What is one piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out with competitor research? What should they prioritize?

Question

Competitor research is a crucial skill for business success in today's market. This article presents expert advice to help beginners master the art of analyzing their competition effectively. From identifying true competitors to leveraging AI for efficient research, these insights will equip readers with the tools needed to gain a competitive edge.

Samantha DeSoto · Answer

Focus on your "next-level" competitors, not the industry giants.
The biggest mistake I see companies make when starting competitor research is immediately looking at the market leaders, the household names everyone knows. While it's important to understand what the top players are doing, they shouldn't be your primary focus for actionable competitive intelligence.
Instead, prioritize studying competitors who are just one or two steps ahead of you. These are companies with similar resources, market position, and customer base, but that are performing slightly better in key areas like traffic, conversions, or market share.
Here's why this approach works: When a startup studies Amazon's marketing strategy, most of those tactics are completely irrelevant because Amazon has unlimited budget, brand recognition, and infrastructure that the startup will never have. But when that same startup studies a competitor who's getting 20% more leads or has 15% better conversion rates, those strategies are immediately actionable and scalable.
Look for competitors who are solving similar problems for similar audiences, but are doing something just a bit better than you. Analyze their messaging, their content strategy, and their pricing positioning. These insights will give you concrete, implementable improvements rather than aspirational strategies you can't execute.
Your real competition isn't the industry leader you'll never catch; it's the company you could realistically surpass with the right strategic moves.

Brenda Curi Linhares · Answer

Prioritize a channel-by-channel teardown of your top competitors from a buyer's point of view. Start by mapping which channels actually drive profit in your category, then study how each rival executes in those channels across targeting, core promise, offers, landing flow, speed-to-lead, and nurturing. Score them on reach, quality, and friction so gaps are easy to spot. Look for repeatable openings like ignored segments, slow responses, thin content, confusing pricing paths, or weak mobile performance. Choose one insertion point where you can win quickly instead of spreading efforts across every channel. Validate your read with a few real buyers or sales call notes, then keep the teardown updated as the market shifts.

Adam Bowles · Answer

When starting out with competitor research, my advice is to think from the customer's perspective, rather than just focusing on your competitor's features. Buyer personas or customer profiles help to frame your research. Use them to examine how your competitors are solving specific customer problems and where they're leaving gaps. Prioritize ideas that address a specific customer problem or pain point first. Don't blindly copy what competitors are doing.
Here is a case study: I once had a client who had previously spent a considerable amount of time and money adding an industry jobs section to their website "because their competitor was doing it". I highlighted that customers in their market were not coming to them looking for a job (reflected by very low traffic levels to the jobs section), that huge recruitment portals already dominate the market, and moreover, that the job section did not address a problem their customers wanted fixing. Eventually, my client removed the section when I also highlighted that their competitor's job section was, in all likelihood, also receiving zero traffic. This highlights the pitfalls of "just because my competitor does..." thinking.

Lauren Parr · Answer

When you're just starting out with competitor research, one of the most valuable things you can do is step into the customer's shoes. Too often, businesses dive straight into tracking ads, SEO rankings, or pricing models, but the most revealing insights come from listening to what customers are actually saying.
Look at competitor reviews, social media comments, and testimonials, not just the five-star praise but also the two- and three-star feedback. This is where you'll find the most honest, unfiltered perspective on what people love, tolerate, and dislike.
From there, shift your focus to identifying weaknesses. By addressing them better than your competitors, you create a natural differentiator that makes your brand stand out. The key is to merge both views: see the journey through the eyes of a customer, then translate their frustrations into actionable strengths for your business.
Competitor research shouldn't overwhelm you with data; it should point you directly to where you can win trust and loyalty faster. Start simple, listen carefully, and build your strategy around solving problems others leave unresolved. That's how you not only understand your competitors but also outpace them.

Matt Lasker · Answer

When beginning your competitor research, the first consideration should be focus rather than quantity. Many new researchers lose themselves in collecting an endless number of data points and miss out on key insights. The first task is to identify your true competitors — not the largest players in the industry, but those who are targeting the same customers as you.
From there, consider whom they are reaching, how they price their products or services, and where they are connecting with customers. For example, while building my own business, I found it more beneficial to understand the context of where competitors placed their ads and how they phrased their messaging, rather than diving too deep into numbers. This approach significantly influenced how I would or would not position my offering compared to others in the industry.
Ultimately, start with what is relevant and important at a strategic level — figure out what is helping their customers connect with them — and save more extensive analysis for later.

Oksana Gedrovica · Answer

Avoid simply browsing and start with a clear plan. Merely looking at a competitor's website or reading a few Google reviews won't provide you with any meaningful insights. You need a basis for comparison specific to your goals to be effective.
Before conducting the research, begin by creating a comparison table. Use a Google Sheet to list all the key factors you want to analyze. Start with what's most important to you (e.g., services, pricing models, or target clients) and then add other details in order of importance.
To make the process more valuable, fill in your company's information in the first column. This will immediately highlight what you already offer and what you might be missing, giving you a strong foundation from which to draw conclusions from your research.

