Chris created the fictional company “Yogamatic,” and walked the SEO group members through ways to conduct research on one of Yogamatic’s top competitors.  The following is an overview of the techniques he presented:

Google Tools

Most of us are familiar with the Maps, Videos, News and Images tools on Google. But Google has other vertical search options that allow you to conduct targeted research on your competition.

The Updates tool will allow you to see what social media your competitors are using, and what users of social media are saying about your competitors.  The Discussions tool allows users to see threads and forums that mention your competition. This is a great place to look for – and capitalize on – complaints that people are making. And the Blogs tool allows you to see what blogs are saying about your competition.

Backlinks

OpenSiteExplorer.org is a free tool that allows you see which domains are linking to your competitors.  You can view by page, domain, anchor text, or a full list of metrics. You can use this information to help determine what direction to take your own website.

Traffic Patterns

Compete.com is another free tool that allows you to spy on competitors by peeking at their traffic levels. You can graph your own traffic against that of your competition to get a direct comparison. You can see from these graphs who is growing and who is shrinking, and by how much.

Keyword Rankings

SEMRush.com and SERPAnalytics.com will allow you to enter the domain name of your competition and see what keywords are organically ranking for that site. You can also see which keywords they are bidding on and how much they spend per month on PPC.  SEMRush includes a handy estimated traffic graph with the data.

Alerts

Setting up a Google Alert for your competitors means you will know when new pages appear in search rankings.  Through SocialMention.com, you can set an email alert or an RSS feed that helps you keep tabs on your competition.

I wanted to give a quick up-date on what’s going on with the next Pittsburgh SEO Group meeting as well as mention some cool SEO stories being spread around the web that are related to Pittsburgh. First off the Pittsburgh SEO Group has been delayed a month due to construction at our meeting space. We are currently aiming for mid-September and we have some interesting presentations lined up. I appreciate everyones patience.

On to the fun stuff…

1. Simple Pittsburgh SEO Tips for Beginners

2. Eyeflow Introduces SEOzio: An SEO Grading Tool (see also: Strong Correlation Between SEO & Website Traffic)

3. How To Post Better Facebook Status Updates

4. Pittsburgh BlogFest 20: The Return of the BlogFest

Thanks for reading, I look forward to seeing you at the next SEO meeting! Please contact us if you have any comments or questions.

Brandon Schenker of SB Marketing made a presentation on Keyword Research which brought the conversation back down to the practical, applicable aspects of SEO. Several Non-SEOs were in attendance and their websites often became a framework around which broader topics were discussed.

Overall, the event was deemed very interesting by attendees, several of which mentioned how refreshing it was to talk SEO with others deep in the industry.

Next month, Christina Keffer of Eyeflow will give a presentation on Search Engine and Web-friendly Copywriting. Other presenters are welcome, so if anyone has a topic near and dear to them please contact us for the chance to present!

Dates, times and location will follow shortly for the next Pittsburgh SEO Group meeting.

1. SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible
2. Landing Page Optimization

Everyone gets a chance to win. We’ll put everyones name together and randomly pick the winners.

Details: Pittsburgh SEO Group Meeting Monday March 23rd @ 7pm

Find us on: Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook

As of now most social media site’s don’t pass on much link juice or Google PageRank because of the nofollow tag but I think at some point the major search engines are going to have to take social media into consideration when ranking one page over another. If people are talking about it on social media site’s is likely that is important.

Maybe this will be something they will introduce into their TrustRank algorithm. The bottom line is if you wish to stay ahead of the curve then start joining social media sites today… which ones?… all of them, because who knows if or when Google will add social media mentions to their algorithm but it is likely it will happen and to some extent it already has (such as social media sites that offer dofollow links). One other thing to keep in mind is that social media search engines like http://www.blogcatalog.com/search do already exist and could potentially grow in usage very quickly.

Using these tools can help you get a better understanding of search engine optimization practices and point out any weaknesses your site may have.  A great way to keep up with new tools and seo news is to read sites like sphinn.

Once your signed up to the wiki feel free to add your own tools or create other wiki pages.

To clear up any confusion The Pittsburgh SEO Group is not associated with the Pittsburgh Internet Marketing & SEO Group on Meetup.com. We wish them the best of luck and hopefuly can we can work together in the future.

Update 1/01/2010

We are now working closely with the Pittsburgh Technology Council to provide the best experience we can.

Source: List of 9 Important Backlinks for Commercial Websites