3. Learn from Your Competitor’s SERP success

Don’t underestimate the power of learning from your competitor’s SERP success. By analyzing historical data and current trends, you can gain valuable insights into what’s working and what’s not in the search landscape.

Here’s how to leverage competitor data:

• Track competitor performance over time: Utilize tools like Pi’s Competitor Discovery or Visibility Index to see which websites have improved or declined in ranking for your target keywords over a specific period (e.g., 6 months). This can reveal valuable insights into their SEO strategies and how algorithm shifts have affected them.
• Uncover the “why” behind their success: Analyze their content and identify what might be contributing to their rise. Are they creating comprehensive content pieces focusing on long-tail keywords? Or are they embracing new conversational formats like those predicted to appear in SGE?
• Prepare for the future: Don’t just focus on “what” your competitors are doing, but also “why” and “how” it might impact the future landscape. 
• Compare with your competitors: Utilize Pi’s competitive discovery tools alongside visibility data to benchmark your performance against your competitors. Analyze their historical fluctuations and identify their strengths and weaknesses to gain valuable insights into your own strategy, and where you can improve.

By actively learning from your competitors’ successes and failures, you can identify opportunities to improve your own strategy and stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of search. Staying informed and proactive will be key to outperforming your competition in the future.

💡Tip: Pi’s Competitor Discovery tool allows you to identify your top 10 competitors based on SERP visibility, along with the percentage of keyword rankings they hold for each search term position.

Example:

We analyzed 1000 keywords related to “best tech” in August 2023 using Competitor Discovery. The data revealed techradar.com and expertreviews.co.uk as the clear leaders, followed by independent.co.uk and tomsguide.com.

Image source: Pi’s Competitor Discovery 

Fast forward 6 months to February 2023 – we can see that the SERP landscape has shifted. While techradar.com and expertreviews.co.uk maintain their dominance, tomsguide.com and pcmag.com have made significant gains in their rankings. Interestingly, independent.co.uk and goodhousekeeping.com have lost SERP visibility.

Image source: Pi’s Competitor Discovery

4. Gain a Granular Understanding of Your Visibility

Understanding your own website’s visibility is crucial for staying ahead in the ever-changing search landscape. While traditional SEO tools provide valuable insights, going granular can truly give you an edge.

Here’s how to get granular with your visibility:

• Leverage daily data: Tools like Pi’s Visibility Index provides daily data updates, allowing you to track fluctuations and identify potential impacts on your performance. Remember, a week in search can be a long time, so staying up-to-**** offers you a critical advantage.
• Go beyond the surface: Don’t just monitor your current performance. Rewind historical data (ideally 12 months or more) to gain context and understand the “why” behind your website’s visibility trends. This can reveal the impact of both algorithm updates and shifts in user behavior.
• Focus on quality signals: Remember, visibility is directly linked to traffic and revenue. Quality signals like E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) are critical ranking factors. By ensuring your website upholds these qualities, you’ll be better positioned to benefit from core updates and maintain visibility in the long run.

By getting granular with your visibility, you can gain a deeper understanding of your website’s performance and the landscape around you. This empowers you to be able to make informed decisions, adapt your strategy, and stay ahead of the curve in the dynamic world of SEO.

5. Get Inside the Mind of the Searcher

Understanding searcher intent is crucial for SEO success. By understanding the intent of your audience, you can craft content and user journeys that resonate with their needs, questions, and potential purchases.

Here’s how to get inside the mind of the searcher:

• Analyze “People Also Ask” SERP features: Tools like Pi’s People Also Ask Explorer reveals the additional questions searchers are asking alongside their main search queries, allowing you to better understand your audience’s needs and pain points. 
• Utilize search term discovery tools: Tools like Pi’s Search Term Discovery  help you build targeted keyword datasets and understand user intent to drive targeted traffic to your website. Aligning content with intent is a proven way to increase SERP visibility and therefore revenue.
• Get granular with search matrices: Pi’s Search Matrix provides a deeper understanding of the content users are consuming by showing you which SERP features are visible for each search term – uncovering gaps in your current content, and identifying opportunities to compete for prime digital real estate.

By combining these techniques, you can gain valuable insights into user intent, search behavior, and content consumption patterns. This empowers you to create content that addresses their needs and will earn clicks in the SERP. As search features change, the way people search is changing too. 

💡Tip: Pi’s Search Term Discovery tool allows you to step inside your audience’s mind by identifying the questions they’re asking. This makes it easy to attract new customers by tailoring your content strategy to answer their needs.

Example:
Using “get fit” as our seed term, Pi’s Search Term Discovery tool reveals valuable insights including search intent, which SERP features are present, estimated search volume, and search trends over time. 

Image source: Pi’s Search Term Discovery Tool

Final Thoughts

Gone are the days of simple keyword searches. Today’s search landscape is a dynamic, data-driven ecosystem in constant flux. This shift demands a more nuanced approach to SEO, one that prioritizes understanding user intent and agility. 

By following the steps above, along with leveraging the power of Pi Datametrics, you can stay ahead of the competition in the ever-evolving landscape of search and achieve sustainable SEO success for years to come.