Competitor Analysis

Analyzes competitor SEO and GEO strategies to reveal repeatable wins, weak spots, and market gaps.

Quick Start

Analyze SEO strategy for [competitor URL]

Compare my site [URL] against [competitor 1], [competitor 2], [competitor 3]

Skill Contract

Expected output: a prioritized competitor brief plus the standard handoff summary for memory/research/.

• Reads: goals, market inputs, tool data, and prior strategy from CLAUDE.md and the shared State Model when available.
• Writes: a user-facing analysis and reusable summary.
• Promotes: durable competitor facts, keyword priorities, entity candidates, and pending strategy decisions to memory/hot-cache.md, memory/open-loops.md, and memory/research/.
• Primary next skill: content-gap-analysis when the competitive landscape is clear.

Handoff Summary

Emit the standard shape from skill-contract.md §Handoff Summary Format.

Data Sources

Optional integrations: ~~SEO tool, ~~analytics, ~~AI monitor. Without tools, ask for competitor URLs, your site metrics, and industry context. See CONNECTORS.md.

Instructions

When a user requests competitor analysis:

1. Identify Competitors — separate direct competitors, indirect alternatives, and content competitors if the user has not named them already.
2. Gather Competitor Data — capture URL, domain age, estimated traffic, domain authority, business model, target audience, and key offerings.
3. Analyze Keyword Rankings — document total rankings, top 10/top 3 counts, high-value keywords, intent mix, and keyword gaps.
4. Audit Content Strategy — review content volume, top performers, publishing patterns, themes, and success factors.
5. Analyze Backlink Profile — review backlink totals, quality mix, top linking domains, link acquisition patterns, and linkable assets.
6. Technical SEO Assessment — evaluate Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, architecture, internal linking, URL structure, and standout strengths/weaknesses.
7. GEO / AI Citation Analysis — test which queries cite competitors, what formats get cited, and where competitors still leave openings.
8. Synthesize Competitive Intelligence — deliver an Executive Summary, comparison table, CITE comparison, strengths to learn from, weaknesses to exploit, keyword opportunities, content recommendations, and an Immediate / Short-term / Long-term plan.

Reference: See references/analysis-templates.md for the compact templates used at each step.

Example

See references/example-report.md for a full sample analyzing HubSpot's marketing keyword dominance.

Advanced Analysis Types

Content Gap Analysis

Show me content [competitor] has that I don't, sorted by traffic potential

Link Intersection

Find sites linking to [competitor 1] AND [competitor 2] but not me

SERP Feature Analysis

What SERP features do competitors win? (Featured snippets, PAA, etc.)

Historical Tracking

How has [competitor]'s SEO strategy evolved over the past year?

Tips for Success

Analyze 3-5 competitors, include indirect players, and study both strengths and failures.

Save Results

After delivering, offer to save memory/research/competitor-analysis/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>.md and promote durable conclusions to memory/hot-cache.md.

Reference Materials

• Analysis Templates — Step-by-step analysis templates
• Battlecard Template — Quick-reference battlecard format
• Positioning Frameworks — Positioning and differentiation frameworks
• Example Report — Worked sample

Next Best Skill

Primary: content-gap-analysis. Also: serp-analysis and backlink-analyzer.