SEO Competitor Analysis
Our SEO competitor analysis shows why specific businesses outrank you, comparing keywords, content, backlinks and local rankings, and points to the gaps you can realistically close first.
What's included
- Identification of your real search competitors, which are not always the businesses you compete with offline
- A side-by-side domain comparison with 3 to 5 competitors
- A keyword gap list: terms competitors rank for that you don't
- A content gap review: pages, services and topics they cover that your site is missing
- A backlink gap list: sites linking to competitors but not to you
- A local ranking comparison for your main services where the map pack matters
- A notes sheet on what each competitor does well and where they are weak
- A shortlist of the gaps worth going after first
Who it's for
Competitor analysis is for owners who keep seeing the same few names above them in Google and want to know, specifically, what those businesses are doing differently. It is particularly useful if:
- A newer competitor has overtaken you. A company that opened a couple of years ago now appears above you for your main service, and you want to know what they changed.
- You compete with directories and aggregators. A moving company or a home inspector often finds lead-generation sites and directories filling the results, and needs to know which searches are still winnable directly.
- You're entering a new market, such as a new town, a new service or a new customer type, and want to see who is already established there before investing.
- You're choosing between SEO priorities. Content, links or technical work: seeing what the leaders have that you don't makes the decision much easier.
If you haven't done keyword research yet, competitor data is one of the best places to start it, and the two services work well together.
How we do it
The analysis combines competitor research (domain analysis, competitor gap analysis and backlink analysis) with a manual look at the pages and results themselves.
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Step 1: Find the real competitors
We search your main service and location terms and record which domains appear most often in the regular results and the map pack. Directories and national sites are noted separately, since you usually compete with them differently. From the local and niche competitors, we pick three to five to analyze in depth, and we check the list with you in case there is a business you specifically want included.
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Step 2: Compare the domains
Domain analysis gives a high-level snapshot of each competitor next to your site: estimated organic visibility, the number of keywords they rank for, their top pages and the overall size of their link profiles. This quickly shows the scale of the gap. Sometimes a competitor is far ahead on every measure. Sometimes they are ahead mostly because of one or two strong pages, which is a much easier problem to address.
Domain analysis - 3
Step 3: Keyword and content gaps
Competitor gap analysis lists keywords that one or more competitors rank for where your site doesn't appear. We filter out irrelevant terms and group the rest by service. Then we look at the pages behind those rankings. Often the pattern is simple: a competitor has a separate page for each service and town while you have one general page, or they answer pricing and process questions that your site avoids.
Competitor gap analysis - 4
Step 4: Backlink gaps
With backlink analysis and the link side of the gap analysis, we compare who links to each competitor. We separate links you could realistically get, such as local associations, suppliers, event sponsorships and directories, from ones that come from years of press or history. That becomes a practical target list for off-page SEO.
Backlink analysis - 5
Step 5: Local comparison
For businesses that rely on Google Maps, we compare your visibility for key terms against the same competitors and note differences in their Business Profiles: categories, reviews, photos and posts.
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Step 6: Decide what to go after first
We sort every gap by how valuable it is to your business and how achievable it looks given your current site. The top of the list is usually a mix of pages to create or improve and a few link targets.
What competitor data can and can't tell you
Competitor data is very good at showing what is visible: which pages rank, which keywords they appear for, which sites link to them and how their Business Profiles are set up. It is estimated data, drawn from search results and crawls of the web, so treat the traffic numbers as a guide to scale rather than an exact count.
It can't show a competitor's revenue, how many calls they get or how well they convert visitors. A competitor who ranks well may still be struggling, and one who barely ranks may be busy through referrals. So we avoid conclusions like "copy whatever the leader does." Some of what the leader does may be working in spite of itself.
What the data is best at is revealing patterns. If all three businesses above you have a dedicated page for each service and you have one combined page, that is a strong signal. If all of them are listed with the same regional associations and you aren't, that is another. We look for patterns shared across several competitors, because those are far more likely to reflect what search engines reward in your market than any single site's quirks.
What you receive
The analysis is delivered once, as:
- A competitor summary covering each competitor's strengths and weak spots in plain English
- Gap spreadsheets for keywords, content and backlinks, with the relevant URLs
- A local comparison table where map rankings matter
- A prioritized action shortlist of the gaps to work on first and why
Each gap on the shortlist is tied to a concrete next step, such as a page to write, a page to expand or a site to contact for a listing, so the analysis turns straight into a work plan. The spreadsheets include the competitor URLs behind every finding, which lets you check anything yourself.
If you want to keep watching competitors over time, the Authority plan on our monthly SEO services includes ongoing competitor tracking.
Pricing
This is covered by our Basic one-time SEO package at $99.
Competitor analysis is built into every one-time package, so the Basic package is enough to get it along with keyword research and page optimization. Standard and Premium include the same analysis with more keywords and pages optimized. Ongoing competitor tracking is part of our Authority monthly plan.
Basic
$99 one time
- Competitor analysis
- Research on 10 keywords
- 10 pages optimized
- Image optimization
- 10 business directory listings
- Report of every listing
Standard
$199 one time
- Competitor analysis
- Research on 20 keywords
- 20 pages optimized
- Image optimization
- 20 business directory listings
- Google Business Profile optimization
- Schema markup
- Report of every listing
Premium
$399 one time
- Competitor analysis
- Research on 50 keywords
- 50+ pages optimized
- Image optimization
- 40 business directory listings
- Google Business Profile optimization
- Schema markup
- 2 guest articles on relevant websites
- Report of every listing and link
Every listing and link is on a real, trusted site. No spam links. You get a report showing each one.
Directory listings include Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp, Foursquare and directories for your industry.
Frequently asked questions
Something else? Call (866) 571-4320.
Who are my SEO competitors?
They are whoever shows up in Google for the searches you want, which is not always who you think. A local bakery might compete in search with a national recipe site, a wedding cake directory and a grocery chain, not just the bakery down the street. We identify the sites that actually take the positions you want, then pick the three to five that are most useful to compare against.
Is this the same as a competitor website analysis?
It overlaps. A general competitor website analysis might look at design, pricing and messaging. Our SEO competitor analysis focuses on search: which keywords competitors rank for, which pages bring them traffic, and which sites link to them. We do note obvious things like missing service pages or weak calls to action, because they affect results too.
Can't I just use an SEO competitor checker tool?
A free SEO competitor checker gives you numbers, and that is useful. The hard part is interpreting them: deciding which gaps matter for a business your size, which ones are out of reach for now and what to do about the rest. The analysis you get from us ends with a shortlist of actions, not just charts.
Will you copy my competitors' content?
No. We look at what topics and questions their pages cover so you can see what searchers expect, then help you write something that fits your own business. Copying content is both unethical and bad for SEO, since search engines tend to ignore duplicates.
What if my competitors are much bigger than me?
Then the analysis looks for the places where size matters less: specific services they cover thinly, towns they don't target, questions they don't answer, and local directories they are missing from. A small business can often compete well in narrow areas even when the broad terms are dominated by larger sites.
Do competitors know when I analyze them?
No. The analysis uses public search data and publicly visible links and pages. Nothing we do contacts or notifies your competitors.
Can I choose which competitors you analyze?
Yes. Tell us who you see as your main rivals and we will include them. We also add any sites that consistently take the search positions you want, even if you have never thought of them as competition, since those are the ones your pages are actually up against in Google.
See exactly where competitors are beating you
Tell us about your business in a short chat. We review your website and contact you within one business day, with no obligation.