Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analysis

Analyzes competitor SEO and GEO strategies to reveal repeatable wins, weak spots, and market gaps.

Quick Start

Analyze SEO strategy for [competitor URL]

Compare my site [URL] against [competitor 1], [competitor 2], [competitor 3]

Skill Contract

Expected output: a prioritized competitor brief plus the standard handoff summary for memory/research/.

• Reads: competitor URLs/domains, your own site metrics, business model, target audience, industry context, and any user-provided or tool data.
• Writes: a user-facing analysis and reusable summary.
• Promotes: durable competitor facts, keyword priorities, entity candidates, and pending strategy decisions to memory/hot-cache.md, memory/open-loops.md, and memory/research/.
• Done when: 3-5 competitors are benchmarked across keywords, backlinks, and traffic share in one comparison table; each strength-to-learn and weakness-to-exploit cites evidence; and the deliverable closes with an Immediate / Short-term / Long-term plan.
• Primary next skill: content-gap-analysis when the competitive landscape is clear.

Handoff Summary

Emit the standard shape from skill-contract.md §Handoff Summary Format.

Data Sources

Optional integrations: ~~SEO tool, ~~analytics, ~~AI monitor. Without tools, ask for competitor URLs, your site metrics, and industry context. See CONNECTORS.md.

Decision Gates

Stop and ask — when the competitor set cannot be established:

1. No competitors named and none inferable from CLAUDE.md, prior research, or the user's niche → ask the user to name 2-5 competitors, OR offer to infer them from a target keyword via serp-analysis first.

Continue silently — do not stop for: which 3-5 of a longer list to deep-dive (pick the closest direct competitors and note the rest); missing your-own-site metrics (benchmark competitors against each other and mark your row N/A); missing optional tool data (label Estimated and proceed).

Instructions

When a user requests competitor analysis:

1. Identify Competitors — separate direct competitors, indirect alternatives, and content competitors if the user has not named them already. 2. Gather Competitor Data — capture URL, domain age, estimated traffic, domain authority, business model, target audience, and key offerings. 3. Analyze Keyword Rankings — document total rankings, top 10/top 3 counts, high-value keywords, intent mix, and keyword gaps. 4. Audit Content Strategy — review content volume, top performers, publishing patterns, themes, and success factors. 5. Analyze Backlink Profile — review backlink totals, quality mix, top linking domains, link acquisition patterns, and linkable assets. 6. Technical SEO Assessment — evaluate Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, architecture, internal linking, URL structure, and standout strengths/weaknesses. 7. GEO / AI Citation Analysis — test which queries cite competitors, what formats get cited, and where competitors still leave openings. 8. Synthesize Competitive Intelligence — deliver an Executive Summary, comparison table, CITE comparison, strengths to learn from, weaknesses to exploit, keyword opportunities, content recommendations, and an Immediate / Short-term / Long-term plan.

Label every metric Measured (tool/export), User-provided, or Estimated (model inference); never present an estimate as measured; if a required metric is unavailable, mark it N/A — do not invent it.

Quality bar: every strength or weakness ties to a number and a named competitor — "HubSpot ranks top-3 for 4,200 commercial keywords", not "strong content presence".

Reference: See Analysis Templates for the compact templates used at each step.

Example

See references/example-report.md for a full sample analyzing HubSpot's marketing keyword dominance.

Advanced Analysis Types

Content Gap Analysis

For a pairwise topic-coverage gap map ("content [competitor] has that I don't, sorted by traffic potential"), hand off to content-gap-analysis — that is its dedicated job.

Link Intersection

Find sites linking to [competitor 1] AND [competitor 2] but not me

SERP Feature Analysis

What SERP features do competitors win? (Featured snippets, PAA, etc.)

Historical Tracking

How has [competitor]'s SEO strategy evolved over the past year?

Tips for Success

Analyze 3-5 competitors, include indirect players, and study both strengths and failures.

Save Results

Write path: memory/research/competitor-analysis/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>.md; promote durable competitor facts and entity candidates to memory/hot-cache.md. See Skill Contract §Save Results Template.

