SEA competition analysis: how and why should you monitor it?

In the competitive online marketing arena, competitive analysis in SEA is your best asset to get a head start on your competitors.

In this article, we explain to you why spying on your competitors in SEA is essential to build a concrete strategy, but above all we explain to you how to do it well: what metrics to analyze and with what tools. Let's go!

‍

Competition analysis: what is it?

‍

It's simple: you keep a close eye on everything that concerns your competitors.

In other words, it's learning about:

• Their rates;
• Their commercial and marketing campaigns;
• Their new products;
• Their sales figures;
• The inner workings of their business.

The objective of this surveillance? It's about identifying threats and opportunities for your business in advance. In short, a key step in making informed strategic choices, especially in SEA. We promise you, nothing creepy there!

To know the Top 5 Google Ads agencies, read our article on the subject.

‍

Why do an SEA competition analysis?

‍

Doing a SEA (Search Engine Advertising) competition analysis helps you identify new opportunities, assess the level of competition and, of course, learn from the effective strategies employed by these businesses. It also gives you an idea of your strengths and where you need to improve!

‍

Concretely, the analysis of competition in SEA makes it possible to:

• Identify strategic keywords: understanding what keywords your competitors are bidding on gives you valuable insight into what terms your target audience is looking for.
• Optimize your advertising budget: by analyzing the SEA strategies of your competitors, you can adjust your own bids and budget to be more competitive without wasting resources.
• Understand market trends: Observing how competitors position their SEA ads can reveal under-exploited market trends and advertising opportunities.
• Improve campaign performance: By analyzing your competitors' ads, you can identify the elements of their campaigns that work well (copywriting, calls to action, etc.) and integrate them into your own strategies.
• Adapt quickly to changes: the market and competitive strategies are changing rapidly. Regular monitoring allows you to remain agile and adapt your SEA campaigns according to new practices or changes in the strategies of your competitors.
• Benchmarking: this helps you assess where you stand compared to your competitors, in terms of visibility, spending, and ad effectiveness.

Ok, it's very important to stay competitive and perform. But, in practice, how do you do a SEA competitive analysis?

‍

SEA competition analysis: the process

‍

To conduct an effective SEA competitive analysis, follow these key steps:

• Study keywords and ads: Identify which keywords and ads are performing best to understand the competitor's marketing strategy.
• Analyze advertising campaigns: check if the campaigns are well targeted and observe the management of advertising budgets.
• Monitor distribution platforms: find out on which websites the ads are published and assess the effectiveness of their advertising content.
• Examine landing pages: Check if they are optimized to maximize conversions.
• Analyze the competitor's website: study its design and compliance with SEO standards to better position your website in search engine results.

‍

Data to analyze the competition in SEA

‍

Some data should be given particular attention, here they are:

• Keywords: identify the keywords used by your competitors to understand their market positioning and guide your SEO/SEA strategy.
• Search volume: Assess the popularity and trends of the keywords chosen by your competitors, which is crucial for refining your marketing strategy.
• Click history: analyze which keywords generate the most qualified traffic to optimize your approach.
• Conversion rate: Examine conversion rates to identify the best sources of acquisition on paid channels and adjust your advertising strategy.
• Advertising budgets: study the budgets allocated to each keyword by your competitors to assess the level of spending that your business can consider in order to remain competitive.

‍

What tools can you use to monitor and analyze the SEA competition?

‍

To obtain information on your competitors in a legal and effective way, a multitude of online tools are at your disposal.

SEMrush is probably the best known of all. This paid software is widely known for spying on competitors' web activity.

‍

‍

It allows you to discover:

• Relevant keywords for your SEO;
• To analyze website traffic and incoming links;
• To understand the positioning of competitors on Google Ads.

It is a valuable tool for refining your SEO/SEA strategy.

‍

If you prefer to opt for free tools from Google, here are a few that do the trick:

• Search Suggestions: When you type a query into Google, the suggestions that appear are a goldmine for finding new keywords that are relevant to your SEO.
• Google Trends: Use this tool to track keyword trends over a period of time and in specific regions. This helps you adjust your strategy based on popularity and changing user interests.
• Features of Google Ads : they are crucial for analysing competitors' paid campaigns. Here you can discover the most profitable keywords, measure the competitiveness of the keywords according to specific criteria, and see the click rate.

‍

Focus on competitor analysis on Google Ads

‍

To conduct competitive analysis on Google Ads, you can use bid analysis, which is available for Shopping and Search Network campaigns. Here's how to do it:

• In Search Network campaigns: Create a report for ad groups, keywords, and campaigns.
• For the Shopping campaigns : Generate a report on campaigns and ad groups.

Steps to use bid analytics on Google Ads:

• Go to your Google Ads account: sign in to get started.
• Search Network Campaigns Menu: select this option from the menu.
• Keyword selection: check the box next to “keyword.” Note that the selection is done page by page.
• Bid analysis option: click on this feature.
• Bid analysis report: Get the report, available only for keywords with enough activity.

To make it easier to identify keywords, ad groups, and campaigns for bid analysis, use the Google Ads filtering system:

• Select the Filter icon: click on it above the statistics table.
• Choose a filter: select from the available options or add new filters.
• Apply the condition: type the condition and click “Apply.” The table will be updated with the list of keywords or ad groups that have a bid analysis report. The longer the period selected, the more data and keywords you will have available for analysis.

‍

‍

‍

Do you want to launch an effective SEA campaign? Follow our Google Ads training 100% online and free.