Being able to compete in an increasingly competitive web atmosphere is the only way that your brand or blog will survive. It wasn’t that long ago that businesses could tap into niche markets with little resistance, but monetization across all industries has left very little room for uncontested territory to be enjoyed. As such, it pays to know what your competition is doing: what works for them and work doesn’t can be to your advantage, if you know the difference. There are a variety of tools available to webmasters that can help shed some light on what your competitors are up to, but you must first know where to find them. In the following article, we will outline four different and free tools you can use to do just that.

Raven Tools

Have you ever wanted to compare your website and a competitor’s side-by-side, to see what you’re doing better and what they are doing better? Raven Tools may prove to be a valuable assistant in this effort. Not only can you compare SEO quality and analytics data for up to five different websites, but you’ll also have the option of pinging links on these sites to obtain more data (and maybe some leads for your own backlink potential). You’ll be able to try Raven Tools free for up to 30 days.

URL Profiler

If you’re looking for something that can be used directly from your desktop, then URL Profiler is a great solution. Available via a free trial (which lasts for 30 days) and subsequently can be purchased for around $125 per year, this all-in-one solution will pull information from a variety of third-party sources to determine link metrics, analytics, PageRank, SEO status, content quality and social engagement for your site and countless others. This tool can come in handy both for your very own website audit and competition analysis.

SEMRush

Need help discovering new and competitive keywords? Then you’ll love SEMRush, which is available now via a 14-day free trial. You’ll be able to explore data and trends for organic keywords, as well as do the same for paid search results. Perfect for anyone who is pinging links to search engines, SEMRush will allow you to track organic positions for domains, determine search volumes, analyze competitors’ actions and filter down results by geography. After the trial expires, SEMRush is available for $70 per month, which is worth it considering how many different search engines and metrics this program monitors and provides.

Mention

If you want to stay abreast of what you and your competitors are saying on social media, then you’ll want to get a hold of Mention. Currently available via a two week trial and configured to work in more than 40 languages, Mention provides users with the ability to monitor social media networks, blogs, forums and other social areas where your content may be shared. You’ll be able to determine who is talking about you, when they’re doing it and where it’s happening. All data can be exported to spreadsheets and PDF files for offline inspection and storage.