How to do a competitor analysis

Anyone with experience in PR knows that earning high-authority backlinks and media coverage takes far more than simply sending out a press release and hoping for the best. To make your brand stand out, you need a clear understanding of your niche - and, crucially, your key competitors.

That’s where competitor analysis comes in.

Competitor analysis is essential at the early stages of building a digital marketing strategy. Whether you’re focused on digital PR, content marketing, PPC, advertising or web development, knowing who you’re up against - and how to outperform them - is vital.

For digital PR in particular, digging into your competitors’ backlink profiles can be incredibly valuable. Examining the campaigns they’re running, the publications covering them, and the quality of links they’re earning reveals what’s working for them - and shows you how to sharpen your own approach.

Ultimately, competitor analysis helps you understand where your brand stands in comparison. It highlights both strengths to build on and gaps to address.

By identifying what good (and bad) PR looks like in your space, you can avoid costly missteps and ensure your campaigns are set up to deliver links, traffic, and the best possible impact on keyword rankings. It can also shine a light on areas where your brand may need more PR support. For example:

• Are you missing opportunities to shout about niche services?
• Is your backlink profile lagging behind?
• Do competitors have hundreds of links pointing to service pages that you’re overlooking?

In this blog, we’ll explore why competitor analysis matters - and how to carry out an effective review to level up your digital PR strategy.

What’s in this article:

• How to identify your competitors
• How to conduct a competitor analysis 
• Putting your learnings into practice 
• Key takeaways

How to identify your competitors 

In digital PR, your competitors aren’t just the brands you already know about who sell similar products or services. PR competitors are also the brands that rank for your target keywords, earn media coverage in your space, and dominate the backlink landscape in your niche.

Before identifying your competitors, it’s important to understand the different types - typically split into three categories:

• Direct competitors: These brands target the same market and customer base, offering similar products or services through a comparable distribution model. Their aim is to capture the same growth and visibility as your brand.
• Indirect competitors: These offer a similar product or service, but with a different target audience or business objective. They’re not going head-to-head with you, but they can still compete for media attention and search visibility.
• Substitute competitors: These brands offer an alternative to your product or service - perhaps in a different format or model - but still fulfil the same need for the customer.

So now you know who to look for, how do you actually find and identify them? Here are a few key steps to take in order to identify competitors: 

1. Find your core keywords 

Keywords are specific words or phrases searched for by customers when looking for information or products. They serve as the bridge between what users are searching for and the content available on the web. 

You can find your own keywords by listing out core topics related to your business or industry, and then from these topics, brainstorm a list of basic keywords and phrases that you think your audience might use to search for related content. Search for these using keyword analysis tools like Google Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer. These tools will also help you find new keywords, search volumes and suggest new keywords to search for. 

2. Use competitor research tools 

You can use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs and Moz to reveal domains with keyword rankings and backlink profiles which are similar to yours. Examining their content strategies can help inform your own PR plans. These platforms will allow you to enter your own competitors for comparative analysis, and will also suggest other competitors you may not realise are ranking for similar keywords, allowing you to broaden your scope. 

3. See who is getting coverage 

A great way to seek out competitors is to look at industry-specific publications or news titles you would love to see your brand in one day. Which brands are getting mentioned? And how? Be careful to seek out PR placements versus advertisements and affiliates. There will often be a disclaimer on the page somewhere if the article has been part of a brand partnership with a publication. Any brands in your space getting mentioned in your dream publications are your competitors, and they can be used as a best-in-class example of achieving the coverage you need and want. 

How to conduct a competitor analysis

Now you have a good grasp on who your competitors are, it's time to get into the nitty gritty - the actual analysis…

Using any of the media tools mentioned above, it's worth looking through your competitor’s coverage with a fine-toothed comb to understand what is, and maybe isn’t, working well for them. 

There are a few things to look out for: 

• What is their tone of voice? 
• What keywords are they using?
• What is their backlink profile like? 
• What channels are they using to market their services or products?
• Do they use social media? If this is an important focus for your brand, look at your competitor’s content, following, engagement and general activity.
• What campaigns do they have live currently?
• What campaigns have been most successful for them previously?
• What kind of content are they producing for digital PR? 
• What news titles are they targeting with their PR outreach? 

When looking at your competitor’s coverage, pay close attention to high authority domains, publications providing consistent coverage, and industry-relevant publications. Review the type of content they are pitching. Are they positioning themselves or someone in the company as experts? Are they being mentioned within longer form articles or in short expert comments within journalist stories? Understanding their techniques can help you to understand where your brand could fill a gap for journalists and audiences. 

It’s also important to identify what your competitors aren’t doing. Are they missing key publications? Are they missing out on link opportunities by not re-purposing content? Are they lacking in well researched data-driven articles? Are they failing to establish an ‘expert’ from the brand? These gaps also represent opportunities for your brand and can inform your strategy. 

Putting your learnings into practice

Now, it’s time to turn insights into action and use those valuable nuggets of info to inform your own campaigns! This way, your brand can gain critical visibility.

So, how can you apply those findings to your own campaign? 

It largely depends on your findings. If you find your competitors are using index campaigns as a tool for gaining coverage, you should use your own unique brand data and insights to create your own indexes which are relevant, well researched and eye-catching. Perhaps you can focus on brand relevant topics your competitors haven’t written about in order to stand out and secure coverage.

It’s crucial to act quickly in order to get an edge on your competitors. Whether it be through offering reactive expert comments, creative campaigns, straightforward press releases or thought leadership. Establishing a brand expert can really help with this, as it provides brand authority and adds credibility to your campaigns. 

Establishing a relationship with key journalists and introducing them to your brand through commentary from a brand expert could even help you to get opportunities not offered to your competitors, as journalists may come to you directly to gain comments on a story they are working on. To learn more about brand authority and expert comments, read our dedicated blog post. 

It is also important to remember that competitor analysis is not a single-use tool in digital PR. Regular analysis of your competitors’ success allows you to consistently deliver an informed, agile and strategic approach to your PR. Staying informed about industry events, trends and issues can also help you to stand out from competitors, so make sure to have your finger on the pulse at all times.

Key takeaways

1. Undertaking a competitor analysis is essential - not optional- ahead of planning a PR campaign. Having a good understanding of who your competitors are is a really important way to understand how your brand can stand out and capture audience attention. 
2. Use tools to help you. Sites like Ahrefs, SEMrush and Moz are going to be integral in your analysis. Use these tools to identify what your competitors are doing well, not doing well and where they are missing opportunities. 
3. Turn analysis into action. It's important to put all of your leanings into practice and use the knowledge gained to create a relevant, insightful and eye-catching campaign. 

If you want to learn more about competitor analysis and how it can help your brand, please get in touch.

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