This post is a Re-Mix of a post I wrote in 2006, Formerly called: “How to Scope Out a Competitor’s Website and Learn From It.”
It’s always fun and interesting to check out what your competitors are up to. When you type in a search for your keywords, who comes up? Are your competitors ahead of you or below you? Why? Do you know what kind of traffic they get? Do you know how many links are coming into their site?
Competitive Research
In search engine marketing, competitive research and analysis is everything. Since search engines are all about ranking, the websites you see in the search engine rankings above and below you are your competitors. So it’s very helpful to know how to research those competitors to discover how and why they rank the way they do.
10 Free Tools For Researching Your Competitor’s Website
#1. SpyFu.com
SpyFu is one of my favorites as it can show you how much money a competing website may be spending on pay per click advertisements. And is also useful to show you which organic keywords may be bringing in the most traffic. Tool Use Rating: Easy
#2. SEODigger.com
SEO Digger is a free tool that will show you what keyword phrases different websites rank for. The ranking database is updated every 2 weeks and is usually very accurate. This can be a great resource if you’re trying to find out what phrases a competing website ranks for. They can also be sorted by order of Wordtracker popularity which shows how many times those phrases are searched. Tool Use Rating: Easy
#3. SEOmoz Tools
If you are already familiar with SEOmoz, you know that they provide a host of tools that can help with SEO. Many of which can be helpful for competitive website analysis including: SEO Toolbox, Trifecta, Term Target, and their new tool called Linkscape. Note on Linkscape: this tools is definitely for more advanced users, but can be very valuable to search for link data on almost any website. Tool Use Rating: Ranging from Easy - Difficult
#4. WebsiteGrader.com
The Website Grader is an extremely user friendly site that will give a quick review of any website and show helpful data like: domain age, domain renewal information, meta data, backlinks, onpage factors, traffic, and alot more. The really helpful thing is that it gives easy to understand explanations if it happens to find any erros on the website. This is a great tool for discovering basic strengths and weaknesses with any competing website. Tool Use Rating: Easy
#5. NicheWatch.com
Niche Watch takes a little different approach in that it doesn’t start with a competing website, but with keyword phrases. You type in a phrase, and it will show you data on the top 20 competitors including backlinks, links to the page, Page Rank, and alot more. This is a great resource to see info on offsite factors for each website and it can often times give you great insight as to why a site is ranking the way it is. Tool Use Rating: Moderate
#6. SEO For Firefox
SEO for Firefox is one of the more famous tools of the bunch. Aaron the creator claims that over 50,000 people are using it. If you don’t already have Firefox, you may want to consider downloading it just for the purpose of using this great add-on. When turned on, this tool will show extra data under each Google result after you complete a search. The data includes useful things like: backlinks, page links, .edu links, pages, domain age, Dmoz, Yahoo Dir, and alot more. Basically it lets you see why competitors are ranking in the results, and based on the data, it’s usually very easy to see why sites are being ranked the way they are. Tool Use Rating: Moderate
#7. Compete.com
Looking for exact traffic numbers for a competitors website? Too bad, that is priviledged information. But the next best thing can be found at a site like Compete.com. They compile data on millions of websites to provide you with fairly accurate traffic analytics, and basic search analytics; like which terms are used the most often to bring search traffic. It’s about as good as you can get unfortunately. If you want to compare data try Quantcast and Alexa. Tool Use Rating: Easy - Moderate
#8. LinkDiagnosis.com
Link Diagnosis is a newer tool that I’ve only been using for a few months. But I have been extremely impressed so far. It basically will look at the backlinks of any website and examine the anchor text, Page Rank, quality of link, and number of outbound links on the page and displays it in an easy to read and export format. It is really sweet for being able to tell how strong incoming links are to any giving website complete with data on NoFollow links. Tool Use Rating: Moderate - Difficult
#9. SearchRascal.com
Search Rascal is purely a ranking analysis tool that allows you to see who is ranking for any given keyword. The unique thing about it is that it tracks past ranking and will show whether or not websites have moved up or down in ranking in the last day, week, or month. It is very handy. Note: only works for more competitive phrases. Tool Use Rating: Easy
#10. Google & Yahoo
Believe it or not, Google and Yahoo are a couple of the best tools you have available for competitive analysis. You just have to know how to use them… Google consistently has the best search results, so make sure you use it the most when trying to search for actual competitors. If someone is ranking above you in Google, chances are they deserve to be there. Yahoo is great for searching incoming links to your website. In fact, almost all the tools above use Yahoo’s data to search for links. To get an overall picture of how many links are coming in, visit Yahoo Site Explorer, type in your domain name with or without the www, and click on “inlinks”. This will give you a full picture of your incoming links. Tool Use Rating: Easy
I hope these 10 free tools will come in handy as you try to learn more about your competition. Make sure to keep track of your findings, and if you have any questions about how to use any of them, don’t hesitate to comment below.
Original Article Here:
Hey Tomato-man,
Great stuff. So far I've only used one of these on a regular basis. Now thanks to you I have a new arsenal. Thanks a bushel!
