15 Unique Ways to Check Competitor Website Traffic

You lone request 3 tools to get sixteen highly actionable information points connected your competitors’ traffic.

Before we dive in, let’s acceptable the close expectations: nary instrumentality volition springiness you your competitor’s nonstop postulation data. However, it’s inactive good capable to spot what works for them, transcript their champion ideas, oregon acceptable realistic benchmarks.

We’ll cover:

• Types of information you tin access, specified arsenic postulation volume, trends, integrated and paid keywords, and assemblage insights.
• Practical usage cases, including benchmarking, tracking progress, identifying contented gaps, boosting your SEO and SEM, and negotiating budgets.
• Last but not least, how this information is gathered and its reliability.

With these tools and insights, you’ll beryllium well-equipped to recognize and outperform your competitors’ website traffic.

We’ll commencement with integrated hunt postulation — the root connected which you’ll get the most data.

How to analyse rival integrated hunt traffic

Organic hunt traffic refers to the clicks a tract gets from hunt engines, excluding hunt ads.

There’s a batch you tin archer astir your competitors’ integrated postulation and a batch you tin archer from it. Here are my favourite 12 usage cases with elaborate instructions.

You tin cheque that successful seconds for free, right now:

The instrumentality volition besides amusement you wherever successful the satellite the postulation is coming from, immoderate of the apical pages and keywords, and postulation worth (i.e., the worth of the integrated hunt traffic, if it were to beryllium acquired via PPC successful Google Ads).

Organic competitors are the sites that vie with you for the aforesaid integrated keywords successful hunt engines.

Typically, you’ll person much integrated competitors than your regular nonstop concern competitors. For example, a 3D printer shaper whitethorn beryllium competing for a just stock of keywords with a 3D printing mag — wholly antithetic businesses, aforesaid keywords.

So by rounding up your apical integrated competitors, you summation a bigger excavation of keyword ideas you tin perchance target. Much bigger than if you’d conscionable instrumentality into relationship your nonstop competitors.

Here’s however to place each integrated competitors.

1. Open Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and participate your domain.
2. Go to the Organic competitors report.

From there, you tin look astatine the communal keywords to spot wherever they outrank you oregon click connected Competitor’s keywords to spot keywords you don’t fertile for but they bash (a.k.a. your contented gap).

If your rival is doing SEO, typically their blog volition pull astir of their integrated traffic. But this is not ever the case. They whitethorn person recovered different ways of getting clicks from Google, similar escaped tools oregon escaped resources, and you could bash the same.

1. Open Site Explorer and participate your competitor’s domain.
2. Go to the Site structure report.

For example, idiosyncratic analyzing our tract could spot that our escaped penning tools get much integrated postulation than years of penning connected the blog.

To spot your competitor’s apical performing pages:

1. Go to Site Explorer and participate your competitor’s domain.
2. Go to the Top pages report.

The archetypal usage lawsuit present is targeting the aforesaid keywords arsenic their apical pages to transmission immoderate of that postulation your way.

There’s more. You tin usage the study to spot which pages contributed to an uptrend oregon downtrend successful your competitor’s traffic.

Or, absorption connected top-performing pages and usage the Compare pages presumption to spot erstwhile those pages started to prime up traffic.

Now to spot what the competitors did to amended the pages, click connected the caret adjacent to the leafage and click Inspect.

Then take the day connected the calendar and presumption changes made to the substance successful that time.

If you’re already doing SEO oregon considering it, seeing a database of your competitors’ keywords is astir similar they’ve shared their keyword probe with you.

You tin usage keyword information to find:

• Top-performing keywords and “steal” immoderate of their postulation with your ain content.
• Top-performing keywords successful circumstantial countries.
• Keywords with circumstantial presumption to find contented ideas astir definite topics oregon phrases.
• Low-difficulty keywords (typically, faster to rank).

To spot your competitors’ keywords:

1. Go to Site Explorer and participate your competitor’s domain.
2. Go to the Organic keywords report.
3. Use the filters to find what you need. For instance, usage the KD filter to find low-competition keywords.

For example, you tin way the ranking past of your competitor’s apical traffic-generating keywords. If you spot abrupt spikes, it apt means they’ve updated the contented to increase ranking. By utilizing the calendar diagnostic mentioned above, you tin larn however they did it.

One of the champion ways to find integrated postulation you’re perchance missing retired connected is to bash a content spread analysis. In SEO, it means identifying the keywords that your competitors fertile for but you don’t. Some of those keywords tin marque cleanable topics for you to cover.

In Ahefs, you tin bash a contented spread investigation automatically:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Competitive Analysis tool.
2. Enter your domain successful the Target section.
3. Enter your competitors’ domains successful the Competitors section.
4. Hit “Compare”.
5. Click the Content Gap report.

Toggle Main positions to exclude your competitors’ rankings successful SERP features similar “Top stories” and “Image packs.”

Now look done the study and place keywords that are applicable for your site. The measurement file volition amusement you which keywords are apt to nonstop the astir traffic.

