We’re going to narrow in on certain tools accessible to see predicted performance data, keyword and ad text information, and more for your rivals, but I’ll start with the many solutions available to you that show estimated metric performance, keyword and ad copy information. We have teamed up with London PPC agency, Bulldog Digital Media to pull together the best PPC competition analysis tools.
Why is competitor analysis so important?
In general, competitive analysis is at the top of most marketers’ minds when starting a new PPC account or establishing a new area in PPC, but it’s all too easy to get caught up optimising to your own data once things start to move and lose sight of this topic.
What tools are available?
iSpionage
There is one more site that I would like to mention since it not only gives information for free but also allows you to access the premium version if you wish. It’s called iSpionage and it’s very similar to Hacked For You in terms of categories and free vs. paid content. If you upgrade, you’ll be able to create new campaigns based on the data you discover, in addition to displaying keywords your rivals are bidding on and advertising they’re running.
SEMRush
The SEMRush website is comparable to Spyfu in that it provides you with top data on your competitors. You can look up the top keywords and competitors of your rivals (are you on the list?) in the free version; ad texts, typical ranks for keywords, and percentage of total budget and traffic allocated to those terms are all accessible. Of course, with the paid edition, all of this information is improved so you can see even more data.
Spyfu
I’m a fan of this site, but I use it with caution because I’ve seen it report incorrect traffic and budget figures in the past. It does, however, give useful data regarding keywords your competitors are bidding on and which have shown to be most successful. You may also check out current ad copies they could have been using as recently as the previous month. And that’s just in the free version! Simply input one of your rivals’ web addresses into the box and you’ll get an idea of their monthly AdWords budget, paid keywords, top paid competitors, ad position, clicks per day, keywords, and ad texts.
KeywordSpy
Another tool on the market that works similarly to the others is KeywordSpy. This program enables you to examine your competitors’ keywords, domains, ad text, and AdWords expenditure. They also claim to be able to offer you the keyword and ad combinations that they claim are successful. They claim that their data is real-time, and it’s updated frequently by their software. This program has names such as Toyota, American Express, and IBM as previous customers. You can use this program for free and test up to 10 keywords, adverts, and rival domains.
Making the most of your research
The most essential thing to remember here is not to put all your faith in the research you just completed. This may appear counterintuitive, but none of these tools has direct access to your competition’s accounts. They’re simply pulling data from the search engines and making it available to you. Of course, using the free versions of those tools may not give you a complete picture of what’s going on.
Finally, don’t overlook your overall account goals and progress while doing competitor research. Competitive research is only useful if you incorporate it into your PPC strategy, not as the primary driver in how you decide on the optimal strategies to pursue.