Mark Tipton · Answer

When you are just starting with competitor research, the most useful approach is to focus on how your competitors are positioning themselves, rather than trying to monitor all of them simultaneously. Observe how they present themselves to customers, what they emphasize in their promises, and how they communicate their unique value proposition. This will give you insight into what appeals to their audience and where they might be falling short, which you can address.
Most novices get overwhelmed by data, but focusing on positioning will allow you to create a clear picture before delving into more advanced metrics such as backlinks, traffic, or pricing.

Dean Whitby · Answer

When starting competitor research, my first piece of advice is: use AI as your research assistant, but master your prompt engineering. Most people type generic prompts into ChatGPT or Gemini and get shallow answers. If you instead structure prompts to pull out competitor positioning, pricing psychology, content angles, backlink sources, and customer sentiment from reviews, you can cut hours of manual work down to minutes. The quality of your competitor insights will only be as sharp as the quality of your prompts.
The second tip: don't just look at what competitors are doing; study what they're not doing. Gaps in messaging, missing platforms, or unanswered customer pain points are often where the biggest opportunities lie. While everyone else is obsessing over feature lists, you can win by spotting the whitespace.

Nicholas Gibson · Answer

I do a lot of competitor research for PPC campaigns and brand comparisons. The #1 piece of advice I give to first-timers is to start with the "big picture" by looking at competitors' brand images, key marketing offers, pricing, and general market position. This provides a lot of important context that comes in handy when you start looking at factors such as PPC, SEO, and technical comparisons in more detail.

Ruth Quinn · Answer

There are many layers to competitor research, but something that often gets missed is reading your competitors' worst reviews. This practice helps you figure out what customers don't like about their product or service. By doing so, you can leverage this information to deliver better service or tweak your messaging to address these pain points.

Tracy Mak Paddison · Answer

When I'm starting competitor research, I first focus on finding the right list of businesses to analyze. I use search results to quickly identify who's showing up for my client's keywords. Then I run those businesses' reviews through AI to spot patterns, such as what customers praise and where they struggle. This gives me a quick snapshot of whether a competitor is worth deeper research and helps me avoid spending time on businesses outside my client's niche. It's an easy way to get accurate insights up front, so the in-depth analysis is focused on the right competitors.

Farhan Sheikh · Answer

Competitor analysis is most effective when done holistically. Never rely on a single tool for everything; always use multiple tools. For SEO, Ahrefs and SEMrush provide deep insights. For PPC analysis, SpyFu is ideal, while Hootsuite uncovers social media strategies' secrets. Integrating multiple tools ensures actionable insights. So when you use multiple tools to make a competitor analysis report, you will have a good amount of data to come up with the right strategy to outgrow them.

Steve Faulkner · Answer

When starting out with competitor research, don't just look at how rivals attract customers. Also study how they attract and retain employees. This perspective is often overlooked, but it can be just as valuable for driving long-term, sustainable growth.
The way competitors engage talent reveals more than compensation and benefits. It also highlights the intangibles that shape a strong employer brand: career growth opportunities, culture, values, flexibility, and support for work-life balance. These factors don't just influence recruitment and retention. They affect productivity, reputation, and overall brand strength.
By understanding how competitors position themselves in the talent market, you gain a deeper view of how they define and communicate their identity. It's an angle that broadens your insights beyond customers and helps you see what truly fuels their growth.

Roger Van der Spek · Answer

While competitor research offers valuable insights, the primary focus should be on understanding client needs and delivering scalable solutions. Use competitive intelligence to identify market gaps and inform pricing strategies.

Victor Hsi · Answer

If you're just starting out with competitor research, prioritize organic sources first - look at what ranks on Google, Reddit, and YouTube for your main keywords.
This approach tells you what's actually working without ad spend. Examine their backlinks, page titles, and the type of content that ranks. SEO provides long-term insight, not short-term hype. Focus on these aspects before considering paid advertising strategies.

Competitor Research 101: Expert Advice for Beginners

Competitor Research 101: Expert Advice for Beginners

Study Next-Level Competitors for Actionable Insights

Conduct Channel-by-Channel Competitor Teardown

Analyze Competitors from Customer Perspective

Listen to Customer Feedback About Competitors

Identify True Competitors and Their Strategies

Create Structured Comparison Table for Analysis

Focus on Competitor Positioning and Messaging

Leverage AI for Efficient Competitor Research

Begin with Big Picture Brand Analysis

Examine Competitors’ Worst Reviews for Opportunities

Use Search Results to Identify Relevant Competitors

Integrate Multiple Tools for Comprehensive Analysis

Investigate Competitors’ Talent Attraction and Retention

Balance Competitor Research with Client-Centric Solutions

Prioritize Organic Search Results in Initial Research

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