Short-term integrated postulation show tin pass you of the latest developments successful your competitors’ rankings (say, wrong the past 24 hours to a mates of weeks).

For example, you tin observe the interaction of the latest Google Update connected their site, spot however overmuch postulation they gained oregon mislaid past month, oregon cheque if immoderate of their recently launched pages are already picking up traffic.

To spot short-term integrated postulation performance:

1. Go to Site Explorer and participate your competitor’s domain.
2. In the Overview report, take a timeframe successful the Changes mode.

This volition set the top-level metrics and postulation by determination sheet and amusement you the changes implicit the specified period.

You tin spell arsenic heavy arsenic day-to-day postulation changes — a precise adjuvant happening if you privation to spot Google’s update interaction connected your competitors’ traffic.

Date examination is disposable successful aggregate tools and reports crossed Ahrefs.

As for semipermanent postulation performance, this allows to acceptable a postulation extremity to lucifer oregon overtake your competitor’s traffic, and program your fund based connected competitor’s performance. You tin besides usage it to forecast your competitors’ traffic.

To spot semipermanent postulation performance:

1. Go to Site Explorer and participate your competitor’s domain.
2. Turn connected the Years mode successful the postulation graph.
3. Adjust the clip framework and export the information if needed.

Seeing aggregate sites connected 1 graph is utile if you privation to place the person successful your niche, comparison your tract to a fewer competitors simultaneously, and find if you are catching up to the person oregon if idiosyncratic is catching up to you.

Here’s how:

1. Go to Site Explorer and participate your domain.
2. Add competitors utilizing the Competitors tab.

Organic stock of dependable (SOV) is an SEO metric that shows however overmuch postulation goes to your pages compared to competitors’.

In different words, if you privation to spot your wide integrated hunt postulation stock successful the market, and yet summation it, this is the metric you’d privation to use.

SOV is based connected tracked keywords, truthful you archetypal request to adhd them to the tool. These tin beryllium keywords you people connected your blog, your merchandise pages, oregon adjacent each of your important keywords together.

• Go to Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker.
• Start a New project.
• Select keywords to track. You tin usage the filters to refine the database suggested by the instrumentality and adhd immoderate keywords aboriginal on. Make definite to take lone important locations for your site.

• Add competitors. You tin adhd circumstantial sites oregon take from the ones suggested by the tool. Notice the keyword intersect — the higher the number, the “closer” the competitor.

Once you decorativeness the set-up, you volition beryllium capable to spot and regularly way SOV successful the Competitors Overview conception successful Rank Tracker.

One of the ways your competitors could beryllium getting postulation is from links from different sites (a.k.a. referral traffic).

Knowing who links to your competitors allows you to prosecute the aforesaid oregon akin links which tin assistance you not lone get much referral postulation but besides boost your SEO and summation your marque awareness.

To find pages with a precocious probability of sending postulation to your competitors, look for backlinks from pages with important integrated traffic. Here’s how:

1. Go to Site Explorer and participate your competitor’s domain.
2. Open Backlinks report. Pages with the astir postulation volition beryllium displayed connected apical by default.

From determination you tin usage the Referring leafage title filter to spot lone reviews oregon rankings wherever you could beryllium listed, too. Simply adhd successful words similar “vs, review, tool, tools, top” arsenic a mode to place these pages.

Here’s an illustration of specified a page:

Another mode to analyse your competitors’ postulation is to dainty them arsenic 1 entity. This allows you to:

• Benchmark your tract postulation inclination to your competitors arsenic a marketplace segment.
• Identify broader manufacture trends and seasonal patterns successful traffic.
• Assess the corporate interaction of large events, specified arsenic changes successful hunt motor algorithms oregon economical shifts.
• Monitor the wide wellness and maturation complaint of your industry.

For this, usage the Portfolios diagnostic successful Ahrefs. The representation beneath shows aggregated information for 4 sites, including integrated postulation and paid postulation (from Google Search Ads).

Here’s however to acceptable it up:

• Dashboard and click Create > Portfolio.

• Fill successful the URLs you privation to track. Note the URL mode selector. Use “Domain” to way the full domain with subdomains, “Path” for folders, and “Exact URL” for azygous pages.

How to analyse rival paid hunt traffic

Paid hunt postulation refers to the clicks a tract gets from hunt ads connected hunt motor effect pages. Here’s however to cheque your competitors’s paid hunt postulation and however to usage that cognition to your advantage.

If you’re moving hunt ads, checking retired your competitors’ paid keywords tin springiness you ready-made keyword research. This lets you spot which keywords are moving for them and helps you fine-tune your ain advertisement strategy to people those high-performing keywords.

What’s more, you tin uncover paid hunt data Google Keyword Planner hides by default: hunt measurement for a particular keyword alternatively of a hunt measurement range for a group of keywords.

And adjacent if you’re not investing successful ads, this info tin inactive beryllium ace useful. It usually means these keywords are important to your competitors due to the fact that they cognize these keywords bring successful customers. Chances are, these keywords could beryllium important for your business, too.

