Why Are My Competitors Still Ranking Above Me?

If you’re already putting time and effort into your SEO strategy, it can be highly frustrating when your competitors are still outperforming you in search results. So, let’s dive into this, why are your competitors still ranking higher than you on Google?

If your competitors are ranking higher than you in the search results, it could be because they have more content on their site or that their content is higher-quality, better-optimised or newer than yours. They might also have a higher Domain Authority because their site has a greater number of backlinks or more trustworthy links.

Read on for a more in depth look at the six reasons why your competitors might be performing better than you in the search results, with actionable steps you can take to improve your rankings. 

6 Reasons Why Your Competitors Are Ranking Above You

If you’re appearing below your competitors’ websites in the search results, it can feel like SEO is a waste of time. However, disregarding your SEO strategy likely means you’ll fall even further behind your competitors. 

Here are six reasons why your competitors might be performing better than you in the SERPs, complete with actionable steps you can take to get ahead. 

1. Your Competitors Have Relevant, Well-Written Content

According to Google, writing high-quality, in-depth content about your industry or niche that is designed to answer users’ queries is one of the best ways to rank highly in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). If a competitor is ranking above you, there’s a good chance they have better-quality content on their site. 

So, What Does High-Quality Content Look Like?

Writing high-quality content is essential to rank well, but what does this actually mean? High-quality content should be:

• Well-written and error-free.
• Structured clearly with headings and subheadings.
• Engaging with images, bullet points, statistics and tables.
• Relevant and up-to-date.
• Linking to relevant external websites and relevant pages on your own website.
• Informative, helpful and long enough to answer the users’ query.

Action Steps:

• Conduct a content audit of all the content on your site. Make a note of thin, low-quality or outdated content that you think could be improved.
• Optimise thin or low-quality content.
• Update outdated content with recent information, facts and statistics. 
• Look at the content on your competitors’ websites. What kind of content do they have? What topics are they writing about? Think about how you can use their content to improve yours. For example, you might notice that your competitors have included FAQs on their product pages, so you decide to add FAQs to your own pages.

2. Your Competitors Are Undertaking Regular Keyword Research 

If you’re writing content based on what you think your customers want to know or your own industry knowledge, this is a great place to start. However, it will never be as effective as writing content based on actual keyword research. 

So, What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the practice of using an SEO tool (like Semrush) to find keywords or phrases that users are searching for that are relevant to your business. Using the exact words or phrases that users are searching for in your content (usually in the title) makes it clear to Google that your content is relevant making it more likely to appear highly in the SERPs. 

For example, if you’re writing a blog about painting ceilings, you might decide to call it ‘The Best Way to Paint a Ceiling’. However, after doing some keyword research, you find that a lot of people are searching for the phrase ‘how to paint a ceiling’. This allows you to change the title of your blog to better match what users are looking for. You might call it ‘How to Paint a Ceiling in 6 Easy Steps’. 

For more information on why keyword research is so important to outrank your competitors, check out our blog, ‘Why Are Keywords Important in SEO?’.

Actions Steps:

• Use a free keyword research tool (such as Google Keyword Planner) or invest in a paid tool (such as Semrush) to guide your content strategy.
• Look for keywords that have a high search volume, low difficulty and match the intent of the content you want to write. For example, a commercial intent keyword would be ideal for a product or service page, while an informational intent keyword would be better for a blog post. 
• Conduct competitor keyword research and look at which keywords your competitors are ranking for and targeting in your content. 
• Ensure that all the key pages on your site are optimised for one primary keyword. It’s best to include the primary keyword in the title of your page or blog post. Secondary keywords can go in the subheadings or in the body.
• Going forward, all content should be written with keywords in mind. Try to target one to three keywords in each piece of content. 

Learn more about the right keywords to use in your content in our recent blogs, Which Keywords are Best to Target?, and Is Search Intent a Ranking Factor?

3. Your Competitors Have More Content or Upload New Content Frequently

Having a wealth of high-quality, relevant content on your site will show Google that you’re an expert in your industry. This will help you achieve better rankings and potentially outperform your competitors. Look at how much content your competitors have on their sites. Do they have lots of relevant blog posts? Have they created separate pages for each of their sub-services or created industry-specific pages? If your site has significantly less content, then Google will view your competitors’ sites as more authoritative and reward them accordingly. 

