We have always maintained that business strategy is the most important aspect of any search marketing effort. Throwing SEO/PPC tasks against a wall and hoping something sticks is a recipe for disaster.Before we engage a client we focus on gaining a deeper understanding of the business goals and objectives in the short term and the future.What direction is the company going?With a clear direction, we then point our tools at the competition. How are they positioned? What tactics are they leveraging? This is a valuable part of forming a counter-strategy to attain the goals the client has established. Competitive intelligence is a necessary component for any marketing effort. Competitive search intelligence is no different and can yield eye-opening information.Many things can be discovered by looking under the hood of a competitor’s Web site, such as the keywords with which they’re winning business. On many occasions we also get an idea of new marketplaces, products or strategies the competition is focusing on long before these tactics are completely introduced to the market.To determine your online competition type your tier 1 keyword into Google. Pick the top three sites. Use the link popularity checker at marketleap.com to see how your site compares to the top three in terms of incoming links. You want to seek out sites with the highest Google rankings and lowest amount of incoming links.Visit your competitors’ sites. Is the site easy to navigate? Do they have content and clear call to action statements that encourage conversion? Are they using long tail keywords? What techniques are they using that you can also leverage, or even get ahead?If you are in business you are in a competitive battle. Begin to think of SEO as an important strategic tool. Include your SEO vendor in your strategic planning and see what they can learn about the competition that you might not already know.
