The modern business world is fiercely competitive. In order to succeed, you need to have a clear understanding of what your competitors are doing. You also need to be up-to-date on the latest industry trends. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to spy on your competitors.
In this article, we will show you how to use website tools, Google, Facebook, and others to spy on your competitors. We will also provide some tips on how to interpret the information you gather. By the end of this article, you will be able to use this information to develop your own marketing strategy and stay ahead of the competition.
Identify Your Competitors
The first step to start is to identify who your competitor is. This may seem like an obvious step, but it's important to be specific. For example, if you sell women's clothing, your competitor may be a specific retailer that specializes in women's clothing, or it could be a general retailer that sells a variety of items. Once you have a specific competitor in mind, you can begin to research their online activity.
Use Website Tools
There are a number of website tools that can be used to spy on your competitors. Some of these tools are free, while others are paid.
One free tool you can use is SimilarWeb. This tool provides you with insights into your competitor’s website traffic. You can use this information to understand the sources of their traffic and the keywords they are ranking for. Another free tool you can use is Whois. This tool allows you to look up the registration information for a website. This information can be used to find out the owner of a website and their contact information. A paid tool you can use is SpyFu. This tool provides you with detailed information on your competitor’s paid search campaigns. You can use this information to understand what keywords they are bidding on and how much they are spending. This information can be used to improve your own paid search campaigns.
Another useful tool is WeData. It provides detailed information about the tracking strategy of your competitors. The tool will provide you with detailed information about different trackers, analytics tools, and marketing platforms your competitors are using in their strategies. The level of detail is incredible as the tool can nicely map any Google Tag Manager container without having any granted access.
Browse Social Media Profiles
When you're researching your competitor's online activities, start by looking at their general website and social media presence. If they have a blog, read through a few of their recent posts. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook and take note of any marketing initiatives and strategies they use. If they have an e-commerce site, take a look at their product offerings and compare them to your own.
Some social media provides a summary of ads. LinkedIn shows all active ads on the company's profile in the posts section.
Facebook Ads Library uncovers your competitor's currently active ads creatives, and platforms. estimated impressions and audience. For selected ads, Meta even publishes a raw estimate for ad spending as well. So spying on competitor Facebook ads have never been easier.
Analyze Online Reviews and Customer Feedback
Your competitors might not be telling you everything about their business. But their customers probably are. If a company has a high rating on a third-party review site such as Google, Facebook or TripAdvisor, it's likely they're doing something right. Take note of what customers say in their reviews. Look for patterns in their feedback to uncover the overall sentiment around the company.
If a competitor has a lot of negative reviews, there's an opportunity for you to improve upon their customer experience and attract their disgruntled customers. Pay attention to what customers say in their negative reviews. Look for patterns and themes in their complaints. Is the company not responsive to customer inquiries? Are their prices too high? Is their product defective? Try to identify the root causes of the customer's discontent and find ways to improve upon it in your own business.
Do SEO Research
Once you have a good understanding of your competitor's online presence and marketing strategy, it's time to take a closer look at their SEO efforts. Use a tool like Google's AdWords Keyword Planner to research what keywords your competitor is targeting.
If you find that your competitor is getting a lot of traffic from a particular keyword, you may want to consider targeting that keyword yourself. However, be sure to do your own research to ensure that the keyword is a good fit for your business and that you'll be able to rank well for it.
Spy competitor's Google ads
Google is one of the best ways to spy on your competitors. You can use Google to find out what keywords your competitors are targeting. You can also use Google to find out where your competitors are advertising. Similarly to Meta, Google provides an Ads Transparency tool with other useful possibilities. It lets you browse ads run in the last 30 days and the tool cover text, display, and video. The easiest way to find all that is directly from the search engine results page.
A good source of information is getting data from Google to autocomplete feature. Suggestions will show you frequent keywords searched in phrases with your competitors' brands. If a competitor's brand is showing up in frequent searches, it indicates a topic that you are missing.
For example, if your brand is associated with PLM software and you create content to target "product lifecycle management", consider running a report to see which content is ranking for similar terms like "latest PLM software". It's possible that you're not the only one with PLM software articles and there is content ranking well before you locally or regionally, and you want to identify what content pieces it is so you can create similar content.
Is spying on competitors illegal?
In the business world, it's not uncommon for companies to spy on their competitors. After all, knowledge is power, and knowing what your competitors are up to can give you a significant advantage. But is corporate spying actually legal?
We've just presented several ways, how you can get very valuable information, without breaking any law. But many times, it depends. There are a few gray areas when it comes to corporate espionage, so it's always best to consult with a legal professional before engaging in any type of spying activity. However, there are some general guidelines you can follow to make sure you stay on the right side of the law.
In general, you should avoid breaking the law when spying on your competitors. This means avoiding activities like hacking into their computer systems, intercepting their communications, or trespassing on their property. If you're caught engaging in these activities, you could face criminal charges.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you want to know what your competitors are up to, you need to start with competitive intelligence. There are a variety of ways to gather this information, but the best place to start is Wedata. With Wedata, you can easily track your competitors' activities and get an insight into their strategies.