Reference Materials

• Analysis Templates — Step-by-step analysis templates
• Battlecard Template — Quick-reference battlecard format
• Positioning Frameworks — Positioning and differentiation frameworks
• Example Report — Worked sample

Next Best Skill

Primary: content-gap-analysis. Also: serp-analysis and backlink-analyzer.

Competitor Analysis — Analysis Templates

Compact templates for the competitor-analysis workflow.

Competitor Profile

## Competitor Profile: [Name]
- URL: [website]
- Domain age: [years]
- Estimated traffic: [monthly visits]
- Authority: [DA / DR]
- Type: [SaaS / e-commerce / content / other]
- Audience: [description]
- Key offerings: [products / services]

Keyword Analysis

### Keyword Analysis: [Competitor]
**Total Keywords**: [X] | **Top 10**: [X] | **Top 3**: [X]

| Keyword | Position | Volume | Traffic Est. | Page |
|---------|----------|--------|--------------|------|
| [kw] | [pos] | [vol] | [traffic] | [url] |

**Intent Mix**: Informational [X]% | Commercial [X]% | Transactional [X]% | Navigational [X]%

| Gap Keyword | Their Position | Volume | Opportunity |
|-------------|----------------|--------|-------------|
| [kw] | [pos] | [vol] | [analysis] |

Content Analysis

### Content Analysis: [Competitor]
**Content Volume**: Total [X] | Blog [X] | Landing [X] | Resource [X]

| Title | URL | Traffic Est. | Keywords | Backlinks |
|-------|-----|--------------|----------|-----------|
| [title] | [url] | [traffic] | [X] | [X] |

**Patterns**: Avg word count [X] | Publish frequency [X]/month | Formats [summary]

| Theme | Articles | Combined Traffic |
|-------|----------|------------------|
| [theme] | [X] | [traffic] |

Backlink Analysis

### Backlink Analysis: [Competitor]
**Backlinks**: [X] | **Referring Domains**: [X] | **DR**: [X]

**Quality Mix**: High [X]% | Medium [X]% | Low [X]%
**Link Acquisition Patterns**: Guest posts [X]% | Editorial [X]% | Resource pages [X]% | Directories [X]%

| Domain | DR | Link Type | Target Page |
|--------|----|-----------|-------------|
| [domain] | [DR] | [type] | [page] |

| Asset | Type | Backlinks | Why It Works |
|-------|------|-----------|--------------|
| [asset] | [type] | [X] | [reason] |

Technical SEO Assessment

### Technical Analysis: [Competitor]
- Core Web Vitals: [Pass/Fail] | LCP [X]s | CLS [X]
- Mobile-friendly: [Yes/No]
- Architecture depth: [X] levels
- URL structure: [Clean / mixed / messy]
- Strengths: [list]
- Weaknesses: [list]

GEO / AI Citation Analysis

### GEO Analysis: [Competitor]

| Query | AI Mentions Competitor? | What's Cited | Why |
|-------|-------------------------|--------------|-----|
| [query] | Yes/No | [content] | [reason] |

**Observed GEO Patterns**:
- Definitions: [example]
- Quotable stats: [example]
- Q&A content: [X] pages
- Authority signals: [author / citations / research]

| Missed Topic | Why Missing | Your Opportunity |
|--------------|-------------|------------------|
| [topic] | [reason] | [action] |

Synthesis Report

# Competitive Analysis Report
**Date**: [date] | **Competitors**: [list] | **Your Site**: [URL]

## Competitive Landscape
| Metric | You | Comp 1 | Comp 2 | Comp 3 |
|--------|-----|--------|--------|--------|
| Authority | [X] | [X] | [X] | [X] |
| Traffic | [X] | [X] | [X] | [X] |
| Top 10 Keywords | [X] | [X] | [X] | [X] |
| Backlinks | [X] | [X] | [X] | [X] |
| CITE Score | [X] | [X] | [X] | [X] |

For domain-level comparison, run `domain-authority-auditor` and add the CITE score row here when available.

