Competitor analysis is a structured look at the businesses competing for the same customers as you, to work out where they are stronger, where they are weaker and what you should do differently. In digital marketing it usually covers search visibility, paid ads, websites, offers and reviews.
How competitor analysis works
Start by naming the right competitors, because there are two kinds. Business competitors are the firms you lose quotes to. Search competitors are whoever appears for the terms your customers type, and they are often not businesses like yours at all. An electrician in Croydon is up against other electricians, but also trade directories, review platforms and lead-generation sites that rank for “electrician Croydon”. Both lists matter, for different reasons.
Then compare across the places customers meet you:
- Organic search. Which of their pages rank for your main services, how thorough those pages are, and which terms they cover that you do not. A keyword gap report does the last part quickly.
- Local search. Google Business Profile categories, photos, how many reviews they have and how recent they are.
- Paid ads. Meta’s Ad Library shows the ads any advertiser is running, and Google’s Ads Transparency Center shows ads by verified advertiser. If you already advertise on Google, Auction Insights shows who you meet in the same auctions and how often.
- Offer and experience. Prices where shown, guarantees, how quickly you can get a quote, how the site works on a phone.
- What customers say. Their reviews, especially the complaints, tell you what buyers in your market care about.
The output is not a spreadsheet of numbers. It is a short list of conclusions: what is now standard and you must match, what nobody does well, and where you could stand apart.
Why it matters
Search results are a comparison. Google is choosing between your page and someone else’s, so judging your page in isolation tells you little. If every result for “accountant for contractors” is a detailed guide with a calculator, a 300-word service page is unlikely to break in, however well it is written. A quick SERP analysis before writing saves weeks of effort.
There is UK context worth using too. Companies House filings show who is behind a competitor and how long they have traded, and review platforms used widely in the UK reveal service problems that a website never mentions. If you plan to name competitors in ads, comparative claims must be fair and verifiable under the CAP Code.
Common mistakes
- Watching only the rivals you know offline and missing the directories and publishers taking your clicks.
- Copying. Rewording a competitor’s page adds nothing new for Google or the reader, and lifting their text risks a copyright complaint.
- Treating tool estimates as fact. Third-party traffic and keyword figures are modelled. Use them to compare, not to report.
- Doing it once. A competitor review from two years ago describes a market that has moved.
How to act on it
For each of your main services, pick three to five competitors from both lists. Record the same points for each in one sheet, then write three to five conclusions and the action each one leads to. A SWOT analysis is a sensible way to summarise the findings for a team. Repeat the light version every quarter and the full version yearly, or whenever a new name starts appearing above you. Turning that review into priorities and a budget is part of my digital marketing strategy and consulting work.