Competitive Analysis and Reverse Engineering Other Websites

In the preceding four years I have been reverse engineering many hundreds of websites for strengths and weaknesses. These examinations have been completed both for my business competitive query space, and also for other more competitive query spaces in other markets. The objective was to learn as many characteristics and attributes as possible that were present on high ranking sites (and to beat the competition).

This examination process has given me practical field knowledge and valuable insight into the ongoing evolution of online search. Good content and links generate consistency and a solid foundation that will always be a mainstay of high-performing sites. The topic of content is very broad and goes beyond keywords and basic topical information. I have observed and applied new content upgrade techniques such as those learned through studying Latent Semantic Indexing for example.

Links continually challenge us because it is an important area in which to stay ahead of the game. Links deserve careful observation and continual learning due to the continual search engine algorithm tweeks and updates placing more value, or less value on certain link types. For example the introduction of social media marketing and social media optimization brought about new linking opportunities, but along with that opportunity came overindulgence practices by spammers and thus a reaction and clamp down by social media site overseers and search engines regarding recognition of these types of links. Many social media sites now include no-follow links which limits the ability to pass page rank value to the destination site.

Reverse Engineering Websites

There are a few things I look at when reverse engineering competitors' websites. The first thing I look at usually is their incoming links. By examining a site's back links you can not only identify link popularity but identify the most important sites and partners that are connecting to them. The obvious goal is to get links for our client published on any worthy sites discovered that will pass value to our site. Look at your competitors' link profile -where are the majority of their links coming from? Look at how many pages they have already indexed in the Google main index to get an idea on the amount of work required to meet a challenge, and look at the page rank achieved on those indexed pages as an indicator. Most of this topic will be covered on other link-related pages of this blog. What is the degree of thoroughness and complexity in the content of your competitor? How many keywords to they have content written for?

Competitive Analysis

Any particular site will have its own strengths and weaknesses affecting rankings, and any particular factor or combination of factors can be the catalyst for achieving, or not achieving, rankings and success. By reviewing and examining top sites and higher-ranking sites in our own search query space and by knowing the universal factors present for top ranking sites it’s not difficult to set a working agenda for our own site, plus implement SEO Best Practice methods that our competitive analysis has brought to our attention where our competitors aren't yet using those techniques.

SEO Industry Standards and SEO Best Practices

There is no single officially recognized all-encompassing SEO Industry Standards body sanctioning the Search Engine Optimization profession. I am fully familiar with the top SEO blogs and true SEO authorities and experts in the field. You've got to know who to listen to, pay attention to, and what to ignore. For SEO standards there exists educational SEO courses and certifications, achievement certificates for completion, classes & training, e-books, and online tests etc. SEO is both a science and an art and therefore there is no single exact answer, and if there was, nobody would share it with you because it would be too valuable to share freely and give away.

Evaluating Your Search Engineer

The true test of SEO expertise is what have you achieved personally and consistently in the online community, what can you do for me, and are you capable of all that is required? If more business and website owners knew what is truly achievable online through high-rankings achieved with SEO Best Practices they would invest heavily into this area and deploy considerable resources into their online assets and web properties. It is our responsibility as professionals to educate clients on what’s possible to realistically achieve through SEO (within their budget constraints)and then perform ethical wonders on their websites given the time and budget constraints.

Business owners should acknowledge that the websites ahead of them in the Search Engine Results Pages are there for a reason - and not by accident -and that reason is because they've invested in SEO. The upside to this is the fact that there is no reason why a business owner can't compete (or WIN) online successfully by making wise informed choices for their SEO personnel and services.

To sum up SEO Best Practices, it's knowing what to do, and what not to do, as well as knowing when to start using, and stop using a particular technique or method. It's also never running out of legitimate ways and steps to move a campaign forward. Add patience! The best example of what not to do is generate too much repetition and high volume, which are the common elements identified as Spam – know what spam is, and what it isn't, in order to avoid harming a site's chances. Build a diversified link profile and understand what the components are for search visibility. Keep your website progress consistent over time doing what is right....which comes down to better content, more unique and original content, and authoritative link development through on-site and off-site link building..

By using SEO Best Practices you keep in the good graces of the major search engines such as Google, MSN Live, Yahoo, and Ask. Your online assets grow in value over time.

Over the years I have closely followed recognized experts in the field of SEO such as Dan Thies, Danny Sullivan, Matt Cutts, Aaron Wall at SEOBook, Rand Fishkin at SEOMoz et al, Link Building Expert Eric Ward. Most of my personal achievement is due to studying, analyzing, practicing, applying, and reverse-engineering top-performing websites in all categories to identify best practice common elements present.