SEO competitor analysis is the process of studying the websites, content, and link profiles of businesses ranking above you in search results. It answers the most important question in SEO: what are my competitors doing that I’m not?

After 30 years in SEO, competitor analysis is always the first step in any new client engagement. Here’s the complete process.

Why Competitor Analysis Is the Foundation of SEO Strategy

The businesses ranking in the top 3 of Google for your target keywords have already solved the ranking problem. Their strategies are observable, repeatable, and adaptable. Rather than starting from zero, competitor analysis gives you a proven blueprint:

• Keywords to target: What exact queries drive traffic to their sites
• Content to create: What topics, depth, and formats rank in your niche
• Links to build: Which websites link to competitors (and might link to you)
• Local signals to optimize: GBP completeness, review counts, citation profiles

This is not copying competitors — it’s studying success and building from that foundation.

Step 1: Identify Your True SEO Competitors

Your SEO competitors are not your business competitors — they’re whoever ranks at the top of Google for your target keywords. These may include:

• Local businesses in your category
• National directories (Angi, HomeAdvisor, Yelp)
• Review platforms (Healthgrades, Avvo)
• Content sites (local news, informational blogs)

How to find them:

1. Search your primary keywords in Google: “plumber Piscataway NJ,” “HVAC contractor Edison NJ,” etc.
2. Note the top 3 Local Pack results
3. Note the top 5 organic (non-map) results
4. These are your competitive benchmarks

For local businesses, the Local Pack competitors and organic competitors may be different sites — a competitor dominating the Local Pack may have a weak website, while a strong organic ranking site may not appear in the Local Pack at all.

Step 2: Keyword Gap Analysis

Keyword gap analysis identifies search queries your competitors rank for but you don’t — revealing content opportunities you’re missing.

Using Ahrefs:

1. Site Explorer → enter your domain
2. Competitive Analysis → Keyword Gap
3. Add 2–3 competitor domains
4. Review keywords where competitors rank in positions 1–10 and you rank outside the top 20 or don’t rank at all

Using Semrush:

1. Keyword Gap tool
2. Enter your domain and competitor domains
3. Filter by keywords where competitors rank and you don’t (“Missing” keywords tab)

Prioritizing gaps:

• High search volume + low competitor difficulty = priority target
• High search volume + high competition = medium term target
• Low volume + highly relevant to your business = include in content plan

For local businesses, I also use DataForSEO to pull local keyword ranking data for specific cities and zip codes in NJ — it shows exactly what rankings look like at the hyperlocal level.

Step 3: Backlink Profile Analysis

Your competitors’ backlinks reveal where they’re getting link authority — and where you should be building links.

Using Ahrefs or Semrush:

1. Enter competitor domain
2. View their backlink profile
3. Sort by domain rating/authority (highest first)
4. Look for: local directories, industry associations, local press, partnership pages, supplier directories

What to look for:

• Local directories they’re in that you’re not (citation gap)
• Industry association member directories
• Local newspaper or business publication mentions
• Supplier or manufacturer dealer directories
• Partnership or referral pages from complementary businesses

Each link source represents a backlink opportunity for your site.

Step 4: Content Audit

Analyze what content your top-ranking competitors have published that you don’t.

Manual audit: Visit each competitor’s website and review their blog, FAQ section, and service pages. What topics do they cover that you haven’t?

Screaming Frog: Crawl a competitor’s site to see all their URLs — service pages, blog articles, location pages. This gives you a complete picture of their content architecture.

Questions to ask:

• Do they have cost guide content? (“How Much Does X Cost in NJ?”)
• Do they have individual service type pages?
• Do they have location/city pages for multiple service areas?
• Do they have FAQ content with answers?
• How long are their top-ranking articles? (Word count is a rough proxy for depth)

Step 5: On-Page SEO Analysis

For each top-ranking competitor page, analyze:

Title tag: What’s their format? Do they lead with the location, the service, or the brand?

H1: Does it match the title tag? What keyword does it target?

