Competitor Research skill

Competitor Research

Guides competitor research for SEO, content, backlinks, and positioning. Use when planning content, auditing articles, building links, or evaluating market position.

When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

For marketing engagements, lead with the content and distribution view. Use product comparisons to identify meaningful differences and claims the client can support. For a positioning or replacement question, lead with the product view. Use research workflow to select the evidence, follow discoveries and assemble the final report. The SEO and backlink methods below are optional modules selected by scope.

Discover competitors and classify relationships

Start with the reference product or URL, market and user task. Inspect the product page to establish the input, outcome and intended user. Set the comparison unit (company, product, capability or feature). For an unknown site or ambiguous brand, verify identity before adding candidates.

Choose a product view for user choice, replacement and switching costs; choose a marketing/content view for who attracts the same audience or answers the same question. For a baseline study, maintain one register and derive both views.

1. Start with known products, manual alternatives and adjacent steps in the user workflow. Inspect navigation, templates, integrations, comparison, alternatives, migration and support pages. Identify unexpected pages and examine the action a user can take there.
2. For a promising finding, record the actual URL and what it demonstrates. Search the specific feature, user problem or output in the target market, then inspect at least one new candidate when attainable. Trace the chain from original page through query to new evidence. Stop at the agreed boundary or when new sources repeat existing tasks and relationships.
3. For each material candidate record the comparison unit and task, relationship (direct, indirect, manual substitute, upstream, downstream or platform), coverage (whole or partial, with scope), surface (product, search, community or other evidenced channel), source URL, date and confidence. Leave uncertain relationships pending. Vendor mentions establish leads; check the other product or independent task evidence before claiming substitutability. An import list establishes supported sources, not parity or market share.
4. Deliver the register, strongest discovery trail and open checks. Offer comparison pages for substantiated evaluation needs, alternatives pages for supported replacement tasks and migration pages for executable transfer paths. Hand keyword-research the source URL, observed action, inferred need and concrete seed when a finding warrants query validation.

Search from a known brand and from a user task

• Search "[brand] alternatives". Capture the publisher, the reference product, named replacements and the job each claims to replace. Check both vendor comparison pages and third-party lists. Follow promising names to their official product or feature pages.
• Search the competitor brand and relevant branded variants in the target market. Inspect placements explicitly labeled as ads. Record query, locale, date, advertiser, visible destination and promoted benefit. An ad impression supports competition for that search opportunity; the advertiser's selected keyword, match type and spend remain unknown. If ads cannot be inspected, mark coverage pending. If an ad promises a different workflow, investigate that relationship separately.
• Search "best [specific feature or job]" and "best [tool] for [audience or constraint]". Extract products and the reasons for inclusion, then check the claimed capability at the source. Use the new feature or use case as the next query to discover specialist providers beyond familiar brands.

Keep the discovery surface distinct from the competitive relationship. Deduplicate products across ads, lists and alternative pages while retaining each independent source and what it establishes.

Discover products through their distribution channels

Map the task to the device or host where the user performs it. For each relevant environment, inspect the native marketplace or in-product add-on catalog: mobile app stores, browser extensions, collaboration or CRM marketplaces, integration directories and connector/template galleries. Start with categories, collections, related apps, publisher portfolios and host recommendations as well as native search. Follow the tools and endpoints named by a connector into their own listings. For private or login-only catalogs use available authorized access or request a listing/export when needed; mark unchecked surfaces explicitly.

Record the store and locale, host, listing URL or stable ID, publisher, workflow step, inputs and outputs. Distinguish first-party features, standalone apps, extensions of known products, third-party connectors and recipes. Group multiple distribution listings under the same product while preserving channel-specific capabilities. A listing supports availability and stated scope; user reviews provide leads for use cases to verify. Record whether discovery used the native catalog or only a publicly indexed listing.

