Why a competitor outranks you, and how to check
A competitor ranks above you for a search because, for that search, Google judges their page the better answer. That judgement rests on things you can compare yourself, page against page, in under an hour.
Each sounding opens its section
- 01 Start with one search, not the whole site 49 words
- 02 Does their page answer the search better? 92 words
- 03 Is their site more trusted? 71 words
- 04 Is their page faster and easier to use? 54 words
- 05 Can Google read your page properly? 68 words
- 06 For local searches, compare the profiles 51 words
- 07 What to fix first 41 words
- 08 Questions people ask 148 words
- 09 Free competitor gap report 95 words
- 10 More guides 31 words
- Words
- 700
- Site 366–1,117 · median 749.5
- Sections (H2)
- 10
- Site 3–14 · median 9
- Internal links
- 7
- Site 1–36 · median 19
- File
- 70.9 kB
- HTML, uncompressed · of 83.6 kB budget · 0 scripts
Start with one search, not the whole site
Rankings are decided search by search and page by page. Pick one search that matters to your business, open a private browser window, and note which of their pages appears and which of yours. Every check below compares those two pages.
Does their page answer the search better?
Relevance comes first. Read both pages the way a customer would and ask which one answers the search sooner and more fully.
- The title and the main heading name the thing that was searched for.
- The answer sits near the top, before any company history.
- The follow-up questions are covered. Google lists them in the “People also ask” box on the results page.
- The page is the kind of result Google is showing for that search: a guide, a product page or a local listing.
Is their site more trusted?
Links and mentions from other websites are one of the signals Google uses to judge how much a site can be trusted. A free backlink checker shows how many separate websites link to each of the two pages and to each domain. Look at who links to them, since a trade body, a supplier or a local newspaper is a link you could earn as well.
Is their page faster and easier to use?
Speed is measured, not guessed. Run both addresses through PageSpeed Insights, Google’s free tool, and compare the mobile results. The three figures that matter are how quickly the main content appears, how quickly the page responds to a tap, and whether the layout jumps while loading.
Can Google read your page properly?
Technical faults can hold back a page that is otherwise the better answer. In Google Search Console, the URL Inspection tool shows whether your page is indexed and which address Google treats as the main one. Check too that other pages on your own site link to it: a page nothing links to is hard for Google to find and to rate.
For local searches, compare the profiles
Local results follow three factors that Google names itself: relevance, distance and prominence. Open both Google Business Profiles side by side and compare the primary category, the number of reviews and how recent they are, the photos, and how completely each profile is filled in.
What to fix first
Order matters, because a later fix cannot help while an earlier fault remains. Make sure Google can read and index the page, then make the page the better answer, then make it fast, then earn the links.
Questions people ask
How long does it take to outrank a competitor in search?
The time depends on how far apart the two pages are and how often Google recrawls them. Fixes to a page's content and structure are usually picked up within days to weeks. Links and reputation build over months, and nobody can promise a date.
Can I see exactly which keywords a competitor ranks for?
Google itself does not publish that list. Keyword tools estimate it from their own crawls of search results, which is useful for spotting topics a competitor covers and you do not, but the figures are estimates.
Is it worth copying what a competitor's page does?
Copy the coverage, not the words. Where their page answers questions yours leaves out, answer them better and in your own terms. A page that repeats another gives a searcher no reason to choose it.
Free competitor gap report
To have this comparison done for you, name up to three competitors. We run these checks across your site and theirs and send you the gaps in the order to close them.
- Speed and technical health, side by side
- On-page SEO and site structure
- The content they are found for and you are not
- Who holds the searches that matter in your market
- A prioritised list of what to fix first
Request your free report by email
- Address
- contact@hadalmedusa.com
- Include
- your site; up to three competitors; where you compete