| name | seo-competitor-analysis |
| description | Analyzes competitor SEO and GEO strategies — keywords, content patterns, backlinks, technical SEO, and AI citation patterns. Reveals search-channel opportunities to outperform competition. |
SEO Competitor Analysis
Dissect a competitor's SEO and GEO (generative engine optimization) strategy: what they rank for, how their content earns it, what links they've built, how solid their technical foundation is, and how often AI engines cite them. The output is a list of search-channel openings you can exploit.
Scope: This skill focuses on the search/AI channel. For strategic positioning, messaging matrices, narrative analysis, and battlecards, see competitive-analysis. For auditing your own site's SEO health, see seo-audit.
When to use this skill
- Entering a new market or niche and you need to understand who owns search
- Planning a content strategy informed by what's already working
- Diagnosing why a specific competitor outranks you
- Finding backlink targets and partnership opportunities
- Identifying content gaps competitors haven't covered
- Auditing competitor GEO/AI-citation strategy
- Benchmarking your SEO performance against the market
What you'll need
Either an SEO tool (Ahrefs, Semrush, SE Ranking, etc.) plus analytics, or be ready to estimate from public-facing data.
Manual-only inputs to ask for:
- Competitor URLs to analyze (2-5 recommended)
- Your own site URL and current metrics (traffic, rankings if known)
- Industry or niche context
- Specific focus (keywords / content / backlinks / GEO)
- Any known competitor strengths or weaknesses
Note in the output which metrics came from tools vs. manual estimation.
Workflow
1. Identify and tier competitors
If not already specified:
- Direct competitors — Same product/service. Search your main keyword and note the top 5 organic results; check who's advertising for your keywords.
- Indirect competitors — Different solution, same problem. Search problem-focused keywords.
- Content competitors — May not sell the same thing, but compete for the same keywords. Often blogs, aggregators, or media sites.
Pick 3-5 to deep-dive.
2. Build each competitor profile
## Competitor: [Name]
**Basic**
- URL:
- Domain age:
- Estimated monthly organic traffic:
- Domain Rating / Authority:
**Business**
- Type (SaaS / e-commerce / content / etc.):
- Target audience:
- Key offerings:
3. Keyword analysis
### Keywords: [Competitor]
**Totals**
- Total keywords ranking:
- Keywords in top 10:
- Keywords in top 3:
**Top performers**
| Keyword | Position | Volume | Traffic est. | Landing page |
|---------|----------|--------|--------------|--------------|
**Intent distribution**
- Informational: X%
- Commercial: X%
- Transactional: X%
- Navigational: X%
**Keyword gaps (they rank, you don't)**
| Keyword | Their position | Volume | Opportunity |
|---------|----------------|--------|-------------|
4. Content audit
### Content: [Competitor]
**Volume**
- Total pages:
- Blog posts:
- Landing pages:
- Resource pages:
**Top performing pieces**
| Title | URL | Traffic est. | Keywords | Backlinks |
|-------|-----|--------------|----------|-----------|
**Patterns**
- Average word count:
- Publishing cadence (posts/month):
- Format mix (% blog, guides, case studies, tools, video):
**Themes**
| Theme | # articles | Combined traffic |
|-------|-----------|------------------|
**What makes it work**
1.
2.
3.
5. Backlink profile
### Backlinks: [Competitor]
**Overview**
- Total backlinks:
- Referring domains:
- Domain Rating:
**Quality distribution**
- DR 70+: X%
- DR 30-69: X%
- DR <30: X%
**Top linking domains**
| Domain | DR | Link type | Target page |
|--------|-----|-----------|-------------|
**Acquisition patterns**
- Guest posts:
- Editorial/organic:
- Resource pages:
- Directories:
**Linkable assets**
| Asset | Type | Backlinks | Why it works |
|-------|------|-----------|--------------|
6. Technical SEO snapshot
A quick check — not a full audit. If you need to do a deep technical audit (yours or theirs), use seo-audit.
