Why Analyzing Competitor Websites Wastes Your Money

After link building (even in the poorly disguised form of “content marketing”) the most popular search marketing passtime appears to be “competitive analysis”, focusing primarily on two areas: Backlink Profiles and Rankings. Both of these forms of competitive analysis are time-and-money wasters for SEOs and their clients/employers. Let’s take a look at some hard facts. Competitive Analysis Only Works When You Compete Directly Virtually every company I have ever spoken to or worked for has handed me a list of “competitor Websites” to look at. These lists are always wrong. You typically compile a competitor list by deciding which keywords you should be ranking for and looking at who ranks above you. Someone once told me that this is comparable to CVS Pharmacy looking across the street and figuring out whether they are competing against a Walgreens Pharmacy store or a local pharmacist. However, that is not the case. In a brick-and-mortar situation the customers come to the store. The store doesn’t move around the community and chase customers. In an online situation the Website comes to the customers. The customers just happen to find competing Websites in their search results or link lists or online discussions or through ads [...]



via SEO Theory http://www.seo-theory.com/2013/06/10/why-analyzing-competitor-websites-wastes-your-money/