Competitor Analysis (also known as CA or competitive analysis) is an important process for businesses who want to stay current and anticipate market changes. Using online competitor analysis tools offers you a view into your client’s company position in the competitive landscape and analysis should be conducted periodically to build strategies and marketing plans for company growth.
Looking at advertising and promotion, the analysis of competitor marketing collateral is especially essential for launching effective SEO-driven campaigns. Some online competitor analysis tools include SEO analysis that reveals what keywords and approaches work, both for you and your competitors. This information lets you know which of your campaigns should receive focus. Analyses also offer you a view of your company’s position in the competitive landscape.
With the information provided by these online competitive analysis tools, it’s simple to reverse engineer successful activities and tactics you can add to your marketing plans to improve your results and grow a business.
7 Best Online Competitor Analysis Tools
I’ve curated competitor analysis tools to make your analysis less complicated. Let the online competitive analysis tools do the work for you!
The following online competitive analysis tools are going to help you:
- Uncover company and competitor strengths and weaknesses
- Identify the path to opportunities for increased competitive advantage
- Create clear understanding of the competitive landscape
- Build successful marketing and SEO campaigns with informed strategic planning
SEO Online Competitor Analysis Tools
CLICK ON THE TOOL NAME OR “FEATURES” FOR MORE INFORMATION.
SEMRush
FEATURES – Starts at $100/month
There are too many reports and features to mention here, so make sure you check out their features page. We have seen starters using SEMRush to get competitor’s backlink and check the fluctuation in their ranking. This is a great tool to understand your competition from the SEO perspective.
The tool helps get high ranking organic keywords and check the keyword search volume among a dozen of others analytic points. In addition, you get complete insight reporting with numerous filter options and visual displays.
Ahrefs
FEATURES – Starts at $99/month
Ahrefs is an online competitive analysis tool that is especially helpful in finding the top ranking keywords of a URL. You also get to see how much traffic your competitor is getting out of any specific keywords. Of course, you can find multiple tools for backlink analysis, but Ahrefs provides you with comprehensive data. Compare domains to check content gaps and analyze keywords.
SimilarWeb
FEATURES – Limited FREE Plan or Pro Plan starts at $199/month
SimilarWeb is a staple tool for SEO competitive analysis. This tool helps analyze and compare the various areas of your competitors. You identify the gaps in your marketing campaign. Use the report to check traffic sources of your competitors and make a list of keywords that are driving visitors to their website.
Content Online Competitor Analysis Tools
Buzzsumo
FEATURES – Starts at $99/month
Tools like Buzzsumo analyzes the content your competitors are using so you can see what is working best for them. You also get trending content topics to help you plan your content marketing. Use the free 7-day trial to look for content by entering the competitor’s URL or keyword in the search bar. You can refine the search with content type, social site, and date.
Feedly
FEATURES – Starts at $5/month
Want to know what new content your competitors are serving to the audience without keeping a check on their blog? Feedly is the tool for you. You can see all the prevalent topics on a single page. It also allows you to segment trends, competitors, and clients.
Social Media Online Platform Analysis Tool
Sprout Social
FEATURES – Starts at $99/month with a $249/month agency plan
Sprout Social helps you understand competition from multiple perspectives. This tool offers you a competitive report to follow popular metrics across different social channels. It also comes with an exciting feature called “Advanced Listening Tool” where you can check social conversations. This helps in knowing what customers feel about your brand as well as your competitors’.
Phlanx
FEATURES – Starts at $25
Your clients are going to want to grow their social media accounts, so knowing what works for both their own campaigns and competitors helps increase the ROI on social media. Phlanx lets you track the Instagram presence of your competitors and check if they have a legitimate following.
Better Customer Understanding with Online Competitor Analysis Tools
It’s implied that “competitive” analysis is focused on what other businesses are doing; smart marketers know that the heart of any marketing activity is the customer. The information you get from these seven online competitive analysis tools helps you create campaigns that not only grow your client’s businesses but also help them to better serve their customers. By understanding what customers engage with, what makes them take action, and what they think competitors do well, you can create marketing that helps puts them at the top of their market.
Amazon has built a global powerhouse by understanding what the customer wants and finding a way to cater to those needs and still make a profit. “First of all, I’m focused on customers and not competitors. Competitors’ strategy changes all the time. We don’t want to distract ourselves from customers by obsessing over what competitors are doing or not doing,” states Jeffrey Wilke, CEO of Worldwide Consumer at Amazon.com.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Competitor Analysis Template
With these online competitor analysis tools, you’re going to get a lot of information, but you need a way to document just the information you need. This is especially true if you’re going to be presenting competitor analysis information to your clients as part of your services.
DOWNLOAD THE COMPETITOR ANALYSIS TEMPLATE competitor analysis template to drill down to the information you can use to stay competitive in the current market.
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