It’s not just enough to upload new content, you also need to refresh your old content. Blogs can quickly become outdated and irrelevant. Product or service pages might no longer reflect what you offer. Regularly reviewing your existing content and making improvements should form an important part of your SEO strategy. For more in-depth information, have a look at our blog, ‘How Do I Refresh Old Content for SEO?’.

Action Steps:

• Review your competitors’ content. Are they uploading new blogs once a month? Do they have more product pages?
• Make a plan to optimise and refresh your existing content. 
• Try to upload blogs regularly to keep your site fresh and show Google that you’re active and are providing new content for your audience. 

4. Your Competitors Have More or Better Quality Backlinks

If you’ve got plenty of high-quality content on your site, but you’re still behind many of your competitors in the SERPs, then a lack of backlinks might be the problem. Google prioritises pages that have backlinks from trusted and reputable websites. 

Domain Authority is a score given by search engines indicating how authoritative a website is based on all the other sites which are linked to it. Building a good backlink profile is the best way to improve your website’s Domain Authority.

So, What Are Backlinks and Why Are They Important?

A backlink is a link that points to your website from an external website. They show search engines that your content is valuable, helpful and trustworthy. The more backlinks your site has, the better chance it has of ranking highly in the SERPs. However, a few high-quality backlinks carry more weight than many links from low-quality websites. 

Action Steps:

• Use an SEO tool such as Semrush to research your competitors’ Domain Authority and backlinks. They have a tool called Backlink Gap which is especially useful for finding untapped backlink opportunities.
• Make a note of any high-quality backlinks that your competitors have gained. 
• Reach out to the sites you’ve identified in order to gain a backlink from them. This could involve writing an article that they might be interested in and reaching out to them to see if they’re interested. 

If you’d like more information on researching your competitors’ backlinks, read our blog, ‘Should You Research Your Competitors’ Backlinks?’.

5. Your Competitors Have Better Brand Visibility or an Established Reputation

If your competitors are established brands while you are a relative newcomer to the industry, you might find that you struggle to compete with them in the SERPs. Although Google doesn’t directly consider a domain’s age to be a ranking factor, older websites will typically have a higher Domain Authority as they’ve had years to write content, build backlinks and establish themselves as an industry expert.  Additionally, users are more likely to click on search results from well-known brands, which in turn improves their rankings. 

Key Actions

Although there’s nothing you can do about the age of the website, there are still some steps you can take to improve the visibility of your brand:

• Focus on a long-term SEO strategy, with regular blog posts that answer users’ common questions about your product, service or industry. 
• Use social media to engage with your existing audience and reach out to a wider audience that might be interested in your products or services. 
• Consider collaborating with an influencer to take advantage of their fan base. 
• Create a PR campaign or run a competition that will create a buzz around your brand.

6. Your Competor’s Websites Offer a Better User Experience 

Most people wouldn’t consider user experience a part of SEO or understand how improving the UX of your website can boost rankings. However, Google takes a wide range of ranking factors into consideration, including some which can be improved with better UX design. User experience covers everything from page layout to site safety to loading speed. 

According to Think with Google, 53% of users will abandon a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load. So, improving your site’s UX can also boost your engagement and conversion rate. 

Google Search Central’s guidelines outline the following elements as important for a good page experience which is rewarded by their ranking system:

• Good Core Web Vitals, which includes loading performance and page stability.
• Mobile-friendly content and design.
• Secure pages.
• A lack of excessive or distracting ads.
• A lack of intrusive interstitials.

For more information, read our blog ‘Why Is User Experience (UX) Design Important in SEO?’.

Action Steps:

• Improve page loading time. You can use a tool like GTMetrix to test your website’s performance. 
• Ensure your website uses HTTPS.
• Check your website functions on mobile. Simply check your website on a mobile device and check the layout looks the same as it does on a desktop.

Are Your Competitors Actively Investing in SEO?

If you notice that your competitors are outperforming you in the SERPs, there’s a good chance that they’re actively investing in SEO. If your competitors are spending a lot of time, resources and budget on their SEO strategy, then you’ll need to do the same to avoid getting left behind. However, this is easier said than done, especially if your team does not have the extra time or skillset to compile a comprehensive SEO strategy. This is when it might be useful to get the help of a specialist SEO agency. 

Get Help With Your SEO Strategy From Wildcat Digital

At Wildcat Digital, we offer comprehensive SEO services that help businesses outperform their competitors in search results and punch above their weight online. Our expert team can conduct a full review of your competitors’ websites to identify ways that you can get ahead of them in the SERPs. 

Contact us today to find out more.