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The first mistake most people make in SEO competitor analysis is looking at the wrong competitors. They analyse the company they consider their biggest rival — while Google has placed three completely different websites at the top of the search results.
Start with the search results, not your business list
SEO competitor analysis revolves around one question: who does Google allow to rank at the top for the keywords you want to rank for?
Open Google in a private window, search for a keyword you care about, and write down the domains that appear. Do this for 5–10 key keywords. You'll quickly see patterns:
- Some websites appear again and again.
- Some will surprise you — perhaps a trade publication, a large marketplace, or a website you hadn't considered.
- Some keywords have completely different winners than others.
This is the pattern you need to understand.
What to look for on each competitor's page
Once you've found 3–5 competitors per keyword, open their pages and take notes:
1. Title and meta description
What do they promise? Do they use the keyword early? Is the title boring or engaging? This is the first thing Google evaluates.
2. Content focus and depth
- What is the main heading?
- What H2/H3 sections do they have?
- Do they answer the question behind the keyword, or just mention it?
- Is it a thin listicle or an in-depth guide?
3. Technical experience
- Does the page load quickly?
- Does it work well on mobile?
- Are there lots of pop-ups or ads?
- Does it have a clear structure with headings and short paragraphs?
4. CTA and conversion
What do they ask the reader to do? Sign up for a newsletter? Contact them? Buy? Good CTA copy and a clear next step are often what separate number one from number five.
5. Internal and external links
Do you see internal links to related pages? Have they acquired links from other websites? Both say something about authority and structure.
Find the gaps — that's where the opportunities are
The most valuable thing you can find isn't what your competitors are doing. It's what they're not doing.
Ask yourself:
- What questions don't they answer?
- What examples are missing?
- Is the content written for another country or industry, and can you make it more locally relevant?
- Is the page old and poorly updated?
- Is it thin, even though it ranks?
If you find a gap that many searchers care about, you've found your next content topic.
Analyse with a simple template
You don't need fancy software. A table in Notion or a spreadsheet is enough. For each keyword, create a row for each top result:
| Domain | Title | Strength | Weakness | Opportunity for me |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| example.com | "SEO for small businesses" | Clear CTA | Thin content structure | Write a more in-depth guide with a checklist |
After 5–10 keywords, you'll start to see what you need to do:
- Which pages need to be written from scratch?
- Which pages should be updated?
- Which keywords are so heavily dominated that you should choose long-tail alternatives instead?
Competitor analysis without copying
The biggest danger of competitor analysis is that it invites plagiarism. You see something that works, and you want to do the same. Don't.
What Google rewards isn't a copy. It's a page that better matches search intent. Your job is to understand the intent, and then create something that is:
- Clearer — answers faster and more precisely
- More in-depth — covers more nuances and related questions
- More specific — tailored to your target audience, location, or industry
- More up-to-date — contains newer data, tools, or experiences
Use the findings in your own strategy
Competitor analysis is not an academic exercise. It should end with a prioritisation list.
After the analysis, you'll know:
- Which keywords you can win now
- Which keywords you need to build authority for over time
- Which pages need a technical or structural upgrade
- Which topics your competitors are overlooking, and where you can be first
Then it's time to create a content plan, build the pages, and measure the results. Don't analyse for the sake of analysing.
When you need help
Have you tried doing a competitor analysis yourself but keep getting stuck in patterns? That's normal. It's hard to see your own market with fresh eyes. An external analysis can quickly reveal both obvious opportunities and hidden gaps.
Feel free to start with a free SEO analysis to check if any technical or structural errors are holding you back first. Then we can dig into your competitors together.
