If your martial arts school isn't ranking #1 in Google searches, you might be missing out on a significant amount of traffic—and potential students.
Statistics show that the first search result garners about 40% of all traffic, while the second gets 25%. Together, the top four results capture 90% of total traffic.
Understanding where your competitors stand can help you devise a more effective SEO strategy. Here’s how you can start a competitor analysis to improve your rankings:
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Prepare Your Keywords: Start with the keyword research you've compiled from previous efforts. This list should be sorted and prioritized based on relevance to your martial arts school and potential search volume.
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Conduct a Clean Google Search:
- Visit Google.com and set your location to your school's zip code to get localized search results. This setting is usually found in the left-hand column of Google’s search page.
- Ensure you are logged out of Google to avoid personalized results that could skew your analysis. Additionally, use a New Private Window (in Firefox) or New Incognito Window (in Chrome) to ensure your search does not reference your past search history.
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Search and Analyze:
- Enter your top 4 or 5 keywords into Google and analyze the search results.
- Take note of which competitors consistently appear in the top four spots for each keyword. Are there any trends in the type of content or the specific services they are promoting?
- Record the web addresses of these competitors on your Analysis Report for further review.
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Evaluate Your Competitors:
- Once you have identified your top five competitors, start analyzing their online presence. Look at their website structure, content quality, backlink profile, and user engagement.
- Most companies often leave room for improvement in their SEO practices. Your goal is to identify these gaps and opportunities to optimize your own website better.
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Learning and Application:
- Use this analysis to educate yourself about what works in your market and what doesn’t. This knowledge is crucial as it informs the SEO strategies you will implement.
- Understand that knowing your competitors is just the starting point. The real work begins as you apply this knowledge to enhance your own SEO efforts.
By thoroughly understanding the competitive landscape, you can tailor your SEO strategy to compete more effectively, targeting weaknesses in your competitors’ online strategies and reinforcing your own to attract more prospective students to your martial arts school.
