Digital Marketing

Why Copying Your Competition’s SEO Strategy Is a Recipe for Disaster

Focusing solely on what your competitors are doing in SEO for their brand can be a trap. In this blog, we will talk about why copying SEO strategies is bad for your business and we will also highlight a more effective approach.

The Fallacy of Copying

Competitor analysis is really valuable but implementing their entire SEO strategy is  a recipe for disaster. Here are a few reasons why:

  • Uniqueness Matters: Every business operates differently. Just like in the real world, copying the approach of your competitors won’t guarantee you any success. True innovation comes from focusing majorly on your target audience and your own strengths.
  • Focus on Your Product: For instance, there are a lot of ride-sharing companies and while Uber is successful globally, Lyft struggles to be seen outside of the US. A winning product comes from the foundation of long-term success and not just SEO rankings.
  • Beyond Rankings: Take other metrics into account like  customer acquisition cost (CAC) and average recurring revenue (ARR). They are much better indicators of your overall business performance.

The Power of Brand Identity

SEO is more than just keywords and backlinks. Here’s why brand identity is an important factor:

  • Brand Signals Matter: Website age and brand recognition are really important factors that the search engine takes account of and these elements can’t be easily replicated.
  • The Unexplainable Factor: There are times when a website can outrank bigger players for some time. This is because search engines consider intangible brand signals that are difficult to quantify.

Building Your Own Path

Instead of chasing shadows of your competitors, focus on building a unique SEO strategy built on the following principles:

  • Understand Your Audience: Develop the personas of buyers so that you can understand the ideal customer’s search journey. They go beyond just searching keywords. Consider their preferred platforms and search habits.
  • Focus on Value: Don’t just chase traffic of all kinds. Attract the users who resonate with your brand and who can be your loyal customers in the long run.

SEO should be organic, just like the name suggests. By understanding your audience and building a brand that goes well with your customers’ interest, you will be able to achieve sustainable SEO success that outperforms any copycat strategy.