Learn How to Analyse and Compare Website Traffic of Your Competitors

This blog will guide you on how to effectively do competitor traffic analysis understand the benefits of this strategy and discover the most reliable tools for obtaining accurate data.

What is Competitor Traffic Analysis?

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Competitor traffic analysis involves examining the traffic of your competitors’ websites and leveraging the insights to enhance your own website’s performance.

Advantages:

• You can uncover potential areas of growth
• You can learn from your competitors’ mistakes and weaknesses
• You can gain valuable insights
• You can know the amount of traffic generated by your competitors
• You can know the trends in their audience growth or decline

In essence, by employing competitor analysis methods, you can identify successful strategies employed by others and build upon their achievements.

Is It Possible to Track Competitor Website Traffic?

While Google Analytics is the go-to tool for tracking your own website’s traffic data accurately and comprehensively, it falls short when it comes to monitoring your competitors’ traffic.

To do competitor website analysis you need specialised tools:

You can find a few Analytics tools online that provide information about the pages users visit, sourced from various proprietary and third-party data sources. This data is then processed using an AI algorithm that cleans and aggregates information from over 200 million internet users.

With Traffic Analytics, you gain access to valuable insights about your competitor’s audience. For instance:

• The “Audience Overview” report provides general information about your competitor’s audience.
• The “Traffic Journey” report showcases the consumer journey of your competitor’s audience, including where they come from and where they navigate next.

Additionally, you can explore other traffic insights such as:

• Top Visited Pages
• Popular Subfolders
• Geographic Distribution

How to Analyse Competitor Website Traffic?

Data has a story to tell, revealing whether visitors are finding what they seek and the success of your partnerships. Leveraging competitor website analysis data can give you a competitive edge and drive more traffic. Let’s explore a few tactics for analysing competitor website traffic.

• Measure Competitor Website Traffic: Begin with a broad overview to establish a foundation for deeper research. Enter a competitor’s website into Traffic Analytics, click “Analyse” and you’ll access the dashboard.
• Analyse the key metrics including:
  • Visits: Estimated total visits to the website in each month.
  • Unique Visitors: Estimated total unique visitors to the website in each month.
  • Pages/Visit: Average number of pages visited per session.
  • Bounce Rate: Percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page.
• Examine Traffic Trends Across Time: Scrolling down the Traffic Analytics dashboard, you’ll encounter a trend graph showcasing the same metrics over time. This graph helps identify competitor trends and offers a forecast of expected performance. You can compare website traffic data with up to four additional competitors, enabling further analysis.What To Do?
  • Look for spikes or significant drops in organic traffic, considering their recurrence and impact on all websites being compared.
  • Evaluate if a competitor implemented any special strategies or campaigns that led to the surge.
  • Understanding the triggers behind spikes allows you to replicate successful strategies and drive traffic to your own website.
  • Identifying the reasons for traffic drops helps you learn what to avoid and make informed decisions to maintain a steady flow of visitors.

Use competitor analysis tools to gain insights, uncover trends and leverage successful strategies, ultimately driving more traffic to your own site.

Comparing Website Traffic Customer Experience

Now let’s examine and compare the user experience provided by your competitors. Specifically, we’ll focus on metrics such as pages per visit, average visit duration and bounce rate.

What To Do?

• To begin, add your domain or up to four competitors’ domains to the tool and click “Compare.”
• By doing so, you’ll quickly gain insights into how these user experience metrics stack up against each other.
• It is essential to analyse these metrics because a high number of visitors alone can be misleading and don’t provide the complete picture.
• Comparing the competitor traffic analysis metrics allows you to gain a better understanding of user behaviour and whether they are finding what they need.

Moreover, it helps you learn from successful approaches while avoiding ineffective strategies. By understanding the competitor analysis examples you can figure out what works and what doesn’t, you can improve your own customer experience and attract more satisfied visitors.

Track User Sources & Journeys

Now let’s delve into where your competitors’ traffic originates and where it leads.

To explore this, navigate to the “Traffic Journey” tab.

• In the “Traffic Journey” tab, if you are comparing multiple competitors, the first graph displays the traffic volume from each traffic channel for each competitor.
• For a comprehensive analysis of a single competitor, you’ll find a more detailed graph showcasing the monthly traffic volume from each channel.
• Both graphs offer valuable insights into the channels that are driving traffic for your competitors. By understanding these channels, you can replicate and enhance their successful strategies.
• You’ll encounter a graph that illustrates the sources from which users arrive and their subsequent destinations.
• Additionally, the “Traffic Journey Details” table provides further information about traffic sources and destination sites.

What To Do?

Utilise this data to conduct successfully conduct competitor traffic analysis and identify trends and patterns. For instance, if a significant number of users visit a specific website after visiting your competitor, consider the reasons behind this behaviour.

