Competitor analysis is an important part of online marketing. Yes, you should always know what your brand mission and vision is and how to message that. And you must be in-tune with your target audience and how you can help them.

But understanding where your competitors are winning—or losing—can help you make smart home improvement marketing decisions, raise your position in SERPs, and drive more traffic to your site. Here are three questions to consider as you look at what competitors are doing online.

What Keywords Are Your Competitors Targeting?

Do competitors seem to be targeting relevant keywords that you aren’t? This can point to gaps in your home improvement website marketing strategy.

For example, if you own a window installation firm, you might find that several competitors have landing pages targeting warranty and replacement plans for new products. If you offer these options but haven’t called them out on your website, you might realize that people are looking for this type of information and you should provide it.

 What Types of Content Are Competitors Publishing?

You can learn more about what prospective consumers want to see and read from competitor content.

Do the other window firms in your area have a lot of how-to video content? When someone has a window repair issue, if they start by looking for DIY options, they’re more likely to land on that type of page. Then if they realize the task requires a professional, they know who to call. Since you want them to call you, you may need to increase your efforts with this type of content to compete online.

When looking at competitor content, consider factors such as:

• Word count. Is everyone publishing long-form content when you’re publishing short blog posts? It might be time to rework your old content and make it more comprehensive.
• Type of media. If all your competitors are using lots of images or video, you may need more variety to stay competitive.
• Voice and style. Do people seem to engage better with conversational or more formal content?

Are Competitors Pages Performing Well?

Remember, just because a competitor is doing it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Look at competitor pages in the top few spots on Google to see which pages have strong SEO performance or use products such as SimilarWeb to find out how much traffic competitor pages might be getting. Then you can take what seems to be working for others and ignore the rest.