Most businesses conduct competitive analysis incorrectly. Either they don’t do it at all, relying on intuition, or they do it once a year and forget. Or they collect tons of data without practical conclusions.
Proper competitive analysis is not just “looking at what others do.” It’s a systematic process that provides actionable insights for your strategy. Here’s how to do it correctly.
Contents
Why Competitive Analysis is Needed
Analysis Goals
Identify opportunities
- Find where competitors are weak
- Discover unoccupied niches
- Spot content gaps
Avoid mistakes
- Learn from others’ experience
- Don’t repeat failed strategies
- Save budget on tests
Benchmarking
- Compare your metrics with the market
- Set realistic goals
- Determine your position
Find ideas
- What works for others
- Successful content formats
- Effective channels
Differentiate yourself
- How to stand out from competitors
- Unique value proposition
- Your positioning
When to Conduct Analysis
During strategy development (mandatory)
- Understanding market landscape
- Identifying competitive advantages
- Setting realistic goals
Quarterly (regular monitoring)
- Tracking strategy changes
- Monitoring new players
- Updating benchmarks
When launching a new product
- Analyzing competitor offerings
- Determining differentiation
- Pricing strategy
When entering a new market
- Identifying local players
- Understanding market specifics
- Strategy adaptation
When results change abruptly
- Searching for reasons of decline
- Analyzing competitors’ actions
- Quick response
Step 1: Identifying Competitors
Types of Competitors
It’s important to understand that competitors can be different, and each type requires a separate approach to analysis.Direct competitors offer the same product or service, target the same audience, and directly compete with you for customers. These are your main rivals to focus on in your analysis.
Indirect competitors offer different products but solve the same customer need. For example, for online courses, indirect competitors could be books, YouTube channels, or offline training. They could become direct competitors in the future, so don’t ignore them.
SEO competitors are sites that rank for your keywords but may not be business competitors. For example, an information portal might occupy a top position for a commercial query. For SEO strategy, their analysis is critically important.
How to Find Competitors
There are several reliable methods for identifying competitors. Start with Google search for your keywords – whoever appears in the top 10 is your competitor. Ahrefs and SEMrush tools have the Competing Domains feature that automatically shows sites with similar semantic cores. Don’t forget the most valuable information source – your customers. Ask them who else they considered before choosing you. It’s also useful to review industry rankings, directories, and social networks for relevant hashtags.
How Many Competitors to Analyze
For in-depth analysis, select 3-5 main direct competitors – analyzing more will be difficult to do quality. For general monitoring, you can track up to 10-15 players, including indirect and SEO competitors. The main rule – focus on those who actually compete for your customers and budgets.
Step 2: Analyzing SEO Competitors
Organic Visibility
Use professional tools for analyzing organic visibility: Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz. These platforms give an assessment of competitors’ organic traffic, show the number of keywords in top 10 and top 100, and also Domain Rating/Authority – domain authority metrics. It’s important to analyze not only static indicators but also growth dynamics: is the competitor’s traffic increasing or decreasing?
Content Strategy
Analyzing competitors’ content gives invaluable insights for your own strategy. Study their site structure and main sections. What types of content do they use: blog, guides, cases, videos? What is the publication frequency – daily, weekly, monthly? Identify the most successful pages by traffic through Ahrefs or SEMrush – this will show which topics resonate with the audience. Pay attention to content length and depth: detailed longreads or short notes work better in your niche.
Keywords
Analyzing competitors’ keywords is one of the most valuable stages of research. Identify which keywords they rank for in the top. Pay special attention to content gap – these are keywords where competitors have positions but you don’t. These are direct opportunities for your growth. Keyword overlap shows common keywords you directly compete for. Competitors’ unique keywords may open up new directions you didn’t think about.
