HOW COMPETITOR ANALYSIS WORKS?

http://www.seooutsourcingph.info/competitor-analysis.html

1) How do I check the competition?
 Now that you have a few phrases you think you like, let’s see how competitive they are.
 Search for the Phrase
 The only way to really gauge the competition for a given phrase is to search for it. As you do this, keep in mind that search results are personalized for you and may not be similar to what someone else sees.
 Here are three tips to get a better sense for what “typical” search results might be for a given phrase when you’re checking competition in Google:
a) Make sure you’re logged out of Google+ and other Google products.
b) Set the location to the location for your target audience. Leave it set for your city if your audience is local. Set it to “United States” for a national audience.
c) If you’re really skeptical of the search results you’re seeing, visit www.google.com/adpreview to search Google with fewer of the signals that are specific to you and your computer.

Caution: Universal Search Results The last few years have brought much more diversity in the types of content in search results, so there’s a good chance you’re seeing images, news, video, products, local listings and, of course, ads. All of these are in addition to the usual organic listings. They are called “blended” or “universal” search results and they change how we approach keyword research and SEO.

Searching for some phrases will return local search results. If there’s a map in the top right corner and the search results page is dominated by a group of local listings (usually in a group of seven or three), the usual search engine optimization efforts aren’t going to be enough. You’ll need to do Local SEO, which is not based on content marketing.

2) Estimate the Competition

 This is one of the more difficult web marketing skills. It’s tricky. There are many tools that try to make it easier. Some tools show a score called “Keyword Effectiveness Index,” which combines search volume and competition. Moz estimates competition with a “Keyword Difficulty” score. But its always best to check competition manually, without tools.
 Take a look at the search engine results page (or “SERP” as the SEOs like to say) for the phrase. Here are some keyword research tips for determining competition. The phrase is likely competitive if…
o There are 10 pay-per-click ads on the page, three at the top and seven down the right side. This means others have already determined the keyphrase is valuable.
o There are tens of millions of results. This means there are many pages on the web that are relevant for this phrase.
o The top ranking sites have the target keyphrase at the beginning of the link. This means those sites have the key phrases at the beginning of their page titles, which indicates the owners of these sites know a bit of SEO.
o The top ranking sites are popular, well-known sites.
o Unless you invent a time machine, you’re not going to outrank Wikipedia.
o If the top three or five sites are trusted, reputable websites, they’ll have loads of link popularity and therefore powerful domains. You’re not likely to compete without focusing serious time and resources.

6) Still unsure if you have a chance of ranking?
 Try this: check the “domain authority” of the top-ranking and bottom-ranking sites on page one in Google.
 Enter both sites into Open Site Explorer. If the domain authority of your site is in that range, you should have a chance of ranking.
 Keep in mind, unless you’re a Moz subscriber, you can only use this tool three times per day.
 Shortcut to research keywords fast. You can estimate your odds of ranking based on your Domain Authority and the keyword search volume. This is a shorthand way to quickly research keywords for which you can reasonably expect to rank.