9 Competitive Insights & How to Uncover Them

Competitive insights (or competitor analysis) refer to valuable information about rival businesses that empower us to make smarter decisions for our operations. These insights allow us to spy on competitors , refine our strategies, and ultimately outrank competitors in search rankings. Whether we’re conducting SEO competitive analysis , performing backlink analysis , or leveraging keyword gap analysis , understanding these elements is critical for long-term success.

To gather competitive insights , we can either manually analyze the activities, strategies, and outcomes of other businesses in our niche or utilize specialized tools like SEMrush. These tools streamline processes such as competitor benchmarking , helping us stay ahead of the curve. Let’s explore nine key competitive insights and how to obtain them:

1. Market Share Across Key Metrics

Calculating the market share for every company within your industry provides a clear picture of each business’s performance and helps us identify significant threats. By conducting thorough competitor benchmarking , we can determine which companies dominate based on relevant industry metrics, such as:

• Unit sales
• Monthly active users
• Web traffic

This approach not only helps us understand what drives success in various areas but also highlights gaps in our own strategy. For instance, if we want to evaluate our share of web traffic compared to competitors, SEMrush’s Traffic & Market Toolkit — Market Overview Dashboard offers a quick breakdown of web traffic distribution in our niche.

Enter competitor domains, select the desired timeframe, and specify the country or region for analysis. The dashboard analyzes traffic to our domain alongside up to 99 competitors’ domains. Use this data to spy on competitors and uncover opportunities to improve our visibility.

In the Growth Quadrant section, we can see where we stand relative to rivals in the competitive landscape. Scroll down to the Market Players section to view each company’s share of market traffic.

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2. Traffic Acquisition Channels

Understanding where competitors source their website traffic can help us uncover acquisition channels we might be overlooking or underperforming in. Navigate to the Traffic Overview dashboard in the Traffic & Market Toolkit to identify which channels drive the most traffic in our market. Compare up to five domains, including our biggest rivals.

Here’s an overview of primary traffic acquisition channels and tactics to enhance performance:

Traffic Channel	Description	Tactics
Direct	Visits from typing the URL or using bookmarks	Content creation + offline marketing (e.g., direct mail, billboards)
Referral	Visits from external website links	Link building + digital PR (getting publications to link to/talk about our site)
Organic Search	Unpaid visits from search engine results	SEO competitive analysis
Paid Search	Visits from search engine ads	PPC marketing
Organic Social	Unpaid visits from social media links	Social media marketing
Paid Social	Visits from social media ads	Social media advertising
Email	Visits from email links	Email marketing
Display Ads	Visits from display ads	Display advertising

By analyzing these channels, we can refine our strategy to outrank competitors and capture untapped audiences. For example, if a competitor excels in referral traffic, consider enhancing our link-building efforts or partnering with influencers in our niche.

Further reading: How to Conduct a Digital Marketing Competitor Analysis

3. Social Media Presence

If competitors are active on platforms we’ve neglected, we could be missing out on valuable reach and engagement opportunities. Most businesses list their social media profiles in their website footer, allowing us to manually check which platforms they use.

For a faster and more comprehensive understanding, use dashboards in the Traffic & Market Toolkit. For example, the Organic Social dashboard lets us view competitors individually to identify which social platforms send the most traffic to their domains.

For instance, Snapchat, YouTube, and Pinterest may drive significant traffic to Nike’s site. Focus on platforms relevant to your audience and leverage keyword gap analysis to target trending topics effectively.

Here’s a quick rundown of key platforms covered:

• Reddit: Online communities/forums ideal for niche audiences.
• Instagram: Image/video-sharing platform great for fashion and design brands.
• YouTube: Video-sharing platform with strong SEO potential.
• Pinterest: Virtual pinboard for images, videos, and links. Use Pinterest Trends to discover popular topics.
• Facebook: Particularly effective for local businesses. Learn more via Facebook Business Manager.
• X (formerly Twitter): Microblogging platform often used for marketing and customer service.
• Other: Includes platforms like TikTok and Snapchat.

For deeper insights, use the Social Tracker tool (part of Semrush Social). We can see which competitors’ posts gain the most engagement on Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. Use these insights to refine our own social content strategy.

4. Product and Service Offerings

Analyzing competitors’ products and services helps us identify innovation opportunities and ways to differentiate our offerings. Focus on aspects like quality, pricing, and features.

For example, let’s say we run a yoga clothing brand. Through competitor research , we might discover that none of our competitors use the same high-quality materials we do. Highlighting this unique selling proposition (USP) in marketing materials can help us stand out.

Additionally, learning that a competitor offers a wide variety of color options might inspire us to expand our own range. Use these insights to refine our product strategy and appeal to a broader audience.

