What to look at
- Offer: products, services, features and pricing.
- Positioning: who they target and what they promise.
- Website and content: structure, messaging, calls to action and content quality.
- Search visibility: which keywords they rank for, and their backlinks.
- Advertising: their ads on Google and social media.
- Reviews and reputation: what customers praise and complain about.
- Social media: channels, engagement and content themes.
Tools
- SEO tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs, for keywords, traffic estimates and links
- Google’s Ads Transparency Center and the Meta Ad Library, to see competitors’ ads
- Google Search and Maps results for your main keywords and locations
- Review sites, and feedback from your own customers
Turning analysis into action
Summarize the findings in a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and choose a few actions: keywords competitors miss, questions they don’t answer, service gaps or clearer positioning. Repeat the analysis regularly, as markets change.