SEO Racetrack: How To Slingshot Your Way Around Your Competition

Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 Leave a comment

In auto racing there is a concept called slingshotting where you follow the lead driver until you are ready to make your pass. If you watch NASCAR or Formula 1 racing, you’ll see this happen often. The following auto “hides” behind the lead vehicle just close enough to catch the pocket of air created by the wind sheer factor. The lead vehicle catches the wind and therefore has the most resistance. But when its time to make a pass, the following automobile can swish into its follow lane, accelerate and use the leverage created from the lead vehicle’s wind resistance to propel itself forward. Crafty auto racers can pull out last minute victories in a heartbeat.

So how does this apply to search engine optimization? You can use a similar tactic to sneak up on your competition and overtake them in the search engines.

Let’s say you have your eye on the coveted No. 1 position for a certain keyword, a position that’s been held for a long time. How do you take that away from the company that owns it? First, let me say that it isn’t easy, but it can be done. Here’s a recipe to help you get started.

  1. Study the competition. Look at every page of their website and take note of what they do well. Look at every on-page SEO factor that you can and determine how well each is employed. Next, study their inbound links and judge them according to quality based on relevance, anchor text, linking site authority, etc.
  2. After performing a thorough evaluation of the competition (ensuring that you include a list of the keywords they are targeting), start your own SEO campaign
  3. One by one, write a user focused web page targeting each keyword that your competition is targeting; be sure to write your content so that you focus on capitalizing on the on-page weaknesses of your competition while matching their successes
  4. Engage in a solid link building campaign that focuses on link diversity, link relevance, site authority, anchor text, and mimic the link building patterns of your competition that you deem a success.
  5. Focus your primary efforts on winning long tail keywords and keyword phrases. Look at it as a marathon, not a sprint.
  6. When you see yourself creeping up on page 1 of your competition, that is the time to start your slingshot move; increase your link building campaigns focusing on relevant anchor text and premium quality links from premium websites within your niche.

Taking over the competition in the search engine race is no easy task. It can be done but it requires patience, strong search engine optimization skills, and a diligent work ethic.

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