How to Analyze & Compare Competitor Website Traffic in 2023

Need to develop your corporation with competitor visitors evaluation? You’re in the correct place. 

On this article, you’ll learn to analyze your rivals’ web site visitors, why this technique works, and which instruments provide the most correct information. 

Tip: Create a free Semrush account (no bank card wanted) to comply with together with the steps on this information.

What Is Competitor Site visitors Evaluation? 

Competitor web site visitors evaluation is the method of analyzing your rivals’ visitors and utilizing the info to enhance your web site. 

It could show you how to establish potential areas for progress. And be taught out of your rivals’ errors and weaknesses. 

For instance, a radical competitor visitors evaluation can reveal:

• How a lot visitors your rivals are driving
• If their viewers is rising or declining
• Which channels drive essentially the most visitors 
• What person expertise seems to be like (i.e., common go to length and bounce rate)
• Customer demographics and areas that herald essentially the most visitors
• Which pages customers go to after visiting their web sites

And much extra. 

Primarily, competitive intelligence helps you see what’s already working for others. And construct upon that success. 

Can You Actually Monitor Competitor Web site Site visitors? 

To your personal web site’s visitors information, Google Analytics is essentially the most complete and correct device. 

But it surely received’t do the trick in your rivals. 

You possibly can examine a competitor’s website visitors, however you want a particular device. Like Semrush’s Traffic Analytics.

The device leverages clickstream data (information concerning the pages a person visits) from a number of proprietary and third-party information sources. 

Then, it makes use of an AI algorithm to build up, clear, and course of the uncooked information from over 200M+ web customers. 

For instance, you’ll be capable to see normal details about your competitor’s viewers. 

Like this:

A shopper journey report back to see the place your competitor’s viewers comes from and the place they go subsequent. 

And tons of different visitors insights. Like the highest visited pages, high subfolders, geographic distribution, and extra. 

Methods to Analyze Competitor Web site Site visitors

Information can inform a narrative. 

It could let you know whether or not guests are discovering what they’re on the lookout for. Or in case your new partnership is paying off. 

Amongst many different issues. 

Which suggests insights drawn from competitor information may help you outcompete them. And earn extra visitors. 

Let’s check out a couple of ways you should use. 

Measure Competitor Web site Site visitors

Let’s begin with a broad view. It helps lay the inspiration for extra in-depth analysis afterward. 

So, first, enter any competitor web site into Traffic Analytics, hit “Analyze,” and also you’ll see this dashboard:

You’ll shortly see estimates of the location’s visitors and engagement. And the way they’ve elevated or decreased over time. 

Right here’s a fast overview of what every metric means:

• Visits: the estimated whole visits to the web site throughout that month
• Distinctive Guests: the estimated whole distinctive guests to the web site throughout that month
• Pages/Go to: the typical variety of pages an individual visits in a single session on the web site
• Avg. Go to Length: the typical period of time guests spend on the web site
• Bounce Price: The share of tourists who go away the web site after seeing only one web page 

You may also add your area within the “Root area” subject and examine these broad metrics to yours. 

Word: Site visitors Analytics information relies on estimates and averages. One of the best ways to take a look at your actual numbers is with Google Analytics. 

Now let’s dive a little bit deeper. 

Study Site visitors Tendencies Throughout Time

Scroll additional down within the Site visitors Analytics dashboard and also you’ll see a development graph. 

Like so:

It reveals the identical broad metrics we noticed earlier than, however depicted over time. 

Which may help spot any competitor traits and supplies a forecast of what they count on to see in Could. 

And it’s also possible to add as much as 4 extra rivals to match web site visitors information in opposition to. 

It could assist uncover different traits.

For instance, are there spikes or important drops in organic traffic? If that’s the case, are they seasonal (do they occur yearly)? Does it have an effect on all of the web sites you’re evaluating?

Take into consideration what might’ve brought on them. 

Particularly for spikes. Did a competitor do one thing particular? Was it because of a marketing campaign they ran?

Studying what brought on spikes may help you see what works. Then, you possibly can mimic your rivals’ methods and win some visitors your self. 

Likewise, discovering what brought on drops in visitors may help you be taught what you must keep away from. 

Evaluate Web site Site visitors Buyer Expertise 

Now let’s examine person expertise throughout your rivals. Specifically, pages per go to, common go to length, and bounce charge. 

Add your area (or as much as 4 different rivals) to the device. Click on “Evaluate.”

And also you’ll shortly see how these person expertise metrics examine. 

Analyzing these metrics is vital as a result of, typically, seeing a excessive variety of guests may be deceiving. It doesn’t paint the complete image. 

Evaluating these engagement metrics can provide you a greater understanding of how customers are behaving. And in the event that they’re discovering what they want. 

For instance, has a competitor’s bounce charge worsened over time?

If that’s the case, this might imply: 

• Customers aren’t discovering the content material fascinating or useful 
• A promoted provide isn’t pretty much as good is it appears 
• Site visitors is coming from nations the place the services or products isn’t obtainable

Monitoring these metrics over time can reveal who’s profitable with regards to serving clients what they need. 

