SEOenthusiast

SEO and Competitor Analysis
Reengineering the competition has long been a venerable sport. So why do so few do it? By examining the competition e can determine the best links to be had, the best copy, the best structure and so much more. Within ethical bounds, gain improved ranking through competitor reengineering. For searches you'd ike to be successful for - look at the top sites. Look for sites that are a reasonable match? Look for sites that are a feasible target? What has made them successful? Have they been around a long time? You may not be able to do much about this - but longevity is only one of many factors that make a site attractive for the SERPS. Move on.
Structure
What is the structure of the site - can you learn anything from it? What use have they made of the mod_rewrite function? How is their database integrated into the site? Is it a good site? Why is it good - and can you learn anything from it? Be objective and put aside your sites cherished design, considering ease of use by potential customers and ease of crawl by search engines. Could your site structure be improved?
Backlinks
The most important factor, and the most difficult to imitate. See getting links. But the analysis of your competitor will help. Look carefully at the sites that have linked to him. Can you obtain links from the site too? How might he have approached the site? Is there a forum associated with the site to get involved with? A blog? Or is it just a matter of writing to the webmaster in an appropriate manner and attitude and asking for a link to your site. They have, after all, linked to your competitor's site. Be sure to note the page rank of main page of the site giving the back link - this indicates the health of the site in the eyes of the most important search engine. Also check that the page that provides the link to your competitor is indexed by Google. But don't be obsessed with the PR - it's not as critical as it used to be. An analysis of the backlinks provides potential links for you (not reciprocal!) and helps see how the competitor site has attained its favout in the eyes of the Google Gods.
Site Size
Site size is something not discussed in many SEO sources. But a large site, or one that at least appears large is of some value in the eyes of the search engines. Think of the search engines being on an endless quest for sites that they can classify as an authority site. How does this competitor site do in that regard? If it's nowhere near an authority site, you have a golden opportunity to work your way up through the rankings for your preferred search phrases. The closer you can get to that authority standard - the better. How does your competitor do for size through forums and blogs? Through mod_rewrite you can appear large whilst you work away at putting on some real weight (see SEO through Blogs and SEO through Forums. Sites that are small do appear highly in the rankings - but they are sitting ducks waiting for replacement by 'real' sites and often hold position in non competitive space. Think of them as holding your future position for you - but respect how they got there - what's made them turn the search engines on? Note what kind of size sites occupy the top of the space, and improve yours to beat them.
Web Context
Look for instances of the site's name on the web (search for the brand name - such as 'abc widgets'). How many results come back? (Use Google for this search, but Yahoo for the backlinks search) How does that compare with your site? Which are the most important sites that mention the name of the company? Now try an allinurl query (allinurl:http://www.nameofsite.com) with Google - how many results are returned. This is what you are up against. The leverage of getting good results on the web is significant - if a site shows around 1000 returns for it's name - that's not too much. RSS feeds as described on this site ad nauseum will enable that kind of return in a short time. So don't be easily dismayed by a seemingly daunting challenge.
When attempting to reengineer the competition - look at the structure of the site, it's backlinks, it's size and it's web context to determine how you can emulate the success factors whilst recognising it's poorer features. Now, move on the the next site.
Further Reading: Competitor Analysis - Part 1 | Competitor Analysis - Part 2


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