## Strengths to Learn From
- [competitor] — [lesson]

## Weaknesses to Exploit
- [gap] — [action]

## Priority Opportunities
| Opportunity | Value | Action |
|-------------|-------|--------|
| [topic / keyword] | [score] | [next step] |

## Content Strategy Recommendations
- **Create**: [content type / topic]
- **Improve**: [existing asset]
- **Promote**: [asset + channel]

## Action Plan
- **Immediate**: [action]
- **Short-term**: [action]
- **Long-term**: [action]

Competitive Battlecard Template

Maintain one battlecard per major competitor. Audience: sales, content strategy, and marketing leadership. Review quarterly, and immediately after pricing, feature, funding, review-trend, or win/loss changes.

Copy-Start Battlecard

# Competitive Battlecard: [Competitor Name]

**Last updated**: [date]
**Owner**: [name/team]
**Confidence**: [High/Medium/Low]

## 1. Competitor Overview
| Field | Details |
|-------|---------|
| Company / website | [name] / [URL] |
| Founded / size | [year] / [employees] |
| Funding / revenue | [known data + source] |
| Target customer | [SMB/mid-market/enterprise/persona] |
| Pricing | [model + range + source date] |
| Summary | [Competitor] helps [audience] achieve [benefit] through [mechanism]. |

## 2. Their Pitch
**Tagline**: "[exact tagline]"

| Claimed differentiator | Evidence | Counterpoint |
|------------------------|----------|--------------|
| [claim] | [source/demo/review] | [where your position is stronger] |

**Reverse-engineered positioning**: For [audience], [product] is the [category] that [benefit] because [reason].

## 3. Strengths and Weaknesses
| Type | Item | Evidence | Deal impact / exploit path |
|------|------|----------|----------------------------|
| Strength | [strength] | [review/demo/customer quote] | [how it affects deals] |
| Weakness | [weakness] | [G2/Capterra/support thread/date] | [talking point or demo moment] |

**Common complaint quote**: "[short exact quote]" - [source, date]

## 4. Your Differentiators
| Differentiator | Your advantage | Proof point | How to demo |
|----------------|----------------|-------------|-------------|
| [diff] | [what you do better] | [data/testimonial] | [demo step] |

## 5. Feature and Pricing Comparison
| Area | You | [Competitor] | Advantage / caveat |
|------|-----|--------------|--------------------|
| Core feature | [Yes/No/Partial] | [Yes/No/Partial] | [context] |
| Entry tier | [price + included] | [price + included] | [who wins] |
| Mid-market | [price + included] | [price + included] | [who wins] |
| Enterprise | [price + included] | [price + included] | [who wins] |

**Hidden costs to validate**: [extra seats, add-ons, usage limits, implementation, support, migration].

## 6. Objection Handling and Landmines
| Scenario | Response or question | Evidence / exposed advantage |
|----------|----------------------|------------------------------|
| "[Competitor] has more features" | [focus on outcome and adoption] | [case study/data] |
| "[Competitor] is cheaper" | [TCO/ROI frame] | [pricing comparison] |
| "We already use [Competitor]" | [migration ease] | [migration proof] |
| Landmine: "How important is [your capability]?" | [exposes need] | [your capability] |

## 7. Win/Loss and Market Intelligence
| Theme | Win reasons | Loss reasons | Action |
|-------|-------------|--------------|--------|
| Product | [features that won] | [gaps that lost] | [roadmap/sales enablement] |
| Pricing | [advantage] | [disadvantage] | [packaging response] |
| Relationship | [support/sales quality] | [incumbency] | [proof or nurture] |

## 8. SEO/GEO Intelligence
| Dimension | [Competitor] | Your position | Action |
|-----------|--------------|---------------|--------|
| Domain authority | [score + source/date] | [score + source/date] | [gap response] |
| Organic traffic | [monthly + source/date] | [monthly + source/date] | [content priority] |
| Keywords in top 10 | [count + source/date] | [count + source/date] | [keyword gap] |
| Content publishing | [posts/month + source/date] | [posts/month + source/date] | [cadence response] |
| AI citation frequency | [High/Med/Low + source/date] | [High/Med/Low + source/date] | [GEO response] |

Maintenance Checklist

• [ ] Pricing, packages, and hidden costs verified with source dates.
• [ ] New feature launches reflected in comparison and objections.
• [ ] Latest G2/Capterra/review trends checked.
• [ ] Win/loss notes updated with recent sales feedback.
• [ ] SEO/GEO metrics refreshed with source and date.
• [ ] Differentiators and landmine questions tested with sales.
• [ ] Confidence level adjusted if evidence is stale or incomplete.