Referral Profile
Analyzing the referral profile shows how competitors build authority. Pay attention to the number of referring domains – unique domains linking to the site. Evaluate DR/DA of these links – quality links from authoritative resources are more valuable than hundreds of weak ones. Anchor text distribution will show which anchors are used for links. Identify top referral sources – these are potential places for your link building. The rate of link growth indicates the competitor’s activity in this direction.Step 3: Analyzing Paid Advertising
Google Ads
Tools: SEMrush, SpyFu, iSpionage
What to analyze:
- Advertising budget assessment
- Keywords they target
- Ad texts
- Landing pages
Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram)
Tools: Meta Ad Library (free)
What to analyze:
- Active ads
- Creatives (formats, style)
- Texts and messages
- Call-to-action
- Campaign duration
Display та YouTube
Tools: SEMrush, Moat
What to analyze:
- Banner ads
- Video ads
- Placements
- Creative approaches
Step 4: Analyzing SMM Competitors
Social Media Presence
Metrics:
- Number of followers
- Engagement rate
- Posting frequency
- Audience growth
Content Strategy
Що аналізувати:
- Content types (educational, entertaining, selling)
- Formats (photos, videos, carousels, stories)
- Tone of voice
- Topics and categories
- Top posts (by engagement)
Engagement Analysis
- Average engagement per post
- Like-to-comment ratio
- Comment quality
- Responses to comments
Step 5: Analyzing Product and Positioning
Product Offering
- Product/service assortment
- Pricing policy
- Unique features
- Guarantees and terms
Positioning
- Value proposition
- Key messages
- Target audience
- Brand voice and style
Customer Experience
- Purchase process
- Customer support
- Reviews and ratings
- Loyalty programs
Frameworks for Analysis
SWOT Analysis
For each competitor:
- Strengths – strengths
- Weaknesses – weaknesses
- Opportunities – opportunities for you
- Threats – threats from them
Competitive Matrix
Comparison table by criteria:
- Price
- Quality
- Service
- Assortment
- Digital presence
- Brand
Perceptual Map
Positioning visualization:
- X-axis: price (low – high)
- Y-axis: quality (low – high)
- Competitors’ positions on the map
Analysis Tools
SEO and Traffic
- Ahrefs – links, keywords, traffic
- SEMrush – comprehensive analysis
- SimilarWeb – traffic and sources
- Moz – DA, links
Advertising
- Meta Ad Library – Facebook/Instagram ads
- SpyFu – Google Ads competitors
- Moat – display ads
Social Media
- Socialblade – YouTube, Instagram statistics
- Sprout Social – comprehensive SMM analysis
- Brand24 – mentions and sentiment
From Analysis to Actions
Documentation
- Create a competitive intelligence database
- Update regularly (quarterly)
- Versioning for change tracking
Actionable Insights
For each finding, determine:
- What does it mean for us?
- · What opportunity does it open?
- What threat does it pose?
- What specific actions are needed?
Integration into Strategy
- Content gap → content plan
- Keyword opportunities → SEO strategy
- Advertising insights → PPC optimization
- Positioning → messaging
FAQ
What are the best tools for competitor analysis?
For SEO analysis – Ahrefs or SEMrush (paid, $99-449/month). For advertising analysis – Meta Ad Library (free) and SpyFu. For traffic – SimilarWeb (free version available). For SMM – Socialblade and built-in platform analytics. Start with free tools and scale as needed.
How often should competitive analysis be updated?
In-depth analysis – once per quarter. Monitoring key metrics – monthly. Tracking ads and content – weekly. Set up alerts for competitor mentions and significant changes in their strategy.
How many competitors should be analyzed?
For in-depth analysis – 3-5 main direct competitors. For general monitoring – up to 10-15, including indirect and SEO competitors. Focus on those who actually compete for your customers, not all in the industry.
How to find competitors' advertising budgets?
Exact budgets are unavailable. SEMrush and SpyFu provide estimates for Google Ads. For Facebook/Instagram, you can estimate based on the number and duration of active campaigns in the Ad Library. Note that these are just estimates with a 30-50% error margin.
Is it ethical to copy competitors' strategies?
Analyzing and drawing inspiration is ethical and correct. Direct content or creative copying is unethical and may violate copyright. Use insights to improve your own strategy, not for copying. Your goal is to differentiate, not to be similar.
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