And may help you be taught from what’s working and keep away from what isn’t. 

Monitor Consumer Sources & Journeys

Now let’s check out the place your rivals’ visitors comes from and goes. 

You’ll see that within the “Site visitors Journey” tab. 

When you’re evaluating a number of rivals, the primary graph reveals every competitor’s visitors quantity by visitors channel. 

Like this:

When you simply analyze one competitor, you’ll see a extra detailed graph displaying the visitors quantity every channel brings in per 30 days. 

Each graphs may help you see the channels driving visitors in your rivals. So you possibly can replicate what’s already working (in a greater means). 

Now, to grasp the person journey, scroll additional down. 

This subsequent graph reveals the place customers come from and the place they go afterward. 

Additional down, the “Site visitors Journey Particulars” desk comprises extra particulars concerning the visitors sources and vacation spot websites.

Use this info to establish traits. 

For instance, do plenty of customers go to a selected web site after visiting your competitor? Why do you assume that’s? 

Maybe that website has useful content material that’s lacking in your competitor’s website. If that’s the case, take into consideration including that content material to your website. And attempt to win (or retain) some visitors that means. 

Discover Prime Pages, Subdomains, and Subfolders

First, to see your rivals’ high pages head to the “Prime Pages” tab. 

You’ll see a report with detailed information. Together with web page views, distinctive guests, visitors channels for every web page, and a wide range of sorting choices.

To seek for particular pages (these promoted on natural social media or with paid social advertisements), filter based on the visitors channel to carry these pages to the highest. 

Like this:

You may also filter by web page. And see the precise web page by clicking on it. 

For instance, we sorted Vrbo pages by the phrase “trip”. 

Because the graph reveals, the web page chosen focuses on “santa barbara.” And receives a variety of visitors from paid search and natural socials. 

Which suggests you now have insights into Vrbo’s advertising technique.

Lastly, the “Subfolders” and “Subdomains” tabs present your competitor’s high subfolders and subdomains by visitors and channel. 

Like this:

And this:

Use this info to find out for those who ought to focus your efforts on creating comparable subfolders or subdomains. 

Additional studying: 

Generate Viewers Insights 

The “Viewers Overview” tab is a superb beginning place for understanding how your market’s viewers interacts with you and your rivals. 

The overlap graph reveals the scale of your rivals’ viewers. And the extent to which their audiences overlap. 

For instance, the graph beneath depicts the audiences for 5 main U.S. newspapers.

The most important circle belongs to The New York Occasions, indicating they’ve the most important viewers with 48.6M month-to-month guests. 

They share the most important overlap with The Washington Publish, that means 7.9M individuals who visited The New York Occasions web site additionally visited The Washington Publish. 

To see smaller newspapers in relation to one another, use the drop-down menu. 

The graph reveals that The Wall Road Journal shares a bigger viewers with The New York Occasions than the LA Occasions does. 

And the shared viewers between The Wall Road Journal and the Chicago Tribune can also be fairly small.

Utilizing this info, you would possibly be taught who you would associate with or which audiences to focus on to develop your visitors.

Word: For extra detailed viewers insights, take a look at One2Target. You’ll get details about their revenue ranges, employment standing, training degree, pursuits, and extra.

Monitor Competitor Internet Site visitors Globally 

The “Geo Distribution” tab reveals details about audiences worldwide. 

For a normal image of a competitor’s world net visitors, begin by analyzing the “Site visitors Map.” 

On this case, nearly all of The Guardian’s visitors is break up between the USA and the UK—with the U.Ok. taking the prize with regards to whole visitors numbers. 

On the map, nations that account for lower than 10% of the web site visitors are gentle blue, suggesting there may be some viewers in these nations, even when these markets are small.

For a more in-depth have a look at visitors traits over time, scroll all the way down to the “Development by Visits” graph. 

The graph above reveals the expansion development in varied nations. 

For instance, discover the spike in visitors from Australia in late 2020. It is perhaps a good suggestion to do some extra analysis into this particular market. 

And the “Site visitors by Nation” desk beneath reveals information for particular areas. Every entry has a drop-down tab that reveals high web site pages in that nation. 

Contemplating the Australian market once more, the market appears to be rising. And could also be goal for future progress. 

And analyzing the nation’s high pages (enterprise, training, and U.Ok. information), you would possibly want to contemplate comparable content material for those who’re seeking to develop into this market. 

Take Competitor Evaluation a Step Additional 

Checking competitor web site visitors is a brilliant approach to increase your personal web site’s visitors. 

However you shouldn’t cease there. 

Conducting a extra thorough competitor analysis may help you capitalize on their weaknesses, replicate their strengths, and prioritize duties. 

For instance, you possibly can run a key phrase hole evaluation to search out keywords your rivals are rating for however you aren’t. 

Or discover websites that hyperlink to your rivals however to not you. Or uncover their best-performing pages to create one thing higher or comparable. 

Try Semrush’s suite of competitor analysis tools. And keep forward of the sport.