance using website analytics tools such as Google Analytics to track metrics such as traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rate.
  • Analyse website social media: Analyse the website’s social media presence, including the number of followers, engagement levels, and the types of content shared.
  • Analyse website customer reviews: Analyse customer reviews of the website, including the number of reviews and the overall sentiment of the reviews.
  • Compare to competitors: Compare the website’s elements to those of competitors, looking for areas of strength and areas for improvement.

How Do I Carry Out an SEO Audit on My Website?

Performing an SEO audit of a website involves several steps to assess the search engine-friendliness of the site in numerous areas. Here’s a basic outline of how you might go about it:

  • Crawlability Analysis: Use tools like Google’s Search Console, SEMrush, or Screaming Frog SEO Spider to crawl your site and identify any errors. You’re looking for 404 errors, redirect errors, and problems with your robots.txt file, among other things.
  • Check Indexing: Ensure that your website is being indexed by search engines. You can check this by using the ‘site:’ operator followed by your domain (e.g., ‘site:example.com’) in Google.
  • Analyze Page Speed: Use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to see if your site loads quickly. Slow loading times can hurt your rankings and deter visitors.
  • Mobile-Friendly Test: With Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, check whether your website is mobile-optimized as mobile responsiveness is a ranking factor.
  • On-Page SEO: Review your titles, descriptions, headings, and content for SEO optimization. Ensure your keywords are being used effectively and not being overused (keyword stuffing).
  • Check URL Structure: URLs should be SEO-friendly, meaning they should be readable, not overly long, and include your target keyword when appropriate.
  • Analyze Backlinks: Use tools like Moz’s Link Explorer or SEMrush to analyze your site’s backlink profile. Look at both the quantity and quality of your backlinks.
  • Check Internal Linking: Ensure you’re using internal links effectively to spread link equity around your site.
  • Audit Your Content: Look for duplicate content, thin content, or content that isn’t providing value to users.
  • Schema Markup: Check if your website is using schema markup. This helps search engines understand your content and can lead to better SERP presentations.
  • Check HTTPS Status: Google prefers sites that are secured with HTTPS, so it’s good to check if your site has an SSL certificate.
  • Analyze Social Media Presence and Engagement: Social signals can indirectly impact SEO, so it’s good to consider your site’s social media engagement.
  • Competitive Analysis: Finally, compare your website to your competitors’. This can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and develop a plan for outperforming your competition.

How Do I Carry Out a Content Audit on My Website?

Conducting a content audit for a website involves a systematic review of all the content on the website. The purpose is to evaluate the performance of your content and identify strengths and weaknesses, so you can update, delete, or improve content as necessary. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

  • Create a Content Inventory: Start by listing out all of your website’s content. This includes all pages, posts, landing pages, guides, infographics, videos, etc. You can manually do this or use automated tools like Screaming Frog or SEMRush’s Site Audit tool. If you have a small site, manually listing may be possible, but for larger sites, an automated tool will save time.
  • Add Basic Information: For each piece of content, record its URL, content type (e.g., blog post, product page), title, and publication date.
  • Gather Performance Data: Next, gather data on how each piece of content is performing. You can use Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or other SEO tools for this. Key metrics to look at might include Page views, Time spent on the page (dwell time), Bounce rate, Conversion rate, Number of social shares Backlinks earned, Keyword ranking
  • Evaluate Content Quality: Assess the quality of each piece of content. Is it accurate, up-to-date, well-written, and thorough? Does it align with your brand? Does it serve a clear purpose for your audience?
  • Identify Content Gaps: Look for topics or keywords that you haven’t adequately covered yet. This can help guide your future content creation efforts.
  • Decide on an Action Plan: Based on your findings, decide what needs to be done for each piece of content.
  • Implement Your Plan: Start making the changes you’ve decided on. This could involve rewriting content, updating outdated information, improving SEO, removing or redirecting content, etc.
  • Monitor Results: After you’ve made changes, keep an eye on your metrics to see how your changes are affecting performance.