To find your competitors’ paid keywords:

1. Go to Site Explorer and participate your competitor’s domain.
2. Open Paid keywords report.

From here, you tin usage filters to find keywords that conscionable your CPC, traffic, oregon relevance criteria, and benignant the information to spot the keywords which bring the astir traffic.

Notice the Paid/organic postulation stock bar. If you spot some bluish and yellowish color, that means your rival has invested successful the keyword doubly (through contented and ads) and is trying to get arsenic overmuch SERP existent property arsenic imaginable — see pursuing these keywords as well.

Another mode to gauge a keyword’s value is to look astatine its advertisement presumption history. A agelong and accordant past suggests it’s apt a invaluable ‘money’ keyword, portion a abbreviated past mightiness bespeak your rival is conscionable experimenting with it.

Want to cheque retired their advertisement transcript and landing pages? Head to the Ads report. You tin acceptable the determination wherever your rival runs their ads and spot the landing pages and keywords associated with each ad.

Interested to spot however overmuch your competitors walk to get each of that paid traffic?

1. Go to Site Explorer.
2. Enter your competitor’s domain.
3. Open Paid pages report.
4. Set the preferred determination to spot the fund per state (leave it acceptable to each locations to spot the full ad spend).
5. Set the Performance study to Paid traffic outgo acceptable and set the timeframe.

Use this information to acceptable a benchmark for postulation show comparative to advertisement walk and to negociate the fund for your campaigns.

How to analyse different postulation sources

If you’re funny successful the wide rival postulation performance, here’s wherever to look.

To get a speedy reply to however overmuch postulation your competitors get wide (from each postulation sources), you tin get that accusation for escaped with Similarweb.

Once you acceptable up a escaped account, simply spell to Website analysis > Website performance report.

Arguably, the champion mode to usage Similarweb is successful examination mode. This attack ensures that the information is directionally accurate: whether the information is overestimated oregon underestimated, it is consistently truthful crossed each sites. By comparing your postulation with your competitors, you tin place the comparative differences that acceptable you apart.

Similarweb is not the lone instrumentality with wide postulation insights. Another 1 is Sparktoro, an assemblage probe tool.

What’s large astir Sparktoro is that its information and functionality revolve astir the users down the clicks. So you tin usage Similarweb to recognize however fashionable the tract is and past Sparktoro to get to cognize the radical who sojourn it. Take that information and usage it for persona development, fine-tuning your messaging, and looking up influencers to spouse with oregon sites to advertise on.

Simply acceptable up an relationship astatine Sparktoro and benignant your competitor’s domain successful the hunt bar. Make definite the “Visit the website” mode is on.

From determination go to:

• Social networks: scroll down a spot and spot which societal web the marque uses the most. This not lone tells which societal networks apt nonstop the astir postulation but besides which proved to beryllium the astir engaging.
• Demographics tab: spot information similar gender, age, geography and interests. What’s unsocial astir this information is that it comes from societal media profiles.
• Social accounts tab: to spot what societal media accounts tract visitors are apt to travel and prosecute with. This is simply a large root of imaginable influencers to work with.
• YouTube channels, Reddit, and Podcast tabs: spot wherever it’s highly apt to conscionable your competitors’ (and perchance yours) audience.

Where does the information travel from? Is it accurate?

Depending connected the tool, the information connected your competitors volition mostly come from:

• Web crawlers. Also known arsenic spiders oregon bots. They are automated programs that browse the net to stitchery information. For example, Ahrefs’ crawler is called AhrefsBot, 1 of the astir progressive ones around.
• Clickstream data. Clickstream information refers to the signaling of a user’s online enactment arsenic they navigate done websites. This information is anonymized and aggregated.
• Google Keyword Planner and Search Console. These tools supply invaluable information connected hunt motor show and keyword usage. Also, this information is anonymized and aggregated.
• Social media APIs. Some societal media platforms let third-party tools to entree their data.

This means that, successful astir cases, the information is estimated alternatively of existent information taken from your competitors and handed implicit to you.

So, erstwhile it comes to the data’s accuracy, you should expect a blend of estimated accuracy and directional accuracy. Despite champion efforts, the information volition beryllium approximated and designed to springiness you an thought of comparative show due to the fact that there’s nary other way.

This besides means that if you’re funny successful a peculiar benignant of traffic, accidental postulation from hunt engines, it’s astir apt champion to get a dedicated instrumentality for that. You’ll get entree to bigger information sets and much susceptible functionality, allowing you to do more.

Final thoughts

Want to spell deeper into rival analysis? Check retired our different guides to spell beyond postulation data:

• How to Do an SEO Competitor Analysis
• Competitive Analysis: The Lean Guide (With Template)
• The No-Nonsense Guide to Competitive Intelligence
• 8 Handpicked Competitive Intelligence Tools (With Use Cases)

Got questions oregon comments? Let maine cognize connected X oregon LinkedIn.