iblai-marketing-competitor-profiling

name	iblai-marketing-competitor-profiling
description	When the user wants to research, profile, or analyze competitors from their URLs. Also use when the user mentions 'competitor profile,' 'competitor research,' 'competitor analysis,' 'profile this competitor,' 'analyze competitor,' 'competitive intelligence,' 'competitor deep dive,' 'who are my competitors,' 'competitor landscape,' 'competitor dossier,' 'competitive audit,' or 'research these competitors.' Input is a list of competitor URLs. Output is structured competitor profile markdown files. For creating comparison/alternative pages from profiles, see iblai-marketing-competitor-alternatives. For sales-specific battle cards, see iblai-marketing-sales-enablement.
globs	null
alwaysApply	false
metadata	{"version":"1.0.0"}

/iblai-marketing-competitor-profiling

Take a list of competitor URLs and ship structured competitor-profile documents that combine live site scraping with SEO and review data.

Step 0: Context Check

Read .agents/product-marketing-context.md (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md on older setups) first. Only ask for what isn't there.

Confirm before starting:

1. Competitor URLs — the list to profile
2. Your product — what you do (if not in product marketing context)
3. Depth level — quick scan (key facts) or deep profile (full research)
4. Focus areas — any dimensions to prioritize (pricing, positioning, SEO strength, content)

If the user supplies URLs and context exists, proceed without asking.

---

Core Principles

1. Facts over opinions. Every claim traces back to a source — scraped page, review data, or SEO metric. Label inferences clearly.
2. Structured and comparable. Every profile uses the same template so they line up side by side. Consistency beats completeness on any single profile.
3. Current data. Profiles are snapshots. Include the date. Flag anything stale ("pricing page last updated 2023").
4. Honest assessment. Don't exaggerate competitor weaknesses or downplay strengths. Accurate profiles are useful profiles.

---

Saving Raw Data

Persist scrape, SEO, and review data to disk before synthesizing the profile so it can be re-read, audited, or re-used without re-running expensive API calls.

Directory layout (relative to project root):

competitor-profiles/
├── raw/
│   └── <competitor-slug>/
│       └── <YYYY-MM-DD>/
│           ├── scrapes/    # one .md file per scraped page (homepage.md, pricing.md, ...)
│           ├── seo/        # one .json file per DataForSEO call (backlinks-summary.json, ranked-keywords.json, ...)
│           └── reviews/    # one .md or .json file per review source (g2.md, capterra.md, ...)
├── <competitor-slug>.md    # final synthesized profile
└── _summary.md             # cross-competitor summary

Rules:

• <competitor-slug> — lowercase, hyphenated (e.g. responsehub, safe-base)
• <YYYY-MM-DD> — date the data was pulled. Supports re-runs and snapshot diffs over time
• Save each Firecrawl scrape as raw markdown to scrapes/<page-name>.md
• Save each DataForSEO response as raw JSON to seo/<endpoint-name>.json
• Save each review source to reviews/<source>.md (cleaned text) or .json (raw)
• Always create the date folder fresh; never overwrite a prior date's data

The synthesized profile (<competitor-slug>.md) must reference the raw data folder in its ## Raw Data Sources section.

---

Research Process

Phase 1: Site Scraping (Firecrawl)

Scrape key pages to extract positioning, features, pricing, and messaging.

Step 1: Map the site

Use Firecrawl Map to discover the site structure and identify key pages:

firecrawl_map → competitor URL

From the map, prioritize these page types:

• Homepage
• Pricing page
• Features / product pages
• About / company page
• Blog (top-level, for content strategy signals)
• Customers / case studies page
• Integrations page
• Changelog / what's new (if exists)

Step 2: Scrape key pages

Use Firecrawl Scrape on each:

firecrawl_scrape → each key page URL

Save every result to competitor-profiles/raw/<competitor-slug>/<YYYY-MM-DD>/scrapes/<page-name>.md before extracting fields.

