SEO benchmarking and the art of getting inspiration from rivals
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 8:53 am
What is benchmarking?
In general terms, benchmarking is a practice that allows us to compare ourselves with companies whose sector, activity and positioning are similar to ours and to be inspired by those organizations that demonstrate good practices.
Benchmarking is a technique that can be applied to a wide range of sectors, insurance leads for seniors email database although we are going to apply it in the SEO area.
Types of benchmarking
In this article we are going to work on benchmarking understood as a study/analysis of the competition. However, there are other types of benchmarking, these are:
Internal benchmarking: This involves, for example, comparing two product landing pages – landing page A and landing page B – and analysing which of them has obtained better results in terms of organic traffic, conversion, search engine positioning, etc. In the hypothetical case that landing page A obtains a greater volume of organic traffic, we should try to find out why. Perhaps the answer will help us improve and optimise landing page B, obtaining better results in terms of organic traffic.
Functional benchmarking: We said above that benchmarking allows us to compare ourselves with companies whose activity is similar to ours - direct, indirect or global competition - but this does not necessarily have to be the case. We can also compare ourselves with large companies that are not intrinsically related to our sector or activity; they may simply be reference organizations that appear in our top of mind and are doing things very well.
Types of benchmarking
Figure 1: benchmarking typologies
When do we recommend benchmarking or a competitor analysis?
We can do benchmarking whenever we need to, whatever phase the project we are working on is in. Even so, a benchmark should always be done with meaning and should help us get closer to our goal.
For example: if a client hires our agency and tells us: “my goal is to double current organic traffic in 1 calendar year”, it may be worth investing some time in getting to know their visibility , their positioning – both brand positioning and positioning in the SERPs –, their target and their product offering in relation to their competition. In the end, the more we know about our client – and also about the competition –, the easier it will be for us to draw up a strategy that will allow us to successfully achieve the set goal. So, when could it be very useful to do a benchmark or a competition analysis?
Performing a benchmark in an initial audit
Performing a benchmark during an audit or initial phase of a project will be very useful, both for the SEO manager and for the company.
Improve your SEO!
On the one hand, a study of the competition will allow SEO to:
Get to know the company and understand how representative it is in its sector
Familiarize yourself with your main competitors ; competitors are understood as brands that offer a similar product or service and that appear, for example, in the top 10 results on Google.
Contrast and corroborate the potential that a company can have , always considering the possibilities offered by the sector. For example: perhaps the company is small and recently created and the market is especially concentrated. In this case, we will have certain limitations when it comes to climbing positions in the SERPs and doubling organic traffic in 1 calendar year, following the previous example.
Create an effective strategy that allows us to achieve the SMART objective, previously agreed with the client.
On the other hand, a benchmark will allow managers and employees of the company to:
Know your current situation , your positioning in the SERPs for certain searches, etc.
Know what your competition is doing and how you position yourself in relation to them.
Rediscovering the market and the possibilities it offers “right now”, given that we find ourselves in a dynamic or VUCA environment.
Detect points for improvement and opportunities that allow you to maintain or climb positions in the Google results index, achieving or maintaining a competitive advantage over other competitors.
Benchmarking at an advanced stage of the project
We live in a VUCA environment where the market, the sector, the competition, etc. are constantly evolving. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to carry out the competition study at a rather advanced stage of an SEO project. This can be of great help to us for:
“Taking a photo” of our current situation
Analyze how our competition has evolved and discover the new players that have entered the game.
Detect why we are falling in the Google results index for certain keywords and why our competitors are overtaking us. In these cases, thanks to the benchmark we can see the changes made by our competitors and based on this, we can try to optimize certain pages or rethink the strategy in order to recover the lost positions.
In general terms, benchmarking is a practice that allows us to compare ourselves with companies whose sector, activity and positioning are similar to ours and to be inspired by those organizations that demonstrate good practices.
Benchmarking is a technique that can be applied to a wide range of sectors, insurance leads for seniors email database although we are going to apply it in the SEO area.
Types of benchmarking
In this article we are going to work on benchmarking understood as a study/analysis of the competition. However, there are other types of benchmarking, these are:
Internal benchmarking: This involves, for example, comparing two product landing pages – landing page A and landing page B – and analysing which of them has obtained better results in terms of organic traffic, conversion, search engine positioning, etc. In the hypothetical case that landing page A obtains a greater volume of organic traffic, we should try to find out why. Perhaps the answer will help us improve and optimise landing page B, obtaining better results in terms of organic traffic.
Functional benchmarking: We said above that benchmarking allows us to compare ourselves with companies whose activity is similar to ours - direct, indirect or global competition - but this does not necessarily have to be the case. We can also compare ourselves with large companies that are not intrinsically related to our sector or activity; they may simply be reference organizations that appear in our top of mind and are doing things very well.
Types of benchmarking
Figure 1: benchmarking typologies
When do we recommend benchmarking or a competitor analysis?
We can do benchmarking whenever we need to, whatever phase the project we are working on is in. Even so, a benchmark should always be done with meaning and should help us get closer to our goal.
For example: if a client hires our agency and tells us: “my goal is to double current organic traffic in 1 calendar year”, it may be worth investing some time in getting to know their visibility , their positioning – both brand positioning and positioning in the SERPs –, their target and their product offering in relation to their competition. In the end, the more we know about our client – and also about the competition –, the easier it will be for us to draw up a strategy that will allow us to successfully achieve the set goal. So, when could it be very useful to do a benchmark or a competition analysis?
Performing a benchmark in an initial audit
Performing a benchmark during an audit or initial phase of a project will be very useful, both for the SEO manager and for the company.
Improve your SEO!
On the one hand, a study of the competition will allow SEO to:
Get to know the company and understand how representative it is in its sector
Familiarize yourself with your main competitors ; competitors are understood as brands that offer a similar product or service and that appear, for example, in the top 10 results on Google.
Contrast and corroborate the potential that a company can have , always considering the possibilities offered by the sector. For example: perhaps the company is small and recently created and the market is especially concentrated. In this case, we will have certain limitations when it comes to climbing positions in the SERPs and doubling organic traffic in 1 calendar year, following the previous example.
Create an effective strategy that allows us to achieve the SMART objective, previously agreed with the client.
On the other hand, a benchmark will allow managers and employees of the company to:
Know your current situation , your positioning in the SERPs for certain searches, etc.
Know what your competition is doing and how you position yourself in relation to them.
Rediscovering the market and the possibilities it offers “right now”, given that we find ourselves in a dynamic or VUCA environment.
Detect points for improvement and opportunities that allow you to maintain or climb positions in the Google results index, achieving or maintaining a competitive advantage over other competitors.
Benchmarking at an advanced stage of the project
We live in a VUCA environment where the market, the sector, the competition, etc. are constantly evolving. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to carry out the competition study at a rather advanced stage of an SEO project. This can be of great help to us for:
“Taking a photo” of our current situation
Analyze how our competition has evolved and discover the new players that have entered the game.
Detect why we are falling in the Google results index for certain keywords and why our competitors are overtaking us. In these cases, thanks to the benchmark we can see the changes made by our competitors and based on this, we can try to optimize certain pages or rethink the strategy in order to recover the lost positions.