Content structure: How many headings (H2, H3) do they use? Do they have comparison tables, numbered lists, FAQ sections?

Schema markup: Do they use LocalBusiness schema? FAQPage schema? How is it structured?

Use your browser’s “View Page Source” to examine their HTML, or Screaming Frog to crawl and export this data in bulk.

Step 6: Local Signal Benchmarking

For local SEO specifically, benchmark your GBP signals against the top 3 Local Pack competitors.

What to compare:

This benchmarking reveals exactly what gap exists between your current GBP profile and the top-performing competitors. I use BrightLocal for systematic competitor GBP tracking for all NJ clients.

Step 7: Technical SEO Comparison

Compare your technical performance against competitors:

Page speed: Use Google PageSpeed Insights on competitor URLs to compare scores. If you’re at 45 and competitors average 82, speed is a gap to close.

Mobile optimization: Test competitor sites on Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.

Core Web Vitals: Check competitor URLs in Google Search Console’s URL Inspection (for your own) or PageSpeed Insights (for any URL).

Building Your Competitive Action Plan

After completing the analysis, create a prioritized action plan:

1. Quick wins (days 1–30): Fix GBP gaps identified in local benchmarking. Build citations at directories competitors are listed in but you’re not.

2. Content gaps (days 30–90): Create pages for keywords competitors rank for that you don’t. Prioritize by search volume and relevance.

3. Link building (ongoing): Pursue the link sources your competitors have (directory listings, associations, press outreach).

4. Technical improvements (days 1–60): Close any speed or mobile gaps identified.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SEO competitor analysis? SEO competitor analysis is the process of studying the websites, backlink profiles, content strategies, and local signals of businesses ranking above you in search results. The goal is to understand exactly what they’re doing to rank well, identify gaps between their strategy and yours, and create an action plan to close those gaps.

Who are my SEO competitors? Your SEO competitors are the websites ranking above you for your target keywords — not necessarily your business competitors. A competitor in a market might not rank for your keywords. A national directory or review site might rank for your keywords without being a direct business competitor. Identify your SEO competitors by searching your primary keywords and studying the top 3–5 organic and Local Pack results.

What should I analyze about my SEO competitors? Analyze: keyword coverage (which keywords are they ranking for that you’re not?), backlink profile (which sites link to them?), content strategy (what topics, depth, and formats?), on-page optimization (title tags, structure, schema), local signals (GBP category, reviews, citations), and technical SEO (site speed, mobile optimization).

What tools are used for SEO competitor analysis? Common tools: Ahrefs and Semrush (keyword gap analysis, backlink comparison), Screaming Frog (on-page competitor crawl), BrightLocal (local GBP benchmarking), DataForSEO (local ranking data), Moz (domain authority comparison), and Google Search itself (manual SERP analysis for your target keywords).

How do I find keyword gaps between me and competitors? Keyword gap analysis identifies keywords that competitors rank for but you don’t. In Ahrefs: Competitive Analysis → Keyword Gap → enter your domain and 2–3 competitor domains → the tool shows keywords where competitors rank and you don’t. Semrush has an identical Keyword Gap tool. Prioritize gaps where the keyword has meaningful search volume and the competitor’s ranking page is achievable.

How do I analyze a competitor’s backlink profile? In Ahrefs or Semrush, enter a competitor’s domain to see their full backlink profile: which sites link to them, what anchor text is used, and which pages receive the most links. Look for: local directory links you’re not in, industry association links, local press coverage, and partnership links. These represent link-building opportunities for your own site.

How often should I do SEO competitor analysis? Conduct a full competitor analysis at the start of any new SEO campaign. After that, monthly monitoring of top competitors is sufficient for most small businesses — tracking any new pages they publish, significant ranking changes, and new backlinks they acquire. Ahrefs and Semrush both offer alerts when competitors gain new backlinks or rank for new keywords.

Bryan Collins is an SEO consultant based in Piscataway, NJ, with 30+ years of experience helping small businesses grow through content and search. He is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and the author of Why Your Website Isn’t Ringing.