seo-competitor-analysis

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:

1. Competitor URLs to analyze (2-5 recommended)
2. Your own site URL and current metrics (traffic, rankings if known)
3. Industry or niche context
4. Specific focus (keywords / content / backlinks / GEO)
5. 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

1. Analyze 3-5 competitors for comprehensive view — one isn't enough to spot patterns
2. Include indirect competitors — they often have innovative approaches
3. Look beyond rankings — analyze content quality and user experience
4. Study their failures — avoid their mistakes
5. Monitor regularly — competitor strategies evolve
6. 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.