@ConnorGillivan: In SEO, your competition is yo...

In SEO, your competition is your "best friend".

They give you backlink ideas, keyword inspiration, and content strategy opp's.

In 10 yrs, I've researched 100s of competitors using @ahrefs.

So my companies and clients can get ahead.

Here's my 14 step SOP w/ screenshots:

@ahrefs Use this to research your SEO competition w/ @ahrefs.

Run this process 1x/quarter to generate new ideas & stay on top of the space. Never get behind w/ your SEO.

Sign up to Ahrefs or download their Chrome extension free. They’re my favorite SEO tool on the market.

@ahrefs 1. Make a list of competitors

Identify 10 top competitors. Add them to a Doc.
Take each through this process. Ahrefs gives you top SEO competitors.

@ahrefs 2. Choose one to start with

Pick your biggest competitor first.
Make sure they have enough SEO data.
Someone you really admire.

@ahrefs 3. Search on Ahrefs

Put the competitor into Ahrefs.
You want their SEO data: DR, Backlinks, Organic Search stats, Keyword Rankings, Search Traffic, etc.
Ahrefs will give it all.

@ahrefs 4. Analyze key SEO metrics

Look at DR, Backlinks, Referring Domains, Keywords, Traffic, & Paid.
How do you compare? Compare to others you've analyzed.

@ahrefs 5. Analyze All Time growth

Look at how their backlinks & SEO traffic has grown since they started.
Get a gauge for how it could impact your biz. Ahrefs makes this easy.

@ahrefs 6. Analyze their backlinks

Go into their specific backlinks w/ Ahrefs Backlink Profile.
Order from highest to lowest & analyze.
Look at types of pages they are coming from.

@ahrefs 7. Find backlink opportunities

Filter for backlinks from DR sites of 30-60.
Identify pages, blogs, & sites where you could potentially get a backlink.
DR 30-60 is achievable.

@ahrefs 8. Research referring domains

Get into the specific domains they get backlinks from.
Again, filter for 30-60.
Make a Hit List of websites to outreach & get a backlink from.

@ahrefs 9. Analyze ranked keywords

Get deep into the keywords they rank for.
Sort for Position #1 to highest.
See where they get traffic from. Relevant keywords for your business too?

@ahrefs 10. Find keyword opportunities

Filter for Difficulty 0-25.
Look for Low Difficulty, Good Traffic keywords.
Save these w/ Ahrefs features. We'll use them later!

@ahrefs 11. Create a To-Do list from it all

Go through your research & create To Do's based on what you've found.
This is a new SEO Gameplan for the next Quarter.

@ahrefs 12. Go get quality backlinks

Do outreach.
Answer questions on HARO, Terkel, & Quora.
Build backlink partnerships.

@ahrefs 13. Target keywords w/ new content

Make a Content Calendar.
Publish new blogs & pages targeted at the competitor keywords.
Be consistent!

@ahrefs 14. Track your SEO results

Use Ahrefs, GSC, & GA to track your backlinks & keyword rankings.
Make progress monthly. Create custom reports in Ahrefs to track more in-depth.

@ahrefs Advice: Schedule 1-2 days just for competitor research w/ Ahrefs. Do it 1x at the start of each quarter.

Outcomes: Smart SEO based on data, better opportunities, & an endless To Do list.

Bonus: Buy my course, The SEO System, for deep trainings on Ahrefs and SEO best practices.

@ahrefs Find this useful?

♻️ REPOST so others can learn and BOOKMARK so you don't lose it!

P.S. I'm Connor Gillivan. I grow companies with SEO. Want more SEO traffic and leads? Hire me and my expert team at TrioSEO.

DM me for an SEO audit and consultation.

(Sponsored by @ahrefs)