/competitor-analysis

description: Multi-dimensional competitive analysis — content, SEO, paid ads, social, AI visibility, pricing, and positioning
argument-hint: "<competitor names or URLs>"

Competitor Analysis

> If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see [CONNECTORS.md](../CONNECTORS.md).

Deliver a comprehensive competitive intelligence report across all major marketing dimensions. Identify competitor strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and gaps the brand can exploit for competitive advantage.

Trigger

User runs `/digital-marketing-pro:competitor-analysis` or asks to analyze competitors, benchmark against competition, find competitive gaps, or understand the competitive landscape.

Inputs

Gather the following from the user. If not provided, ask before proceeding:

1. **Competitors** — 2-5 competitor names and/or URLs to analyze

2. **Analysis scope** — one of:

• **Full analysis** — all dimensions below (default)
• **SEO comparison** — keyword overlap, domain authority, content depth, link gaps
• **Content analysis** — publishing strategy, content types, topics, quality, frequency
• **Paid advertising** — ad copy, creative themes, platforms, estimated spend
• **Social media** — platform presence, engagement, content mix, posting cadence
• **Pricing and positioning** — pricing models, value props, messaging frameworks

3. **Key battleground keywords** — terms where the brand competes head-to-head

4. **Industry or category** — for contextual benchmarking

Process

1. Content Strategy Analysis

• Content types produced (blog, video, podcast, newsletter, reports, tools)
• Publishing frequency and consistency
• Top-performing content (shares, backlinks, estimated traffic)
• Content themes and topic clusters
• Content gaps — topics you cover that they don't, and vice versa
• Quality assessment (depth, originality, E-E-A-T signals)

2. SEO Competitive Landscape

**If SEO tools are connected (Ahrefs, Similarweb):**

• Pull domain metrics, keyword rankings, backlink profiles automatically
• Identify exact keyword overlap and gaps

**If tools are not connected:**

• Use web search to research the SEO landscape
• Note: "For detailed ranking data, connect Ahrefs or Similarweb via `/digital-marketing-pro:connect`."

Assess:

• Domain authority comparison
• Keyword overlap — terms both sites rank for, and who ranks higher
• Keyword gaps — terms competitors rank for that you don't
• Backlink profile comparison (referring domains, link quality)
• Content depth — average word count, topic breadth
• SERP feature ownership (featured snippets, People Also Ask, knowledge panels)

3. Paid Advertising Intelligence

• Platforms in use (Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, programmatic)
• Ad copy themes and messaging patterns
• Landing page strategies
• Estimated ad spend (if data available)
• Creative approaches (image, video, carousel, text)
• Targeting signals (audiences they appear to target)

4. Social Media Benchmarking

• Platform presence (which platforms, follower counts)
• Engagement rates by platform
• Content mix (text, image, video, stories, live)
• Posting frequency and consistency
• Community engagement (response rate, comment quality)
• Viral or standout content

5. AI Answer Engine Visibility

• How competitors appear in Google AI Overviews
• Presence in Perplexity, ChatGPT, and other AI answer engines
• Citation patterns — which competitor sites are cited most for key topics
• Structured content that makes competitors more "citeable"

6. Pricing and Positioning

• Pricing models (subscription, per-unit, freemium, enterprise)
• Price points relative to market
• Value proposition and messaging pillars
• Market positioning (premium, mid-market, budget, niche)
• Differentiation claims

Output Format

Competitive Overview Matrix

| Dimension | Your Brand | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C | |-----------|-----------|--------------|--------------|--------------|

Include rows for: content volume, SEO strength, social following, ad presence, pricing tier, AI visibility.

Content Strategy Comparison

| Metric | Your Brand | Comp A | Comp B | Winner | |--------|-----------|--------|--------|--------|

SEO Landscape

| Keyword | Your Rank | Comp A | Comp B | Gap/Opportunity | |---------|-----------|--------|--------|-----------------|

SWOT per Competitor

For each competitor: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities (for your brand), Threats.

Strategic Recommendations

**Quick Wins:**

• Competitive gaps you can exploit immediately

**Strategic Opportunities:**

• Larger market positioning or content strategy moves

**Defensive Priorities:**

• Areas where competitors are gaining ground that need protection

After the Analysis

Ask: "Would you like me to:

• Set up ongoing competitor monitoring? (`/digital-marketing-pro:competitor-monitor`)
• Create a counter-narrative strategy? (`/digital-marketing-pro:counter-narrative`)
• Draft content to fill the competitive gaps identified? (`/digital-marketing-pro:content-brief`)
• Build a share-of-voice tracking dashboard? (`/digital-marketing-pro:share-of-voice`)
• Analyze competitor ad creative in detail? (`/digital-marketing-pro:paid-advertising`)
• Map the full narrative landscape? (`/digital-marketing-pro:narrative-landscape`)"

Execution discipline — parallel dispatch

A full competitor analysis covers **7 independent dimensions** per competitor: content, SEO, paid ads, social, AI visibility, pricing, positioning. These have no cross-dependencies — they read different data sources and produce different sections of the final report.

Dispatch them via **one message with seven parallel `Task` tool calls** rather than seven sequential calls. Parallel dispatch of these independent dimensions is substantially faster than running them one after another; actual time varies with model and rate limits. Keep concurrency to a handful — past roughly 8 concurrent subag