Competitor analysis as a basis for site structure. Part 1
When we start developing a website, an in-depth competitor analysis becomes our indispensable assistant. Based on this analysis, we can determine which design and functionality features are most appealing in a given area, and build our website structure on this information. In this article, we will discuss why it is so important to take the time to research competitors, and how we can use the data obtained to create the most effective website possible. To illustrate, let's look at the process of competitor analysis using the example of an agribusiness company that grows organic fruits and vegetables.
Why competitor analysis is important to the structure of a website
Competitor analysis is a kind of "mirror" that allows us to see the situation on the market, identify those chips that are valued by the audience, take into account the mistakes and successful solutions of competitors and as a result create something unique and maximally attractive for users of our site.
How to identify your competitors
Identifying competitors is the beginning of the journey in conducting an analysis. In doing so, it's important to keep in mind both direct competitors who offer similar products or services to yours, as well as indirect competitors who may fulfill the needs of your target audience in their own way. Web search engines, industry directories and social media are great sources of information for identifying competitors.
Let's say you want to start your search. The first step might be a normal Google search for keywords that your potential customers might use. For example: "organic vegetables", "organic fruit" or "farm fresh produce".
When searching for competitors, don't fixate only on your region, it's useful to see what's going on in your neighbors. Maybe there are interesting projects there that you've missed and that are taking innovative approaches that you can take as a model.
Changing the search region in Google is not difficult at all:
- Go to google.com and find the "Settings" button in the bottom right corner of the home page.
- In the menu that opens, click on "Search Settings".
- Scroll down the page to the "Region to Search" section.
- From the drop-down list, select the region you are interested in and save your changes by clicking the "Save" button at the bottom of the page.
The search engine will now focus on the selected region.
Now you need to scrutinize each of your competitors. Visit their websites and scrutinize them carefully:
- Site structure
- What blocks are on the pages
- How product information is presented
- What additional features or information do they offer.
To get more information about traffic sources and ranking queries you can use additional tools such as:
This approach will provide a broad list of competitors to analyze, including not only those in your area, but also those outside of it. This will provide a deep and varied understanding of current trends and best practices that you can apply when building your site.
How to analyze competitors
When analyzing competitors' web resources, it is important to take a detailed look not only at the appearance and functionality of their sites, but also pay attention to content, usability, SEO tactics, and more. It will be very useful to create a comparison table or similar structure, which will contain many parameters for evaluation, including the structure of the website, accessibility and quality of content, ease of navigation, speed of page loading, formats of provided contact information and so on.
We are building a website for an organic food manufacturer, which means our direct competitors are other outlets with organic products, while indirect competitors could be conventional grocery stores or markets offering organic products.
And so, you begin to create a table in which you include the following columns:
- competitor name
- Site URL
- main sections of the website
- additional functions (order forms, blog, callback, etc.)
- Quality of content (e.g., relevance, originality, literacy, keywords)
- UX/UI (ease of use, interface usability, availability of mobile version)
- SEO strategy (presence of meta tags, loading speed, URL structure, presence of sitemap)
By analyzing each of these parameters, you can get a complete picture of what your competitors are offering and what their advantages and weaknesses are. This will help you create your unique and effective website.