Great list. Now if I can just find a local folk who can stay on top of this stuff so I can run my biz.
Mike
Justin ... wow, great list!!! I will check out the links! pippa
Thanks for all the valuable information. I will check out these sites and see what I learn to improve my site. Thanks Diane
Thanks for sharing. I appreciate the information.
Take care.
Thank you for sharing this information. I've bookmarked this article to refer to when I'm working on my SEO and Web site later this week. Always good to review the free things available out there!!
Justin - Wow - that is pretty amazing. A lot of great sites and a lot of great info. Another homework assignment for us this week !
Good grief. My head is spinning. I wish I had read this before the last debate!!!!!
Justin...awesome. Bookmarked for another late night of Internet/Active Rain discovery!
What great info! Thanks!
So much SEO, so little time! Thanks for all the information, definetly bookmarking this one!
Thanks for the info. Great post
A most excellent and useful post Justin. SEO for Firefox is a must, among the others mentioned. ;)
•:*¨¨*:• Joe & Colleen Lane •:*¨¨*:•
Our ActiveRain Blog
Justin: Thank you for all this valuable information. I'm off to try them.
I have one realtor that always comes up on page 1 near the top in organic results and I have looked at the source code etc. to see why - definitely my competition in several word searches - I figure it must be pay per click. So, this is very useful and I will try it out on this site. Thanks.
I also use a program called WebPosition to see how my site stacks up in the rankings of popular engines for certain keywords.
THANK YOU! I have recently put up a website and this will be super helpful!! Hey, can I ask a question. I am a new to AR. I am licensed in WA and have entered my profile there. Now I have achieved my ID license. Is there a way to get my profile in both WA (Whitman Co) and ID (Latah CO)? We are on the WA & ID border and these sister college towns are only 10 minutes apart.
Lori Cofer, Beasley Realty
Wow. Thank you for the information. I will check these out. Right now I have a free point 2 agent web site. It is free but I am thinking of upgrading which you pay by the month. I just don't know if this is my best option or not. One of my competetors uses Advance Acess and she number one on google a lot. Would you have any insite on this? Thanks!
Justin - Excellent tools...I use many of them:)
Marvelous tools. Another great, and important, article today on AR is from Kris Kraft in Denver. This should be read by anyone who is looking at other sites for ideas.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/747338/Instructions-to-Catch-a-Thief-A-Primer-On-Plagiarism-Detection-Updated
GEEZE! A new list of cool sites and optimizers and I actually have to show homes today... good thing my husband is on travel cause I'm going to be playing with these sites tonight! Thanks!
Hi Justin, Thanks for sharing these. Guess I still have a ways to go to SEO compliant.
I knew of a few of these sites, but what a wealth of information. I love "spying" on my competitors. This is going to be a lot of fun and very educational as well.
Cool tools here Justin. I haven't heard of Link Diagnosis before. I am going to have to check that one out.
Wow, great information. Thank you for sharing.
Justin,
Wow, you are a great resource for a newbie like myself. I checjed out the sites you posted. Thanks for the wealth of info.
Wow... fantastic info... I am incorporating some of those sites as I type!! Thanks
COOL! thanks a lot!
cheers,
cindy
thnks for the great info. I have bookmarked this post to refer to later. So much to do and so little time. When can I actually sell real estate?
Wow, this has been amazing! I almost didn't make it to the bottom of the list because I kept clicking on each one and playing around. I use Firefox and had no idea about the SEO search feature. Great stuff! Thanks!
In search engine marketing, competitive research and analysis is everything.
Thanks Justin!
In this highly competitive market, we all need to dig deeper. My impression, and I could be wrong, is that research and analysis gets overlooked by some busy agents. Fortunately, you have again pointed the way to some very helpful tools.
Have a great week!
Bruce
Justin,
Thanks for all these great Websites! These are great tools. I know that this is something I need to work on.
--Anne Rains
LadyofRealty.blogspot.com
www.TheRainsTeam.com
Very cool - I am bookmarking this so that I can check them out later.
Justin- This is a great post, of the 10 you listed, I only knew of 2. I bookmarked this post, so I won't lose this valuable information, thanks.
More great tools for the everyone to use. I use many of these myself and they all work to different degrees.
Wow Justin! This is great information! I am "technically terrified" and I am reluctant to throw money down a rat hole, experimenting with things that I don't understand.
Answering machines were around for about ten years before I would speak to one, let alone own one. Now if someone had made a FREE one available, I may have tried it much sooner.
Can't wait to try these freebies. Thanks for the great info.
Justin, great list of resources - I use many of them since I work with clients on their websites. You've given me a few new ones to check out and I appreciate the resource - bookmarking! ~Anne Marie
thanks for "re-mixing" your post from 2006. I wasn't around then so I would never have read this great info. Thanks for sharing. Great post
This is exactly what I am needing...thanks for the list Justin...One thing I lack knowledge in and totally don't understand is SEO.
Great tools - Thanks Justin!
Great list of tools, most of which I have not heard of. I now have my homework for the rest of the week. life.
