Your Guide to Analysing Your Competitors on the SERP

Understanding your position on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is crucial. 

For HVAC professionals looking to gain a competitive edge, analysing your competitors on the SERP can help you refine your SEO and marketing strategies. As well as bring more colour to what your audience might be seeking out.

This guide will walk you through the essentials of SERP analysis, tailored for the HVAC industry.

Understanding the SERP Landscape

Before diving right into competitor analysis, it's important to understand the different components of the SERP. 

Generally, SERPs feature a mix of paid ads, local business listings (Google My Business listings), and organic search results. 

For HVAC companies, local SEO is particularly important, because customers often search for services within their geographic area.

Identifying Your Competitors

1.) Keyword Research: 

Begin with identifying the keywords relevant to your HVAC services. Tools like Google's Keyword Planner or SEMrush can help you find terms your potential customers are searching for.

2.) SERP Analysis

Search for these keywords on Google and note the companies that appear in the top results, including ads, local listings, and organic search results. These are your direct competitors.

Watch: Who are your competitors? 

Analysing Competitor SEO Strategies

1.) Website Structure and Content: 

Examine the website structure, quality of content, and keyword optimisation of your competitors. Look for patterns in how they organise service information, blog content, and use of keywords. 

Download our Content Marketing Guide to ensure you are creating the highest quality content. 

2.) Backlink Profile: 

Use tools like Ahrefs to analyze your competitors' backlink profiles. High-quality backlinks can significantly boost SERP rankings. Identify where their backlinks are coming from and the type of content generating these links.

3.) Local SEO Presence:

Check their Google My Business listings, customer reviews, and local citations. Local SEO is critical for HVAC services, so understanding how competitors optimise for local search can be super useful to understand what you need on there.

Leveraging Social Media and Content Marketing

Analyse your competitors' presence on social media and their content marketing efforts. High engagement rates and quality content that addresses customer pain points can indirectly affect SERP rankings by driving traffic and improving brand visibility.

Monitoring Performance and Ad Strategies:

SERP Position Tracking: 

Use tools like SERPWatcher to track the positions of your competitors for target keywords over time.

Ad Strategies:

Investigate if and how your competitors are using Google Ads. Tools like SEMrush can provide insights into their ad strategies, including the keywords they're bidding on and the structure of their ad campaigns.
 

Turning Insights Into Action: What do you do with all the new information? 

Content Gaps:

Identify content gaps in your competitors' strategies and create content to fill these gaps, targeting underserved keywords.

On-Page Optimisation: 

Apply insights from competitor website analysis to optimize your website's structure, content, and meta tags.

Link Building: 

Develop a link-building strategy based on your competitors' backlink profiles, focusing on quality over quantity.

Local SEO Optimisation: 

Enhance your Google My Business profile, gather customer reviews, and ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) consistency across directories.

Adapt Ad Strategies: 

Consider adopting and adapting successful ad strategies from your competitors, tailored to your budget and goals.

Analysing competitors on the SERP is an important piece to improving your HVAC business's online visibility. However, effectively implementing the necessary changes can be challenging. 

Partnering with an SEO expert can streamline this process, helping you focus on your business while improving your online strategy. Consider booking a 15 minute strategy call with us to explore how we can help you outpace the competition and grow your online presence.