using keyword data to crush your competition
TRANSCRIPT
Tom Whittam
SEO Consultant, Ayima
Using Keyword DataTo Crush Your Competition
Tom Whittam
SEO Consultant, Ayima
Cyclist (the Lycra kind)
@Tom_Perignon
Tweet us! @Ayima
Ayima began in 2007
Headquartered in London & NYC
SEO partner to Fortune 20 & FTSE clients
Identifying Competitor
Growth
Identifying Competitor Growth
• Enter your URL into SEMrush
• Export competitor data for the last 6/12 months
Please Note: Ayima are not affiliated with Confused, they were selected as a site within a highly competitive industry that have seen no natural growth between July 2014 and December 2014 according to SEMrush data
Identifying Competitor Growth
• Export competitor data – Last complete month and 6/12 months
prior
Identifying Competitor Growth
• Using Excel, de-dupe domains & vlookup data
• Set thresholds to identify the key winners/losers
Identifying Competitor Growth
• Who’s seen the most growth
• Who’s seen the biggest drops
• How can we use this to our advantage?
“Using data to identify your competitors strengths,
can help you address your own weaknesses”
Use Your Competitor’s
Keywords Against Them
Use Your Competitor’s Keywords Against Them
• Enter your URL into SEMrush
• Export non-brand positions keyword data and search volumes into Excel
• Do the same for top competitors & de-dupe
– Go Compare
– Compare The Market
– Money Supermarket
Use Your Competitor’s Keywords Against Them
• Removing any search terms that have a low traffic percentage, will ensure you’re only reviewing the content that drives your competitors significant traffic
Use Your Competitor’s Keywords Against Them
• It’s important to categorise & subcategorise your keywords - this will help you quickly and easily visualise the data using pivot tables
Use Your Competitor’s Keywords Against Them
• Cross-check the keywords against your client’s to give you an easy way to identify new opportunities
“Using data is essential, but it quickly becomes
useless, if your client doesn’t understand it”
Visualising Keyword Data
Visualising Keyword Data
• Total Landscape (top level)
Visualising Keyword Data
Landscape
20,044,080
Communications
5,327,950
Mobile Phones
4,188,700
Broadband
1,047,050
TV
92,200
Finance
5,005,530
Banking
3,417,560
Loans
697,470
Mortgages
467,500
Investing
244,500
Credit Score
157,400
Business
11,200
Income
9,900
Discount Codes
3,166,100
Insurance
3,076,990
Car
1,562,270
Travel
651,800
Home
216,420
Health
39,400
Life
24,800
Other
582,300
Tools
1,749,600
Finance
1,003,400
Communications
673,000
Energy
55,600
Insurance
17,600
Energy
825,970
Suppliers
306,580
Gas/Electric
285,790
Electric
227,710
Gas
2,900
Fuel
2,900
Travel
717,200
Currency
347,900
Car Hire
217,000
Holidays
72,300
Flights
50,800
Hotels
18,700
Airport Parking
10,500
Breakdown
152,540
Car
124,950
Home
13,400
Travel
12,300
Motor Bike
1,890
Help/Support
22,200
Please Note: These figures are combined search volumes for any keywords that fall into its respective category
Visualising Keyword Data
• Opportunities Landscape (top level)
Visualising Keyword Data
Opportunities Landscape
14,886,270
Communications
4,987,600
Mobile Phones
4,003,400
Broadband
894,400
TV
89,800
Finance
3,554,690
Banking
2,143,100
Loans
613,590
Mortgages
375,000
Investing
244,500
Credit Score
157,400
Business
11,200
Income
9,900
Discount Codes
3,166,100
Tools
1,715,400
Finance
1,002,100
Communications
673,000
Energy
40,300
Energy
643,700
Suppliers266,300
Electric209,500
Gas/Electric167,900
Travel
601,100
Currency342,500
Car Hire206,000
Holidays42,900
Airport Parking8,100
Flights1,600
Insurance
165,580
Car155,400
Life6,800
Home2,900
Other480
Breakdown
29,900
Car17,800
Home12,100
Help/Support
22,200
Visualising Keyword Data
Opportunities Landscape
14,886,270
Communications
4,987,600
Mobile Phones
4,003,400
Broadband
894,400
TV
89,800
Finance
3,554,690
Banking
2,143,100
Loans
613,590
Mortgages
375,000
Investing
244,500
Credit Score
157,400
Business
11,200
Income
9,900
Discount Codes
3,166,100
Tools
1,715,400
Finance
1,002,100
Communications
673,000
Energy
40,300
Energy
643,700
Suppliers266,300
Electric209,500
Gas/Electric167,900
Travel
601,100
Currency342,500
Car Hire206,000
Holidays42,900
Airport Parking8,100
Flights1,600
Insurance
165,580
Car155,400
Life6,800
Home2,900
Other480
Breakdown
29,900
Car17,800
Home12,100
Help/Support
22,200
In December 2014 Confused didn’t rank in the
