Competitor Website Analysis: 5 Steps to a Content Plan

If a competitor keeps showing up above you in Google, you need specific answers. Which searches are they winning, which pages win them, who links to them, and which of those things you can realistically match. A competitor website analysis answers those questions. It is only worth doing if it ends in a short list of actions you will actually take.

This guide walks through a 5-step method that works with any toolset, including free ones. It also covers a bonus step for AI assistants like ChatGPT and how to turn your findings into a content and outreach plan.

What a competitor website analysis is (and what it should produce)

A competitor website analysis looks at the sites that outrank you to work out why they rank and what you can do about it. You study their content, the searches they show up for, and the sites that link to them. Then you compare all of that with your own site.

The mistake most people make is stopping at the data. Export enough keywords and backlinks and you end up with a spreadsheet of 4,000 rows and no idea what to do on Monday. A useful analysis produces a prioritized action list:

• Pages to write, in order
• Existing pages to improve, in order
• Sites to contact for links, in order

Keep that end goal in mind at every step. If a finding doesn't change what goes on the list, you can skip it.

Step 1: Identify your real search competitors

Your business competitors are the companies you lose deals to. Your search competitors are the sites that rank for the searches your customers type. The two lists often overlap only partly.

A local bakery might compete with two other bakeries in town. In Google, though, it also competes with recipe blogs, review directories, and delivery apps. Those are the sites taking the clicks.

To find your real search competitors:

1. Write down 10 to 20 searches a customer would type to find what you sell. Use their words, not your internal product names.
2. Search each one in a private browser window so your history doesn't skew the results.
3. Note every domain on page one, then count how often each appears across all your searches.
4. Group what you find: direct competitors, directories and marketplaces, publishers and blogs, and big brands.

The domains that keep appearing are your search competitors. Pick three to five to analyze closely. Choose sites that are similar to you in size and type. A national marketplace with a huge budget teaches you less than a business your size that simply does SEO better.

Step 2: Find competitors' top pages and the topics behind them

Next, work out which pages bring each competitor most of its search visibility. Usually a small number of pages do most of the work.

There are two ways to do this:

• With an SEO research tool. Most research suites estimate a domain's top pages by search traffic and list the keywords each page ranks for. These numbers are estimates, so use them to compare and rank pages, not as exact counts. Our overview of the types of SEO tools explains what each category can and can't tell you.
• By hand. Open the competitor's sitemap (often at /sitemap.xml), browse their blog and service pages, and note which topics they cover in depth. Searching `site:competitor.com topic` in Google shows which of their pages Google surfaces for a theme.

As you go, record patterns rather than single pages:

• Page types. Are they winning with guides, comparison pages, location pages, pricing explainers, or FAQs?
• Topic clusters. Do they have ten articles around one subject where you have one?
• Search intent. Do the pages that rank answer a question, compare options, or sell directly?

The patterns tell you what Google rewards for your topics. Copying any single page tells you very little.

Step 3: Run a keyword gap check, then compare it with your own Search Console data

A keyword gap check lists searches your competitors rank for that you don't. Research tools generate this automatically. You can also build a rough version from the top pages you found in Step 2.

The raw gap list is usually long and full of searches you have no realistic chance of winning soon. That's why the second half of this step matters most. Check your own Google Search Console Performance report. It shows the searches where Google already displays your site, along with impressions, clicks, and average position.

Look for overlap:

• Searches in the gap list where you already have impressions. Google already links your site to the topic. A better page or a stronger section can move you up.
• Searches where you rank on page two or low on page one. These are often the cheapest wins on your whole list.
• Pages with many impressions and few clicks. A clearer title and description can help before you write anything new. We cover this in finding pages that are seen but not clicked.

A gap you are already close to closing should go higher on your list than a gap you are starting from zero.

This is the step goodSEO.tech automates. It connects to Google Search Console (and Google Analytics, if you want) in one click with read-only access. It then uses your Search Console data to find the searches your site is close to winning. Analytics shows whether visits and conversions change after content goes live.

Step 4: Map competitors' backlink sources and pick realistic outreach targets

Links from other sites are still one of the main ways Google judges which pages deserve to rank. A backlink checker (included in most SEO research suites) lists the sites that link to each competitor. Look for linking sites that appear for two or more competitors but not for you. Those are your strongest leads.

Sort the linking sites into rough groups:

• Likely wins. Industry directories, local business associations, suppliers and partners, local news, and resource pages that list businesses like yours.
• Possible with effort. Blogs and publications that cite useful guides, data, or expert input. You'll need a page genuinely worth linking to.
• Skip. Link farms, paid link networks, and sites whose only purpose is swapping links. Google treats link schemes as spam (see Google's spam policies), so these can do more harm than good.

For each realistic target, note why they would link to you, which page of yours fits, and who to contact.

goodSEO.tech handles the legwork here. It finds sites that link to your competitors, finds contact details, and drafts outreach emails that are sent from your own mailbox. It never uses link exchanges or link farms.