Research Types

Type	Purpose	Output
Keyword/topic	Topics competitors rank for; gaps	Keyword opportunities; content ideas
Content	Structure, length, gaps vs top rankers	Length target; H2 structure; content gaps
Backlink	Link profile; sites linking to competitors	Link gap; outreach targets
Pricing	Competitor pricing, positioning	Pricing context; differentiation
SEO metrics	Organic traffic, rankings vs competitors	Benchmark; opportunity areas

Competitor Keyword / Topic Analysis

Method	Practice
Reverse engineering	Analyze competitor titles, H1, URL; identify topics they rank for
SERP overlap	Keywords with overlapping top-ranking pages → same cluster; #4–10 = opportunity
site: operator	site:competitor.com to see indexed pages
Tool	Ahrefs, Semrush—competitor keyword overlap, gap analysis

Output: Keyword opportunities; topics competitors cover that you don't.

Competitor Content Analysis

Element	Check
Word count	Top 10 average; length target for your content
H2 structure	Topics covered; structure to adopt
Content gaps	What top rankers cover that you miss
Keyword placement	Primary keyword in title, H1, first 100 words
Format	Lists, tables, FAQ; match or improve

Use when: Auditing or creating articles; see article-page-generator for Research Phase integration.

Competitor Article Fetch Workflow (for Article Analysis)

When analyzing or auditing a single article, use this lightweight workflow to obtain competitor articles:

1. Obtain URLs: From the user, relevant Contextus competitor or content modules, or web search for "[target keyword]" to find top-ranking pages
2. Fetch content: Use mcp_web_fetch or WebSearch to fetch 2–3 top-ranking pages
3. Analyze: Word count, H2 structure, keyword placement, content gaps, CTA, schema
4. Output: Competitor URLs, brief structure comparison, content gaps, length target, keyword opportunities

Output format: Competitor URLs; word count and H2 structure per URL; content gaps vs your article; recommended length target; keyword opportunities (terms top rankers use that your article misses).

Competitor Backlink Analysis

Action	Purpose
Compare profiles	Your backlinks vs competitors
Link gap	Sites linking to competitors but not you
Opportunity	Outreach to those sites; content they might link to

Tools: Ahrefs, Semrush—Link Intersect, competitor backlink reports. See backlink-analysis.

Competitor Pricing

Use	Practice
Positioning	Where you sit vs competitors
Differentiation	Value prop when price differs
Alternatives pages	Who to include; how to position

See pricing-strategy, alternatives-page-generator.

Data Sources

Source	Use
SimilarWeb	Traffic, engagement, traffic sources by domain
Ahrefs	Competitor domains, backlinks, DR
SEMrush	Organic competitors, traffic share
GA	Referral traffic, acquisition by source
PostHog	Competitor feature usage (if tracked)

Report Workflow

1. Parse — Read Excel/CSV, infer domain, visits, traffic sources, etc. from headers
2. Enrich — Web search, visit competitor sites; read root {project}.md if present
3. Build — Structure data for report
4. Generate — Output report in chosen format

Output Format

• Competitors identified
• Research type (keyword, content, backlink, pricing)
• Findings (gaps, opportunities, benchmarks)
• Recommendations (content to create, links to pursue, positioning)

Report Structure Reference

Section	Content
Executive Summary	Key findings (top 3), top 3 recommendations
Competitor Overview	Competitor, category, market position, key strength
Product Comparison	Feature/capability vs Us vs Competitors
SWOT Analysis	Our strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats; competitor deep dives
Marketing & Messaging	Value prop, target audience, key channels
Gaps & Opportunities	Gap, opportunity, priority
Prioritized Recommendations	Recommendation, impact, effort, owner

Related Skills

• keyword-research: Competitor reverse; keyword discovery
• article-page-generator: Competitor article analysis in Research Phase
• content-strategy: Competitor analysis for topic mapping
• content-optimization: Competitor length and structure as reference
• backlink-analysis: Competitor backlink comparison; link gap
• seo-monitoring: Competitive comparison; organic vs competitors
• alternatives-page-generator: Competitor selection; comparison framing
• migration-page-generator: Competitor migration paths
• pricing-strategy: Competitor pricing context
• affiliate-marketing: Find affiliates promoting competitors
• directories: Competitor info for directory submissions