SEO Competitor Analysis: Step-by-Step Guide with Reddit Tips

Introduction — based on a Reddit discussion

This guide is based on a lively Reddit thread where SEOs of different experience levels shared how they run an seo competitor analysis. Below you’ll find a synthesized, step-by-step process that captures community consensus, highlights disagreements, and adds expert-level tactics so you can run a practical, repeatable audit that drives results.

What Redditors agreed on (high-level consensus)

Start by defining real competitors: both organic and paid players, plus niche sites that rank for the same intent.
Use a mix of tools (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Screaming Frog, Google Search Console) and manual SERP checks — tools are estimations, not gospel.
Focus on three core gaps: keyword/visibility, content/intent, and backlinks/authority.
Prioritize quick wins: low-hanging keywords, technical fixes that improve crawl/indexing, and high-potential pages you can replicate or improve.

Common points of disagreement from the thread

How many competitors to analyze: some recommend 3–5 direct competitors; others analyze 10–20 (including niche and paid competitors) to capture SERP diversity.
Tool reliance: a few argued for a single-platform workflow (e.g., Ahrefs-only), while others insisted on combining multiple sources to cross-check data.
Depth vs. speed: some SEOs prefer deep, one-off audits; others recommended frequent lightweight checks to stay agile. Both approaches have merit depending on resources.
Whether to include paid competitors: many said yes (paid winners often indicate high commercial intent), but a minority felt paid and organic strategies should be separated entirely.

Step-by-step SEO competitor analysis

1) Define who counts as a competitor

Direct competitors: sites selling the same product/service and targeting the same keywords.
Search competitors: pages that rank for your target queries even if they’re not selling something (blogs, aggregators, forums).
Paid competitors: advertisers appearing frequently in SERPs for your commercial keywords.
Tip: build three buckets in a sheet — Primary (3–5), Secondary (5–10), and Watchlist (remaining).

2) Collect baseline data (tools & quick checks)

Essential tools: Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, Screaming Frog, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, GTmetrix/Lighthouse, and a backlink tool (Majestic or Ahrefs).
Quick checks: run site:competitor.com queries, inspect top-ranking pages manually, and note SERP features (featured snippets, People Also Ask, shopping, maps).
Export key metrics: organic traffic estimates, ranking keywords, top pages, referring domains, and visible on-page issues.

3) Keyword & content gap analysis

Use content gap/keyword gap features (Ahrefs/SEMrush) to find keywords competitors rank for but you don’t.
Filter by intent: transactional, informational, navigational. Prioritize commercial intent queries for monetization goals.
Analyze top pages: what’s the target intent, format (listicle, guide, category page), depth, and media used? Create a template for pages you want to outrank.

4) On-page & technical audit

Run a crawl (Screaming Frog or Sitebulb) to identify thin content, duplicate titles/meta tags, broken links, and canonical issues.
Compare your page speed and Core Web Vitals to competitors using Lighthouse and GTmetrix.
Check schema and markup: do competitors use product schema, FAQ, breadcrumbs, or review schema better than you?

5) Backlink and authority analysis

Export referring domains and top linking pages. Focus on unique referring domains over raw link count.
Assess link quality: topical relevance, DA/DR, and anchor text distribution. Avoid toxic outreach approaches — quality + relevance matter most.
Find replicable opportunities: guest posts, resource pages linking to competitor content, broken link replacements, and unlinked brand mentions.

6) Map content to user intent and funnel

Make a matrix that matches competitor pages to funnel stages (TOFU/MOFU/BOFU) and note gaps where competitors outrank you.
Identify types of assets that work (long-form guides, calculators, comparison pages) and prioritize those aligned with conversion goals.

7) Prioritization: quick wins vs. long-term plays

Quick wins: pages ranking on page 2 that need better titles, meta descriptions, internal links, or minor content expansion.
Medium: create improved content for topics with decent search volume but strong competitors — use better structure and data.
Long-term: domain-level authority building via strategic link campaigns and large content clusters.

8) Reporting & ongoing monitoring

Set up a dashboard (Data Studio or Looker Studio via Supermetrics) for weekly keyword position trends, traffic, and backlinks.
Schedule quarterly deep-competitor audits and monthly lightweight checks. Use automated alerts for dramatic ranking or backlink changes.

Specific Reddit tips worth copying

Use Google Search Console and Analytics as your truth sources for current performance — especially clicks, CTR, and landing page data.
Scrape SERP titles and meta descriptions for top-ranking pages to spot patterns in headline formulas and CTAs.
Export competitor top pages and then manually inspect the top 3 results for structure (H-tags, word count, images, CTAs).
Prioritize keywords with commercial intent and reasonable difficulty: volume matters, but conversion intent matters more.
Keep an organized spreadsheet: columns for competitor, page, keyword, intent, traffic estimate, and next action.

Expert Insight #1 — Beyond the Reddit thread: crawl-log analysis

Redditors mentioned crawl issues, but few dove deep into log-file analysis. Reviewing server logs or crawl logs from Google Search Console gives you unique visibility into how often Googlebot hits pages, which pages aren’t crawled, and which pages generate 5xx errors. Combine crawl frequency data with your priority matrix to ensure high-value pages are crawled and indexed. This is a strong differentiator for technical SEO and recovery from indexation problems.

Expert Insight #2 — Using topical and semantic analysis

Most replies on Reddit recommended content gap tools. To go further, run a TF-IDF or topic-modeling analysis across top-ranking pages to surface important related terms and semantic clusters. This helps you build content that covers subtopics competitors miss and improves contextual relevance for target keywords. Tools like SurferSEO, MarketMuse, or a custom Python TF-IDF pipeline can uncover these patterns.

Automation & time-saving hacks

Create templates for competitor audits so initial steps are standardized (list of tools, exports, checklist).
Use scheduled exports via SEMrush/Ahrefs APIs or Supermetrics into Google Sheets to keep data fresh without manual downloads.
Automate rank tracking for your top 50–100 keywords and create alerts for position drops of 3+ spots.

Common pitfalls Redditors warned about

Blindly trusting tool traffic estimates — use GSC data to validate and calibrate.
Over-optimizing for exact-match keywords instead of user intent and helpful content.
Chasing links quantity over relevance and topical authority.

Template: minimal deliverable for stakeholders

Executive summary: top 3 opportunities and estimated traffic lift.
Competitor snapshot: 5 competitors, top pages, estimated monthly organic traffic.
Top 10 quick wins: title/meta fixes, internal linking, broken links, and page speed fixes.
3 strategic initiatives: content cluster, link building campaign, and technical project with timelines.

Final Takeaway

An effective seo competitor analysis balances tooling with manual review, focuses on intent and quality over raw metrics, and is repeatable. The Reddit community rightly emphasizes starting small: define real competitors, extract the low-hanging fruit, and then invest in deeper technical and topical work. Use a mix of GSC/Analytics as your ground truth and supplement with tools for discovery. Prioritize actions by business impact, and make monitoring routine so you can adapt to SERP shifts quickly.

Read the full Reddit discussion here.