Top 20 SERP positions for 455 keywords that
drove traffic to a competitor with a combined
search volume of over 14 million
“Content creation doesn’t need to be sexy or cost
millions in order to work for you”
Creating Content That Works
Creating Content That Works
• Identify product pillars where you can make a difference
Opportunities Landscape
14,886,270
Communications
4,987,600
Mobile Phones
4,003,400
Broadband
894,400
TV
89,800
Finance
3,554,690
Banking
2,143,100
Loans
613,590
Mortgages
375,000
Investing
244,500
Credit Score
157,400
Business
11,200
Income
9,900
Discount Codes
3,166,100
Tools
1,715,400
Finance
1,002,100
Communications
673,000
Energy
40,300
Energy
643,700
Suppliers266,300
Electric209,500
Gas/Electric167,900
Travel
601,100
Currency342,500
Car Hire206,000
Holidays42,900
Airport Parking8,100
Flights1,600
Insurance
165,580
Car155,400
Life6,800
Home2,900
Other480
Breakdown
29,900
Car17,800
Home12,100
Help/Support
22,200
Creating Content That Works
Problem first
Creating Content That Works
Problem first
“I’ve just been made redundant”
Creating Content That Works
Problem first
“I’ve just been made redundant”Finance
3,554,690
Creating Content That Works
Problem first
“I’ve just been made redundant”
“3 things to do within 24 hours of
receiving a redundancy letter”
Finance3,554,690
Creating Content That Works
Problem first
“I’ve just been made redundant”
“3 things to do within 24 hours of
receiving a redundancy letter”Income9,900
Finance3,554,690
Creating Content That Works
Product first
Creating Content That Works
Product first
“Mortgages”
Creating Content That Works
Product first
Finance3,554,690 “Mortgages”
Creating Content That Works
Product first
“Mortgages”
“How to increase your
credit score to get the ideal
mortgage”
Finance3,554,690
Creating Content That Works
Product first
“Mortgages”
“How to increase your
credit score to get the ideal mortgage”
Finance3,554,690
Mortgages375,000
Creating Content That Works
Product first
“Mortgages”
“How to increase your
credit score to get the ideal mortgage”
Finance3,554,690
Mortgages375,000
Credit Score157,400
Creating Content That Works
Linking Opportunities
Creating Content That Works
“How to save yourself £100 in your lunch hour”
Linking Opportunities
Creating Content That Works
“How to save yourself £100 in your lunch hour”
Linking Opportunities
Communications
4,987,600
Finance3,554,690
Energy643,700
Insurance165,580
Creating Content That Works
“How to save yourself £100 in your lunch hour”
Linking Opportunities
Communications
4,987,600
Finance3,554,690
Energy643,700
Insurance165,580
Broadband
894,400
Banking2,143,100
Gas/Electric167,900
Car155,400
Creating Content That Works
Things to consider:
• Appearing for a broad range of searches is valuable for Brand visibility
• Users will be at a different stage in the conversion funnel
• Different content will have varying conversion lengths - mortgages vs. mobiles
• Keep your content semantic
– Relevant to voice searches (Google Now)
– Appeals to Hummingbird
– Doesn’t conflict with key product pages
“You can create the best content imaginable, but
if the market isn’t there, it will fail”
Analysing Your Demographic
Analysing Your Demographic
“Fresh out of university and can’t get a job”
Is a different demographic to…
“My retirement fund has collapsed”
Analysing Your Demographic
“Man going on holiday with his mates”
Is a different demographic to…
“Man going on holiday with his family”
Analysing Your Demographic
• Using the YouGov Profiler you can see how different they really are:
Source: https://yougov.co.uk/profiler
Analysing Your Demographic
• Using the YouGov Profiler you can see how different they really are:
Source: https://yougov.co.uk/profiler
Analysing Your Demographic
• Drill down and find out where they buy:
Source: https://yougov.co.uk/profiler
Analysing Your Demographic
• One customer type may not be the demographic you should focus on:
Source: https://yougov.co.uk/profiler
Analysing Your Demographic
Source: https://yougov.co.uk/profiler
• One customer type may not be the demographic you should focus on:
“Content must be created with the same detail as
any SEO task for it to truly be called quality”
Keys for Success
Keys for Success
1. Identify key competitor growth
2. Analyse why they’re growing
3. Visualise where you’re falling short
4. Create ideas to target key areas
5. Research your audience to exhaustion
