| name | competitive-landscape |
| description | Map SEO market leaders, winning content themes, keyword coverage, backlinks, and strategic gaps. |
OpenSEO Competitive Landscape
Goal
Answer: "Who is winning this SEO market, what content is working for them, and where are the openings?"
Use this when the user wants a market-level view across several competitors. For a deep dive on one domain, use competitor-analysis.
Required inputs
projectId- Topic, seed keywords, market/category, or user's domain
- Optional known competitors
- Optional location/language
OpenSEO MCP tools
research_keywords: discover representative market queries.get_keyword_metrics: validate known query sets with volume, difficulty, intent, and trends.get_serp_results: identify recurring ranking domains across target queries.find_serp_competitors: compare domains competing across supplied keywords; use this before manual SERP counting when a keyword set is available.get_domain_overview: size organic footprint for candidate leaders.get_search_console_performance: when the user's own domain is in the comparison and Search Console is connected, anchor their position with first-party clicks/impressions/CTR rather than third-party estimates.get_ranked_keywords: find exact ranking keywords, URLs, ranks, intents, and SERP result types for leaders.get_backlinks_overview: compare backlink/referring-domain strength where relevant.search_local_businesses, get_local_serp_results, and get_google_business_questions: use for local SEO markets where proximity, Maps rankings, business categories, reviews, or Google Q&A affect who is winning.
Workflow
- Define the market query set:
- Use provided keywords, or call
research_keywords to build 5-10 representative queries.
- Include mixed intent: informational, commercial, comparison, and tool/software terms when applicable.
- For local SEO, include neighborhood/city/service-area queries and identify the priority locations or coordinates.
- If the query set is already known, use
get_keyword_metrics to validate relative demand and difficulty and find_serp_competitors to identify recurring domains at scale.
- For local SEO, call
search_local_businesses and get_local_serp_results for the highest-priority location(s) before synthesizing winners. Use get_serp_results as a complement for organic pages, not as the only local evidence.
- Call
get_serp_results for representative queries when live SERP composition, ranking URLs, or SERP features need inspection. Send at most 10 queries per call.
- Identify recurring domains and group them by type:
- Direct product competitors
- Publishers/media
- Marketplaces/directories
- Communities/forums
- Documentation/resources
- For the strongest recurring domains, call
get_domain_overview; default to the top 3-5 domains before expanding.
- For direct competitors and relevant publishers, call
get_ranked_keywords.
- Use
get_backlinks_overview when backlink authority appears important or the user asks why a domain is winning. Backlinks may be unavailable if the account has not enabled that data; continue with SERP/domain evidence if it fails.
- Synthesize patterns: content types, themes, SERP formats, local-pack signals, authority advantages, and underserved angles.
Output format
Start with the market read:
- Market leaders
- Most winnable opportunity area
- Biggest barrier to ranking
Then include:
| Domain | Type | Why they matter | Organic footprint | Winning themes | Weakness/gap |
|---|
Add:
- Query set used
- Content formats that are working
- Keyword/theme gaps
- Backlink or authority observations
- Recommended next workflows: competitor analysis, keyword clustering, or content brief
Guardrails
- Distinguish SEO competitors from business competitors.
- Do not overstate exact traffic when OpenSEO returns estimates.
- If using a small query set, call the result directional.
- Do not assume a publisher is a product competitor; label domain types clearly.
- For local markets, distinguish organic-page winners from Maps/local-pack winners.