Extract from each page:

Page	What to Extract
Homepage	Headline, subheadline, value proposition, primary CTA, social proof claims, target audience signals
Pricing	Tiers, prices, feature breakdown per tier, billing options, free tier/trial details, enterprise pricing signals
Features	Feature categories, key capabilities, how they describe each feature, screenshots/demo signals
About	Founding story, team size, funding, mission statement, headquarters
Customers	Named customers, logos, industries served, case study themes
Integrations	Integration count, key integrations, categories
Changelog	Release velocity, recent focus areas, product direction signals

Step 3: Scrape competitor reviews (optional, high-value)

Use Firecrawl Scrape or Firecrawl Search to find:

• G2 reviews page for the competitor
• Capterra reviews page
• Product Hunt launch page
• TrustRadius profile

Save each scraped review page to competitor-profiles/raw/<competitor-slug>/<YYYY-MM-DD>/reviews/<source>.md. Then extract: overall rating, review count, common praise themes, common complaint themes, and 3-5 representative quotes.

---

Phase 2: SEO & Market Data (DataForSEO)

Use DataForSEO MCP tools for quantitative competitive intelligence. Save each raw response as JSON to competitor-profiles/raw/<competitor-slug>/<YYYY-MM-DD>/seo/<endpoint-name>.json before parsing. Full list of MCP tools used in this skill (Firecrawl + DataForSEO) and example calls: references/tool-reference.md.

Domain Authority & Backlinks

Use backlinks_summary to get:

• Domain rank / authority score
• Total backlinks
• Referring domains count
• Spam score

Use backlinks_referring_domains for:

• Top referring domains (quality signals)
• Link acquisition patterns

Keyword & Traffic Intelligence

Use dataforseo_labs_google_ranked_keywords to get:

• Total organic keywords ranking
• Keywords in top 3, top 10, top 100
• Estimated organic traffic

Use dataforseo_labs_google_domain_rank_overview for:

• Domain-level organic metrics
• Estimated traffic value
• Top keywords by traffic

Use dataforseo_labs_google_keywords_for_site to discover:

• What keywords they target
• Content gaps vs. your site

Competitive Positioning Data

Use dataforseo_labs_google_competitors_domain to find:

• Their closest organic competitors (may surface ones you haven't considered)
• Market overlap data

Use dataforseo_labs_google_relevant_pages to find:

• Their highest-traffic pages
• Content that drives the most organic value

---

Phase 3: Synthesis

Combine scraped content with SEO data. Cross-reference claims (if they claim "10,000 customers," check whether traffic and backlink profile support that scale).

---

Output Format

Profile Document Structure

One markdown file per competitor, saved under competitor-profiles/.

Filename: competitor-profiles/[competitor-name].md

Full profile and summary templates: references/templates.md.

Each profile uses this structure:

# [Competitor Name] — Competitor Profile

**URL**: [website]
**Generated**: [date]
**Depth**: [quick scan / deep profile]

---

## At a Glance

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Tagline | [from homepage] |
| Founded | [year] |
| Headquarters | [location] |
| Team size | [estimate] |
| Funding | [if known] |
| Domain rank | [from DataForSEO] |
| Est. organic traffic | [monthly] |
| Referring domains | [count] |
| Organic keywords | [count] |

---

## Positioning & Messaging

**Primary value proposition**: [headline + subheadline from homepage]

**Target audience**: [who they're speaking to, based on copy analysis]

**Positioning angle**: [how they position — e.g., "simplicity-first," "enterprise-grade," "all-in-one"]

**Key messaging themes**:
- [theme 1 — with source page]
- [theme 2]
- [theme 3]

---

## Product & Features

### Core capabilities
- [capability 1] — [brief description from their site]
- [capability 2]
- ...

### Notable differentiators
- [what they emphasize as unique]

### Integrations
- [count] integrations
- Key: [list top 5-10]

### Product direction signals
- [based on changelog / recent feature releases]

---

## Pricing

| Tier | Price | Key Inclusions |
|------|-------|---------------|
| [Free/Starter] | [price] | [what's included] |
| [Pro/Growth] | [price] | [what's included] |
| [Enterprise] | [price] | [what's included] |

**Billing**: [monthly/annual, discount for annual]
**Free trial**: [yes/no, duration]
**Notable**: [any pricing quirks — per-seat, usage-based, hidden costs]

