| The beauty of the Internet is the inherent open | | | | search for "site:competitorsdomainname." You'll be |
| nature of competition. It is so open, you can check | | | | presented with a list of their pages, the meta title |
| indexes when analyzing the competition to improve | | | | and meta description. This works particularly well with |
| your site. | | | | Google. |
| Analyzing the Competition | | | | The resulting list of pages can be analyzed in a couple |
| A key step to any search engine optimization effort | | | | of different ways. First, you can isolate the particular |
| is to analyze the competition. The simplest way to | | | | keywords being pursued by the site. These should |
| do this is to simply go to their site and look at the | | | | then be compared to your site to ascertain whether |
| code. Most browsers let you do this by clicking the | | | | you're missing anything. You almost always are |
| "view" tab and then selecting "source." | | | | missing a key niche. Second, you can analyze the |
| You competition isn't stupid. Many sites will bar | | | | meta description to see both the layout and particular |
| browsers from showing source code using the above | | | | formation of sentences and keyword placement they |
| technique. If your competition takes this step, is | | | | are pursuing. Again, compare it to yours. Using this |
| there anything you can do? Yes, there is. | | | | process, you can get an idea of how your efforts |
| Indexes | | | | differ from a competitor. |
| Almost everyone knows how to check if their site is | | | | Importantly, this approach should not be overvalued. |
| indexed in a search engine. Simply go to the engine | | | | It is only a glimpse of the competitor's site, not a |
| and search for "site:yourdomainname." This technique | | | | thorough review. It will tell you nothing about how |
| can also be used to see what your competition is up | | | | pages are arranged, keyword density approaches |
| to. | | | | and so on. You'll have to hunt and peck around the |
| If you want to see a glimpse of how a competitor is | | | | site for that information. Still, the meta information |
| pursuing search engine optimization, check how many | | | | gained from this approach makes it worth a go if you |
| pages are indexed in the relevant search engine. Do a | | | | are shut out from the code of a site. |