Step 5: Turn the findings into a prioritized content and outreach plan

Now combine everything into one list. Rank each item on three questions:

1. How close am I already? Searches where you have impressions or page-two rankings come first.
2. How much is it worth? A search that leads to a sale or enquiry beats a purely informational one at the same effort.
3. How much work is it? Updating an existing page is usually faster than writing a new one.

A simple plan for the next 30 to 90 days might look like this:

• Rewrite titles and descriptions on pages with high impressions and low clicks.
• Expand or improve existing pages for searches where you sit on page two.
• Write new pages for the strongest gaps, starting with topics close to what you already rank for.
• Build a topic cluster where a competitor clearly outranks you on depth.
• Contact the outreach targets that link to several competitors, pointing them to your best matching page.

Then do the work, and check Search Console again after a few weeks to see what moved. For more on planning content around winnable searches, see content marketing built around searches you can win.

The execution step is where most plans stall, and it's the main part goodSEO.tech takes over. It writes and publishes content directly to WordPress, Wix, and Shopify. Custom-built sites (Lovable, Bolt, v0, or hand-coded) connect through one small API endpoint. Sites on other platforms, such as Squarespace, get finished, ready-to-paste content.

You choose how much control to keep. You can approve every piece before it publishes, or let brand-new posts publish on autopilot. Changes to existing pages always need your approval in either mode. Every draft is also checked against a Knowledge Base built from your own website pages and anything you add. A draft that states something unverified about your business fails the check and is rewritten instead of published.

Bonus step: Check whether AI assistants recommend your competitors instead of you

More people now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude which business to use, not just Google. A modern competitor analysis should check those answers too.

To do it by hand, ask several AI assistants the questions a customer would ask, such as "What's the best [your service] for [your situation]?" or "Who should I hire for [problem] in [your area]?" Record which businesses get named and what sources or reasons the assistant gives. If competitors appear and you don't, look at what they publish that you don't. That might be clear service descriptions, comparison pages, or direct answers to common questions.

goodSEO.tech automates this check. It asks AI assistants the questions a customer would ask, checks whether they recommend your business, and writes content aimed at the answers you're missing. Read more in our guide to AI searchability.

Doing it manually vs. with tools

You can run every step above with Google, a private browser window, Search Console, and a spreadsheet. It takes time, but it works. Paid tools mostly save you time on Steps 2 to 4, and they fall into two broad groups.

Research tools such as Semrush, Ahrefs, Jasper, and Frase help you analyze, research, or write. As of October 2026, none of them publishes content to your website on autopilot, so a person still has to write or edit and publish each piece.

Tools that also write and publish take your plan and carry it out. Here is how some of them compared on the facts we have, as of October 2026:

The tools also differ on backlinks. As of October 2026, Outrank and RankYak both use link exchanges for backlinks. goodSEO.tech uses outreach to sites that link to your competitors, sent from your own mailbox.

goodSEO.tech costs $49 a month per website or $490 a year. That includes about 30 articles a month, with no setup fee, and you can cancel anytime. The full site analysis is free and needs no credit card. It shows the opportunities found and what each is worth. Generating and publishing content requires the $49 plan. See the full pricing breakdown for details.

We publish this blog with goodSEO.tech on autopilot, starting November 9, 2026. You can see the live Google Search Console numbers for those articles at goodseo.tech/results.

If you want to see which opportunities are already sitting in your own data before planning anything, start with the free analysis. It costs nothing and needs no card, and it gives you a concrete starting list for Step 5.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many competitors should I include in a competitor website analysis?

Three to five search competitors is usually enough for a small business. Pick the domains that appear most often on page one for your main customer searches, and favor sites similar to yours in size and type. Analyzing more than five tends to add data without changing the actions you'll take.

Why does a competitor with a worse-looking website outrank me?

Google ranks pages based on how well they match a search and how much other sites trust them, not on visual design. A plainer site can outrank you if it has more pages covering the topics people search for, clearer answers to specific questions, or more links from relevant sites. Comparing their top pages and backlink sources with yours usually shows which of these is the gap.

Can Google Search Console show me my competitors' data?

No. Google Search Console only shows data for websites you have verified that you own or manage. For competitors, you need to look at search results directly or use an SEO research tool that estimates their rankings. Your own Search Console data is still essential, because it shows the searches where your site is already close to winning.

Does goodSEO.tech send backlink outreach emails for me?

goodSEO.tech finds sites that link to your competitors, finds their contact details, and drafts the outreach emails. The emails are sent from your own mailbox, so the conversation stays in your name. goodSEO.tech never uses link exchanges or link farms to build backlinks.

What should I fix first after a competitor analysis if I only have a few hours a month?

Start with pages that already get impressions in Google Search Console but few clicks, or that rank on page two for searches your competitors win. Improving those pages is usually faster than writing new ones, because Google already connects your site to those topics. After that, add new pages for the strongest gaps, beginning with topics close to what you already rank for.

What does goodSEO.tech cost after the free site analysis?

The goodSEO.tech site analysis is free and needs no credit card. Generating and publishing content requires the paid plan, which costs $49 a month per website or $490 a year and includes about 30 articles a month. There is no setup fee, and you can cancel at any time.