---

## Customers & Social Proof

**Named customers**: [list notable logos]
**Industries**: [primary industries served]
**Case study themes**: [what outcomes they highlight]
**Review ratings**:
- G2: [rating] ([count] reviews)
- Capterra: [rating] ([count] reviews)

---

## SEO & Content Strategy

**Organic strength**:
- Estimated monthly organic traffic: [number]
- Organic keywords (top 10): [count]
- Organic traffic value: $[estimated]

**Top organic pages** (by estimated traffic):
1. [page URL] — [keyword] — [est. traffic]
2. [page URL] — [keyword] — [est. traffic]
3. [page URL] — [keyword] — [est. traffic]

**Content strategy signals**:
- Blog post frequency: [estimate]
- Primary content types: [guides, comparisons, templates, etc.]
- Content focus areas: [topics they invest in]

**Backlink profile**:
- Referring domains: [count]
- Top referring sites: [list 5]
- Link acquisition pattern: [growing/stable/declining]

---

## Strengths & Weaknesses

### Strengths
- [strength 1 — with evidence source]
- [strength 2]
- [strength 3]

### Weaknesses
- [weakness 1 — with evidence source]
- [weakness 2]
- [weakness 3]

---

## Competitive Implications for [Your Product]

**Where they're strong vs. us**: [areas where this competitor has an advantage]

**Where we're strong vs. them**: [areas where you have an advantage]

**Opportunities**: [gaps in their offering or positioning we can exploit]

**Threats**: [areas where they're improving or gaining ground]

---

## Raw Data Sources

- Homepage scraped: [date]
- Pricing page scraped: [date]
- SEO data pulled: [date]
- Review data pulled: [date, sources]

---

Summary Document

After profiling all competitors, generate competitor-profiles/_summary.md with:

1. Competitor landscape overview — one paragraph summarizing the field
2. Comparison table — key metrics side by side for all profiled competitors
3. Positioning map — where each sits (e.g., simple↔complex, cheap↔premium)
4. Key takeaways — 3-5 strategic observations
5. Gaps and opportunities — where the market is underserved

---

Quick Scan vs. Deep Profile

Quick Scan (faster, lower cost)

• Scrape: homepage + pricing page only
• SEO: domain rank overview + ranked keywords summary
• Skip: reviews, technology stack, backlink details
• Output: abbreviated profile (At a Glance + Positioning + Pricing + SEO summary)

Deep Profile (comprehensive)

• Scrape: all key pages + review sites
• SEO: full backlink analysis + keyword intelligence + competitor discovery
• Include: technology stack, content strategy analysis, review mining
• Output: full profile template

Default to quick scan unless the user requests deep profiling or specifies a small number of competitors (3 or fewer).

---

Handling Multiple Competitors

1. Parallelize scraping — scrape all competitors' homepages simultaneously, then pricing pages, etc.
2. Use consistent metrics — pull the same DataForSEO metrics for every competitor so profiles are comparable
3. Build the summary last — after all individual profiles are complete
4. Prioritize by relevance — if there are 10+ competitors, suggest profiling the top 5 first based on domain overlap or market similarity

---

Updating Profiles

Profiles are snapshots. On update:

• Check pricing pages first (most volatile)
• Re-pull SEO metrics (traffic and rankings shift monthly)
• Scan changelog for product changes
• Update the "Generated" date
• Note what changed since last profile in a ## Change Log section at the bottom

---

Task-Specific Questions

Ask only if not answered by context:

1. Which competitor URLs to profile?
2. Quick scan or deep profile?
3. Specific dimensions to focus on (pricing, SEO, positioning)?
4. Compare findings against your product?

---

Related Skills

• iblai-marketing-competitor-alternatives: Build comparison/alternative pages from these profiles
• iblai-marketing-customer-research: Mine reviews and community sentiment in depth
• iblai-marketing-content-strategy: Use competitor content gaps to plan your own content
• iblai-marketing-seo-audit: Audit your own site relative to competitors
• iblai-marketing-sales-enablement: Turn profiles into battle cards and sales collateral
• iblai-marketing-paid-ads: Analyze competitor ad strategies
• iblai-marketing-pricing-strategy: Deeper pricing analysis informed by competitor profiles