### Technical: [Competitor]
**Performance**
- Core Web Vitals (pass/fail):
- LCP, INP, CLS:
- Mobile-friendly:
**Structure**
- Site depth:
- Internal linking:
- URL structure:
- Sitemap:
**Strengths / weaknesses (1-3 each)**
7. GEO / AI citation analysis
### GEO: [Competitor]
**Visibility test**
Query relevant prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini. Record:
| Query | Cited? | What's cited | Why |
|-------|--------|--------------|-----|
**Observed GEO strategies**
1. Clear definitions (e.g., "X is a Y that...")
2. Quotable statistics
3. Q&A format content (count: X pages on topics: ...)
4. Authority signals (expert authors, source citations, original research)
**GEO opportunities they're missing**
| Topic | Why they're missing it | Your opening |
|-------|------------------------|--------------|
8. Synthesize into a report
# SEO Competitive Analysis
**Date:**
**Competitors analyzed:**
**Your site:**
## Executive summary
[2-3 paragraph overview]
## Landscape
| Metric | You | Comp 1 | Comp 2 | Comp 3 |
|--------|-----|--------|--------|--------|
| Domain Authority | | | | |
| Organic traffic | | | | |
| Keywords top 10 | | | | |
| Backlinks | | | | |
| Content pages | | | | |
## What to steal (strengths to learn from)
### [Competitor]
- **Strength:**
- **Why it works:**
- **How to apply:**
## What to exploit (weaknesses)
### Gap: [description]
- Who's weak:
- Opportunity size:
- Recommended action:
## Keyword opportunities
**Target (competitor overlap)**
| Keyword | Volume | Avg position | Strategy |
|---------|--------|--------------|----------|
**Untapped (no competitor coverage)**
| Keyword | Volume | Difficulty | Opportunity |
|---------|--------|------------|-------------|
## Content strategy recommendations
1. **Create:** [content type] about [topic] because [reason]
2. **Improve:** [existing content] to match/exceed [competitor content]
3. **Promote:** [content] to sites like [competitor's link sources]
## Action plan
**This week**
1.
2.
**This month**
1.
2.
**This quarter**
1.
2.
Validation
Inputs
- Competitor URLs verified as relevant
- Analysis scope defined (broad vs. focused on one layer)
- Your own metrics available for comparison
- At least 2-3 competitors for meaningful patterns
Outputs
- Every recommendation cites a specific data point — not generic advice
- Strengths backed by measurable evidence (metrics, rankings)
- Opportunities based on identified gaps, not assumptions
- Action items are specific and actionable
- Each data point's source is clear (tool, manual, estimate)
Advanced cuts
- Content gap analysis: Show me content [competitor] has that I don't, sorted by traffic potential
- Link intersection: Find sites linking to [competitor 1] AND [competitor 2] but not me
- SERP feature analysis: Which SERP features (featured snippets, PAA, knowledge panels) do competitors win?
- Historical tracking: How has [competitor]'s SEO strategy evolved over the past year?
Example
User: "Analyze why HubSpot ranks so well for marketing keywords"
Output (excerpt):
# Competitive Analysis: HubSpot
## SEO strategy overview
HubSpot dominates marketing keywords through:
1. Massive content moat (10,000+ blog posts)
2. Free tools as linkbait (Website Grader, Email Signature Generator)
3. Educational brand (Academy, certifications, courses)
4. Topic-cluster model (pioneered pillar/cluster approach)
## What makes it work
**Content strategy**
- Publishing volume: 50-100 posts/month
- Average word count: 2,500+
- Mix: in-depth guides (35%), how-tos (25%), templates (20%), data/research (10%), tools (10%)
**Top performing patterns**
1. Ultimate guides on broad topics
2. Free templates with email gate
3. Statistics roundup posts
4. "What is [term]" definition posts
**GEO success factors**
- Clear definitions at the start of every post
- Quotable statistics ("Companies that blog get 55% more website visitors")
- Comprehensive coverage signals authority to AI engines
## 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. Same formats for years (slow innovation)
## Your opportunities
1. More specific, niche content they can't cover at their scale
2. Long-tail keywords they ignore
3. Interactive tools in emerging areas
4. Original research they don't have
5. GEO-optimized definitions in your niche
Tips
- Analyze 3-5 competitors for comprehensive view — one isn't enough to spot patterns
- Include indirect competitors — they often have innovative approaches
- Look beyond rankings — analyze content quality and user experience
- Study their failures — avoid their mistakes
- Monitor regularly — competitor strategies evolve
- Focus on actionable insights — what can you actually implement this quarter?
Related skills
- competitive-analysis — Strategic dissection beyond SEO: positioning, messaging, pricing, reviews, gaps, wedge. Pair with this skill for a full picture.
- seo-audit — Deep technical/on-page audit. Use to audit your own site or to push past the technical snapshot in step 6.
- programmatic-seo — Build pages at scale to attack the keyword gaps this analysis surfaces.