Justin - my head was spinning before I got to the end of the list!!! Sooo much to do. Thanks for the information. Off to work on it NOW.
Justin as usual you have posted so much useful information that I have to bookmark and utilize as time permits. Thanks again!
Terrific information -- what a wealth of information you are. Again thanks.
Wow, that's quite a list of tools to keep in our back pockets for later. Thanks.
Justin, thank you for the great information, I have bookmarked this post already. I have learned a lot since your last post:)))Thank you again.
Very interesting post. I have definitely learned some new ideas to try out. Thanks.
nice post... i would love to see more! once a month.. come on.... what about us A.D.D. guy out here... i can't go a month between posts!
aahhhhhhhhh
CHris
Justin,
I have this one bookmarked and will be back to it later today to give some of them a test drive. Thank you sir.
Thanks so much, It seems like you keep spending $$ but never move up maybe I should just try some of this research.
This is great resource for me. In fact I have passed it along to a friend who is developing a new website. Thanks
Justin, thanks for including the "ease of use rating". Great job!
Justin, what a great pic. So you're saying that little guy can kick that big guy's butt if he's using the right leverage and technique. What a great analogy.
Great tips Justin, thanks. I agree that the "ease of use" rating is especially helpful!
Great tips! Thanks for the info...Really helpful.
Great blog Justin. For a newbie to AR it can be overwhelming but luckily I did build some awesome SEO for my own website that had me on the top of the heap. Now I just have to convert it to blogging! Thanks so much for the tips! I bookmarked this one also!
WOW, I haven't heard of some of these. Thanks, Mike, I do like the SEO by Firefox.
This is great! Many of these I have never heard of...thanks for sharing!
Ah i was going to do a list like this. hehe. Well it's done so no need to worry about it now besides you did a very thorough job and that's all consumers can ask for. Keep up the great work Justin! :)
Note: added to sidebar --->
The only thing that you must do is not use automated seo search programs. Google and Yahoo will put in in the sand box.
Richard
Firstly, in Snapshot one can compare only three sites. Secondly, sites with less that 10000 uniques are excluded and thirdly, this is available only for the US audience. These three limitations still keep Google the favorite followed by http://www.alexa.com/data/details/main?url=www.fortunehotels.in Alexa.
Thanks for all the valuable information. I will certainly be looking into this list of goodies!
What a great list of tools! Thanks for sharing. It gives you a place to start with if you're new to SEM, and a way to step it up if you've got the basics down.
BOOKMARKED. Great Information!
you never cease to amaze. Keep up the good work associate!
Hi.. Thanks for your post. Its always good to see other people's perspective and tips. Keep the posts coming! I enjoy reading them and learning something new.
WOW! This just blew my mind! I will be back to reread and investigate. Thanks for the post.
Hi Justin, I sometimes think I have become a private eye. Always seemed like a glamous career so thank for more spy tools! I have bookmarked your article for easy reference.
Thank you for all this good information! I tried the Yahoo function to check back links to my site and was shocked! Yahoo shows 461, while Google has been telling me 4.
Quite a difference, I'd say!
It's fun to see who is linking to you, although I'll admit that I didn't take time to investigate all 461. I bookmarked this post so I can come back and play some more when I have more tim.
Thanks again!
Marte
Just downloaded the trial version of WebPosition4. Wow! Obviously, more homework is necessary.
Hi Justin, thank you for all the great info, good post.
Justin, thanks for the post. There are so many free tools out on the internet.
You are a pro at figuring these things out. I would be cautious to be your competition. I am going to take a look at this post this evening and use it on my website first.
Link diagnosis, Website grader, and SEO for Firefox are some of the best free tools available.
SEO Moz is decent for a paid tool. I believe most bloggers for their first 6 months are best off just creating great content rather than dropping 100 per month on SEO Moz tools.
Fabulous info and I too am bookmarking. Appreciate the post.
Great information. I went to the SEO Firefox. I will try to learn more about it. Very cool stuff indeed!
Thanks for the information!
I think I need a seminar. So much info - need to take a week off to study this. Thanks again.
Wow! Great info. You are the best. Thanks!
Jenny
this was timely as we are considering making a change.
Thanks for the info
So much information and so little time. I know this was posted back in October, but I am just now getting to it. Thanks for some great ideas for enhancing the SEO on my website. I have cut costs to the bone for 2009, but want to use every angle possible to remain competitive. This info is a big help. Thanks much.
WOW what a lot of info...this will keep me buzy for a long time. Thanks again.
HI Justin - Thanks for all this great info! I'll try a few of these, as I often wonder how a few local Realtors get so much traffic on their websites. I get traffic too, but I want even more! LOL
Justin, Thank you for updating your earlier information. I think it is going to be very helpful. I am going to bookmark it and use it often.
Justin, thank you for the info. A lot of stuff to digest and learn. I bookmarked it so I can refer back to it. Thank you.
Justin - Wow what a great list thank you ..... this is going to be handy to keep around and revisit several times just added it to my favouriets