It’s odd how many companies are quite obsessed about their competitors, possibly with good reason, but when it comes to search engine optimisation, they show no such interest at all. Many companies spend time and effort trying to get to the top of the Google rankings, while ignoring their competitors in the results as if they aren’t even there. However, every website competes in the same space, and so the first thing you might want to analyse is why the companies at the top are in that position. What have the top sites done which you could copy or improve on? What have they got which is out of your reach, and is that going to be crucial? If you’d like a good read on the subject, I’d recommend The Importance of Determining SERP Competition on SEObook, which is a long article full of interesting ideas.