Roofers Must Know Their Competitors to Get Ahead in The Roofing Business

Roofers must know their competitors. It is the truth. In the competitive roofing industry, staying ahead is essential for growth. Digital marketing offers powerful tools to help roofing contractors outshine their competition. Learn how to monitor competitors, refine strategies, and outperform them in local markets here.

• Utilize SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to identify competitors, analyze their rankings, and uncover why they rank higher.

• Track competitor engagement on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to improve your social media presence.

• Run paid search ads and strategically outbid competitors for high-converting local keywords, ensuring better visibility in search results.

• Create content highlighting your business's strengths—superior customer service or local expertise. Optimize your website to ensure these USPs stand out.

What is Competitor Analysis?

Competitor Analysis is the process of identifying and evaluating your business competitors to understand their strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and market position. This analysis involves researching competitors' products, services, marketing tactics, and online presence to uncover opportunities and threats in the market.

For digital marketing, tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush allow businesses to analyze competitor keywords, backlinks, and search engine rankings. By understanding what competitors are doing, businesses can refine their strategies, improve their offerings, and gain a competitive advantage.

Use SEO Tools for Competitor Analysis

To stay competitive, roofing contractors must know their local rivals and what they're doing online. SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush allow you to analyze competitors' websites. These tools help you understand which keywords they're ranking for, how strong their backlink profiles are, and what content drives traffic to their sites. You can find out more than you can imagine about your competitors.

To use Ahrefs for tracking competitors, follow these steps:

1.    Sign Up and Access the Dashboard

Sign up for an Ahrefs account and log in to the dashboard.

2.    Use the Site Explorer

Enter a competitor's website URL into Site Explorer for an overview of their traffic, backlinks, and top-performing content.

3.    Analyze Keywords

Go to the Organic Keywords section to see which keywords your competitor ranks for and identify opportunities where you can outrank them.

4.    Backlink Analysis

Check the Backlink Profile to see where your competitor gets links. You can approach these sites to try to get similar backlinks.

5.    Track Rankings

Use the Rank Tracker tool to monitor your competitors' keyword rankings.

6.    Content Gap Analysis

Use the Content Gap tool to find keywords that your competitors rank for but you don't. It is a great way to find new content ideas for your site.

Using these tools, you can effectively track competitors' SEO strategies, keywords, backlinks, and overall performance. For instance, if a competing roofing company ranks highly for "roofing services in Macon," you can identify that keyword and optimize your content to outrank them.

Example: Suppose you discover that a competitor ranks for "emergency roof repair Macon." You can create a blog post focusing on the same topic with more detailed content and optimize it with the same keyword to increase your site's rankings.

Get Competitor Updates with Google Alerts

Set up Google Alerts for competitor names or industry keywords to receive notifications when the terms pop up online. Any mention of the terms you set alerts for will trigger an email. Mentions include new blog posts, media mentions, news, social posts, or promotions.

Review Competitor Websites Regularly

Keep an eye on your competitors' websites. Check for new service offerings, design changes, customer testimonials, and blog posts to see how they position their brand. Also, read their reviews and review responses to see how well they handle customer service and how you can do it better.

Spy with Social Media Monitoring

By tracking your competitors' activities on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, you can get valuable insights into what's working for them in terms of engagement. Tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social allow you to monitor their posts, responses, and interactions. If a competitor's post about a roofing project generates many comments or shares, you can craft similar content to engage your audience.

Here are some excellent tools you can use for social media monitoring:

• Hootsuite: Tracks mentions, hashtags, and keywords across multiple platforms. You can also schedule posts and analyze your performance.

• Sprout Social: Offers social listening features to monitor brand mentions, keywords, and competitors while tracking user engagement.

• Brand24: Tracks mentions of your brand or specific keywords across social media, blogs, and forums.

• Buffer: Helps you monitor engagement and schedule content, with analytics to track performance.

• Mention: Monitors real-time mentions of your brand or competitors on social media, websites, and blogs.

These tools provide insights into how your brand and competitors are perceived online, helping refine your strategy.

Example: If a roofing company in your area posts photos of completed projects on Instagram and sees increased engagement, you can adopt the same approach, adding before-and-after photos of your roofing jobs to attract more likes, shares, and potential customers.

Monitor Paid Ads

Tools like SpyFu or iSpionage allow you to track competitors' Google Ads. You can see which keywords they are bidding on, their ad copy, and how much they're spending. Use the data you get about your competitors’ paid ads to develop your ad strategy.

Google Ads is a direct way to target those actively searching for a roofer in your area. You can outbid competitors by targeting specific local keywords such as "roof repair near me" or "Macon roofing contractor." By optimizing your ad copy and budget, you can be at the top of search results for valuable terms that drive business.

Example: If your competitors are bidding on "roofing contractor in Macon," you can create a similar Google ad with a unique value proposition such as "24/7 Emergency Roofing" or "Free Estimates." Being a problem solver helps you stand out and attract clicks over your competitors.

Stand Out with Unique Selling Points (USP)

Your USP differentiates you from the competition and should be highlighted across your website and digital platforms. Your USP might be faster service, better warranties, or local expertise. You can showcase your USPs through blog posts, landing pages, or videos to let customers know why they should choose you over the competition. Additionally, optimizing your website for SEO ensures your USPs are easily discoverable.

Example: If your USP is "fast emergency repairs within 24 hours," create a dedicated page optimized with SEO keywords such as "emergency roof repair Macon." You can also use customer testimonials emphasizing your quick service to reinforce trust and attract new leads.

Beat the Other Roofers

These detailed tactics will help you stay competitive and dominate your local roofing market by leveraging the power of digital marketing. By embracing digital marketing tools, roofing contractors like you can draw customers and gain a competitive edge.