SEO Analysis: Monster Energy vs. Powerade

Introduction

SEO is an important consideration for marketers because it is the easiest way to drive traffic to your site. In the energy drink industry Monster Energy and Powerade have proven to be leaders. Using keyword sentences throughout their sites like “Keeps You Hydrated” and “Thor Kawasaki”, they attempt to attract different audiences. The objective is to determine which of the two sites when compared has a stronger SEO.

Screen Captures of both home pages:

SEO Considerations	Monster Energy	Powerade
URL:	https://www.monsterenergy.com/	http://www.us.powerade.com/
Keywords used on each site:	Unleash the Beast!, Total domination, Thor Kawasaki, Variety of energy drinks.	Hydration drink, Sports drink, Keeps you hydrated.
Frequency of Keywords:	Often	Not as often.
Locations of keywords:	Headers, alt text, description.	Alt text, description.
Keywords in URL:	None (Company name)	None (Company name)
<title>	<title>Monster Energy | Home</title>	<title>POWERADE - The Official Website for Powerade</title>
<meta name="description" content=“”/>	<meta name="description" content="Produces a variety of energy drinks in the USA. Offers information on each product along with apparel and information on their sponsored teams."/>	<meta name="description" content="Sports Drinks with Electrolytes. The best hydration for today's game. Discover more about our athletes, products, and exclusive rewards.">
<meta name="keywords" content=""/>	<meta name="keywords" content="Monster Energy US,monster,monsterenergy,energy drink,monster energy,energy,athletes,sports,promotions,girls,events"/>	N/A?
Site upload speed:	Fast	Fast
Quality of written content:	Well written.	Well written.
Quality of Visual Content:	Excellent.	Excellent.
Alt Text used:	Names & countries?	Names & countries?
Captions used:	Music, Monster girls, Teams, DOONIES 2, Total Domination for Thor Kawasaki 2	Powerade Rewards, Get Game Day Ready, Give Your Game Some Flavor, Lets All Connect.
Quality of Layout:	Excellent	Excellent.
Call-to-action:	No	Yes
Anchor Text:	Used often.	Used often.
Mobile Friendly:	Yes	Yes
Content is “shareable”:	Yes	Yes
Links to Social Media:	Yes	Yes
SERP ranking results when using keywords from this table:	High/Medium?	Medium?

 Google Trends:

Google Trends Insights:

It can be seen that Monster Energy is no match for Powerade. There is quite a difference between interest of Monster Energy and Powerade. It is interesting that there is a heightened need for energy drinks around September (when school starts).

Summary:

Monster Energy’s strengths are its use of captivating SEO keywords to entice you into staying on their page.
Powerade’s strengths are its use of captions and anchor text. The keyword sentences “Keeps you hydrated” can be found on Powerade’s site multiple times, trying to convince the consumer that is a viable option when in need of a drink.  Other observations are that Monster Energy has utilized their website in a brand sense, while Powerade tried to push their product more.

Conclusion:

In the energy drink industry, Monster Energy and Powerade have utilized SEO and their websites in a captivating way.  Using keyword sentences throughout their sites like “Variety of energy drinks”, “Keeps you hydrated”, and “Total domination”. In my opinion the overall winner of this SEO Search analysis is Monster Energy.

APA Citations:

Google. (February 2016). Google trends. [Energy drink, Monster Energy, Powerade]. Retrieved from https://www.google.ca/trends/explore#q=Energy%20drink%2C%20Monster%20Energy%2C%20Powerade&date=today%2012-m&cmpt=q&tz=Etc%2FGMT%2B5

Monster Energy. (2016). Monster Energy Home. Retrieved from https://www.monsterenergy.com/

Powerade. (2016). POWERADE - The Official Website for Powerade. Retrieved from http://www.us.powerade.com/