5. Target Audiences

Identifying which target audiences competitors are pursuing ensures we’re not overlooking important segments. Analyze competitors’ websites for landing pages tailored to specific departments or industries. These reveal competitor benchmarking strategies and highlight gaps we can fill.

Use SEMrush’s Audience Overlap and Demographics Dashboards to see shared traffic, common interests, and cross-site behavior. These insights allow us to refine our targeting and spy on competitors effectively.

For example, Slack has dedicated landing pages for different departments and industries, emphasizing specific product benefits. The volume of resources available for each segment indicates its importance to the brand, while the content itself sheds light on Slack’s personalization strategy.

We can also learn about Slack’s customers through its success stories. If we want to pursue similar clients, these stories provide valuable details for crafting buyer personas (e.g., pain points).

6. Popular Webpages

Analyzing competitors’ most visited webpages allows us to determine which products, services, and content types resonate with audiences in our niche. Input a competitor’s domain into the Semrush Traffic & Market Toolkit, then navigate to the Top Pages dashboard. Select the desired time range and location for analysis.

For each page, you’ll find the following metrics:

• Traffic Share: Page views as a percentage of overall domain traffic
• 1Y Trend: Fluctuations in page views over the past 12 months
• Unique Pageviews: Number of visits to the page (scroll right for breakdown by acquisition channel)
• Unique Visitors: Number of individual users who visited the page
• Entrances: Website visits that started on that page
• Avg. Visit Duration: Average visit length (MM:SS)
• Exits: Website visits that ended on that page

Tip: Click the header of any numerical column to sort results from high to low or vice versa.

To review the content on any page, click the icon in the “Page” column to open the URL. Apply these insights to refine our business strategy—for example, stocking products that generate significant page views or creating blog posts that drive entrances.

Tip: To monitor new content published by competitors, use the EyeOn tool. Track website pages, social posts, and more across up to 20 domains.

7. Google Keyword Rankings

Examining competitors’ Google keyword rankings is one of the best ways to uncover SEO opportunities. By identifying what works for rivals, we can aim to outperform them.

Start by entering our domain and a competitor’s domain into the Keyword Gap tool. Choose the country and click “Compare.” Scroll down to the keyword table and select “Weak” to display search queries where the competitor outranks us.

To improve these rankings, optimizing the relevant pages is likely necessary. Next, go to the “Missing” tab to see keywords the competitor ranks for but we don’t. Creating quality content from scratch is often required to rank for these keywords.

Prioritize keywords based on volume, difficulty, and intent to maximize impact. This step is crucial for effective keyword gap analysis and achieving higher visibility.

Further reading: How to Perform an SEO Competitor Analysis

Compare Your Rankings with Competitors’ Using the Keyword Gap Tool

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8. Advertising Strategies and Results

Understanding where competitors advertise—and the results they achieve—not only highlights advertising opportunities but also reveals their positioning strategy (how they present their brand to consumers).

We recommend using:

• Advertising Research: Analyze competitors’ text ads on Google Search
• PLA Research: Examine competitors’ Google Shopping ads
• AdClarity: Evaluate competitors’ display, video, and social media ads

For example, let’s explore Slack’s advertising activity in AdClarity. We see that Slack spent an estimated $27K on video and banner ads in the U.S. during December 2023 (no social ads were active at this time), generating approximately 5.7 million impressions.

The “Top Ads” section displays the messaging and visuals Slack used to capture attention. Meanwhile, the “Top publishers and apps” section shows where these ads were placed.

9. Reputational Strengths and Weaknesses

It’s crucial to understand consumer perceptions of competitors. This enables us to emulate their strengths and exploit their weaknesses.

For instance:

• If a competitor is praised for excellent customer service, adopting similar policies could benefit us.
• If a competitor faces criticism for poor-quality service, highlighting our five-star reviews might attract more customers.

Third-party review platforms are excellent sources for gathering competitor insights. Identify sites your target audience frequents (e.g., Google, Yelp). Read recent reviews about competitors to identify recurring themes.

Additionally, search for mentions of competitors online. Use Google to explore references, skipping past their official websites and social profiles. The “News” section often provides valuable commentary.

Tip: Narrow Google results using search operators and filters. Don’t forget to check social media platforms like X.

Alternatively, streamline this process with the Brand Monitoring app. Add a competitor’s name to track mentions in the press or on social media, along with sentiment analysis (positive, negative, or neutral). In the “Analytics” tab, monitor overall sentiment trends and observe changes over time.

Start Gathering Competitive Insights

Regardless of the methods used to gather competitive insights , make it an ongoing process. The sooner we identify shifts in the competitive landscape, the faster we can respond strategically to outrank competitors and achieve long-term success.