Analytics: Tracking the Competition

There are many ways to track the competition, from reading newspapers and magazines to checking them out on Alexa or other web stats and analytics sites.

Here are some articles referencing how to track the competition in a variety of ways including traditional media, social media, analytics, and legal spying.

Comparing your website to others means tracking their activity compared to yours. This might involve using an online tool that compares your site to theirs, or by checking each site individually and comparing notes. Some of the following will compare one site to another testing for a variety of data such as PageRank, keywords, traffic, and incoming links. Others will focus on a single aspect such as keywords or unique visitors. Use a variety of them to get an overall perspective on how your site compares to others.

Note: Google removed their PageRank data from the public a couple years ago. Online tools based upon Google’s PageRank data may no longer work or be supported. Please let me know if any of these are no longer active.

Comparison Testing Tools

• Alexa
• Webmaster Tools – Bing
• Google Analytics – Official Website
• Google Webmaster Central
• ThumbShots Ranking – ThumbShots.com
• SEO Analyzer – Sitening.com
• SEOBook – SEO Tools
• Free Competitive Research Tools – SEO Book.com
• SEO for Firefox – SEOBook.com
• Web Page Analyzer – Web site optimization
• goRank – Free Professional SEO Tools
• IntelliRank.net
• MultiRank Checker – iWebtool.com
• Free Webmaster Tools – iwebtool
• Visual PageRank – iWebTool.com
• Majestic SEO : Site Explorer
• Google PageRank Checker
• Myriad Search – SEOBook.com
• Niche Keyword Competition Checker Free SEO Research Tool
• Open Site Explorer
• Quantcast’s Site Composition Tool
• Website Information, Analysis & Research Tool – Quarkbase
• Page Strength Report – SEOmoz.com
• Ranking Checker – SEOmoz.com
• Competition Research – Seotoolset.com
• Web CEO free edition – WebCEO.com
• Web Page Analyser – Webmaster Toolkit
• Top Ten Analysis Tool – WebuildPages.com

Link Checking: Backlinks and Outgoing Links

• Backlink Checker – WeBuildPages.com
• Backlinks Analyzer tool – SEO Logs
• Link popularity: SEO Link Tools
• Link Popularity Check – Website Backlink Checker
• XENU’s Link Sleuth

Keyword Research and Analysis

• Google’s Keyword Research Tool
• Free keyword suggestion tool – Wordtracker
• Spyfu Competitor Keywords Tool
• Free Keyword Suggestion Tool and Keyword popularity Tool – SelfSEO
• SEOdigger’s Keyword/Document Analyzer
• Keyword Density Analyzer tool
• SEOBook Keyword Suggestion Tool
• Microsoft’s Adcenter Labs
• Keyword Selector Tool – Overture.com
• Keyword Density & Prominence Tool – Ranks.nl

Specific SEO Testing Tools

The following are SEO and analytics testing tools that cover specific types of testing. For example, BuiltWith tests the site and reports back with information on how the site was build, the publishing platform, supporting technologies, and other information about how the site was built.

• Internet Archive: Digital Library & Wayback Machine
• Copyscape Plagiarism Checker – Duplicate Content Detection Software
• Fiddler Web Debugging Tool – Fiddlertool.com
• Google Insights for Search
• Google Trends – Hot Trends
• Brand Visibility Metrics – HowSociable
• GeoTargeting Detection Tool – SEOmoz.com
• Trend Report – URLTrends.com
• Domain Stats Tool
• Search Engine Spider Simulator

Reference Articles

The following are articles and sites specializing in analytics, SEO, and optimization.

• 12 Ways to (Legally) Spy on Your Competitors | Entrepreneur.com
• Tracking Your Competition With Google Reader – Mark8t
• Traffick: The Business of Search
• Search Engine Watch
• Search Engine Journal
• How To Create SEO-Friendly Content – Search Engine Journal
• How to Find SEO Competitor Keywords, Social Media & Backlinks – Search Engine Journal
• SEO: The Free Beginner’s Guide From SEOmoz
• Google Announces Ten Recent Algorithm Changes – Myseoblog.net