The destination site may offer valuable content that is missing on your competitor’s website. In such cases, contemplate incorporating similar content into your site to attract or retain traffic.

By closely analysing user sources and journeys, you can gain valuable insights into effective strategies and make informed decisions to optimise your own website’s performance.

Steps for Generating Audience Insights

Below are steps you can follow to generate valuable audience insights:

• Define Your Target Audience: Clearly define the characteristics of your ideal audience, considering demographics like age, gender, location and socio-economic factors. Additionally, explore psychographic aspects such as interests, behaviours, values and motivations.
• Conduct Market Research: Utilise various market research techniques to gather information about your target audience. This may involve surveys, interviews, focus groups, or analysing existing data sources. Explore their preferences, pain points, needs and aspirations.
• Analyse Website Analytics: Utilise tools like Google Analytics to gain insights into your website visitors. Analyse metrics such as demographics, interests, browsing behaviour and engagement patterns. This data provides valuable information about your audience’s online activities and preferences.
• Social Media Listening: Monitor conversations and engagements on relevant social media platforms. Observe what people are saying about your brand, competitors or industry-related topics. Pay attention to their interests, sentiments and expressed needs in comments, reviews and discussions.
• Competitor Analysis: Analyse your competitors’ target audience and their marketing strategies. Identify overlaps and differences between your target audience and theirs. Look for gaps in their offerings or engagement strategies that you can leverage.
• Customer Surveys and Feedback: Conduct surveys or gather feedback directly from your existing customers. This helps you understand their experiences, satisfaction levels and areas for improvement. Utilise open-ended questions to gather qualitative insights and uncover hidden needs or preferences.
• Social Media Analytics: Examine analytics provided by social media platforms to gain insights into the demographics, interests and behaviours of your followers or those engaging with your content. Identify trends, popular topics and engagement patterns that can inform your content and targeting strategies.
• Utilise competitor analysis tools: Make use of audience research tools such as Audience Insights on Facebook or Google Trends. These tools provide data on audience interests, online behaviours, search trends and demographics. They offer valuable insights to refine your targeting and messaging.
• Continuously Monitor and Refine: Audience insights are dynamic and subject to change over time. Regularly monitor and analyse data to stay updated on evolving trends, behaviours and preferences. Adapt your strategies accordingly to stay relevant and effectively engage your target audience.

By systematically gathering and analysing audience insights, you can develop a profound understanding of your target market. This knowledge empowers you to create personalised marketing campaigns and conduct competitor website analysis.

Track Global Competitor Web Traffic

• To gain insights into a competitor’s web traffic on a global scale, the “Geo Distribution” tab provides valuable information.
• Within the “Geo Distribution” tab, you’ll find the “Traffic Map” that offers a general overview of a competitor’s global web traffic. Most of the Guardian’s traffic, for instance, is divided between the United States and the United Kingdom, with the U.K. leading in terms of total traffic numbers. Light blue shading on the map indicates countries where the website traffic accounts for less than 10%, suggesting some audience presence in those smaller markets.
• For a more detailed examination of traffic trends over time, scroll down to the “Trend by Visits” graph. This graph depicts the growth trends in various countries. For instance, take note of the traffic spike from Australia in late 2020, indicating the need for further research into this market.
• Additionally, the “Traffic by Country” table below provides data for specific locations, each entry featuring a drop-down tab showcasing the top website pages in that country. Analysing the Australian market again, it appears to be growing and could be a promising target for future expansion.
• By examining the country’s top pages, such as business, education and U.K. news, you can identify the need for similar content if you plan to venture into this market.

Expand Your Competitor Analysis

While checking your competitor’s website traffic is a smart strategy for boosting your own website’s traffic, it’s essential to take it a step further.

• Conducting a comprehensive competitor analysis allows you to leverage their weaknesses, replicate their strengths and prioritise your tasks effectively.
• One valuable approach is conducting a keyword gap analysis to identify keywords your competitors are ranking for but you’re not.
• Another tactic is discovering websites that link to your competitors but not to you. By reaching out to these sites and building relationships, you can secure valuable backlinks and improve your website’s authority.
• Review a few competitor analysis templates to find out what resonates with your audience.

Take advantage of competitor analysis tools to stay ahead of the game and gain a competitive edge in your industry. Don’t settle for merely monitoring traffic; dive deeper and unlock valuable insights to drive your website’s success.

Conclusion

By analysing your competitors, you can uncover untapped market opportunities. Competitor traffic analysis is a highly effective way of identifying gaps in the market that your competitors haven’t addressed and

anticipating changes in the market. From analysing your competitors’ successes to identifying the key strategies that work well, the analysis will help you with everything.