Competitor Analysis — Example Report

This is a complete example output showing the expected format for competitor analysis deliverables.

Prompt

User: "Analyze why HubSpot ranks so well for marketing-related keywords"

Example Output

# Competitive Analysis: HubSpot

## SEO Strategy Overview

HubSpot dominates marketing keywords through a combination of:
1. **Massive content moat** - 9.9.9+ blog posts
2. **Free tools as linkbait** - Website grader, email signature generator
3. **Educational brand** - Academy, certifications, courses
4. **Topic cluster model** - Pioneered the pillar/cluster approach

## What Makes Them Successful

### Content Strategy

**Publishing Volume**: 50-100 posts/month
**Average Word Count**: 2,500+ words
**Content Types**:
- In-depth guides (35%)
- How-to tutorials (25%)
- Templates & examples (20%)
- Data/research (10%)
- Tools & calculators (10%)

**Top Performing Content Pattern**:
1. Ultimate guides on broad topics
2. Free templates with email gate
3. Statistics roundup posts
4. Definition posts ("What is [term]")

### GEO Success Factors

HubSpot appears in AI responses frequently because:

1. **Clear definitions** at the start of every post
   > "Inbound marketing is a business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them."

2. **Quotable statistics**
   > "Companies that blog get 55% more website visitors"

3. **Comprehensive coverage** - AI trusts their authority

### Linkable Assets

| Asset | Backlinks | Why It Works |
|-------|-----------|--------------|
| Website Grader | 45,000+ | Free, instant value |
| Marketing Statistics | 12,000+ | Quotable reference |
| Blog Ideas Generator | 8,500+ | Solves real problem |

## Weaknesses to Exploit

1. **Content becoming dated** - Many posts 3+ years old
2. **Generic advice** - Lacks industry-specific depth
3. **Enterprise focus** - Underserves solopreneurs
4. **Slow innovation** - Same formats for years

## Your Opportunities

1. Create more specific, niche content they can't cover
2. Target long-tail keywords they ignore
3. Build interactive tools in emerging areas
4. Add original research they don't have
5. Focus on GEO-optimized definitions in your niche

Positioning Frameworks

Use these compact frameworks to map competitor positioning, find white space, and turn differentiation into defensible messaging.

Positioning Statements

Classic:
For [target audience], [brand] is the [category] that [key benefit] because [proof].

Extended:
For [audience] who [need], [brand] is the [category] that [functional benefit],
unlike [alternative], because [unique capability]. This matters because [outcome].

Before/After/Bridge:
Before: [painful current state]
After: [desired state]
Bridge: [product] makes this possible by [mechanism].

PAS:
Problem: [struggle]
Agitation: [why it matters now]
Solution: [different solution]

Positioning Map

1. Choose buyer-relevant, independent axes. 2. Plot direct competitors, indirect alternatives, and your current position. 3. Identify white space, crowded clusters, and places where the axis itself is wrong. 4. Pick a position that is capability-aligned, underserved, and defensible.

Category Strategy

Decision rule: if SEO demand and buyer language already exist, prefer existing category or sub-category. Use new-category moves only when product reality cannot fit the old frame.

Differentiation Audit

Only-we test: "Only [company] [does X] because [unique reason]." If a competitor can credibly say it, it is not a durable differentiator.

Differentiation message:
We're the only [category] that [unique capability],
which means [customer benefit],
so you can [desired outcome].

Messaging Vulnerability Scan

Counter-Positioning Patterns

Combined Workflow

1. Map the category and competitor positions. 2. Choose category strategy. 3. Draft a positioning statement. 4. Run the differentiation audit and only-we test. 5. Identify messaging vulnerabilities. 6. Convert the result into battlecards. 7. Re-check quarterly.