> BlogWhen it comes to Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing your competitors can be quite different to those of which you are up against in the physical world. If you are located in a busy shopping mall selling products ‘A, B & C’ and another shop just down the other end of the mall is also selling these products, you will most likely deem them as your competitors; and rightly so. But when it comes to online markets, your competitors are likely to be different companies which you may not have considered yourself up against.
Why? There are many factors which are taken into account when considering your online competitors but one of them is the keyword phrases which are being used in searches and which businesses have incorporated these into their websites. If the shop down the end of the mall has an online presence but their keywords are related to product ‘B’ only and you want to be appearing in search results for your main focus products of ‘A & C’ then already you have established that your target markets are different and therefore your online competitors will be different.
You might think it’s strange that a site which is so different to yours is a competitor online but it’s important to note that your online competitors may not offer exactly the same services as you do. For example the site appearing on page 1 of search results for keyword phrases related to product ‘C’ might also sell a completely different product as well. The point is they are appearing in organic listings for keywords which you wish to target to get visitors to your site and purchase those products.
Chances are that if you have an existing site you have conducted a search in Google using a keyword or phrase and haven’t seen your site in the first 3 pages of results. It’s because of this that you are now looking at a Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing plan to assist your site with better rankings and therefore gain more traffic. Whilst you were conducting your searches did you note what other sites were coming up in the results? These are your online competitors.
The Search Engines have their own algorithms to decide which sites are the most relevant to present to their users and it’s because of this that you need to consider presenting the best website you possibly can to them. This is where a Search Engine Optimisation plan can assist you. Secondly, a Search Engine Marketing campaign will assist your site to naturally build in popularity in the Search Engines. That way you have the best chance of competing in the online world for those all important keyword phrases.
