The real competitors
Those customers compare you with, not those you fear.
Competitor analysis guide
Measure yourself against those customers choose instead of you.
Competitor analysis compares your brand with the ones customers actually weigh up: in search, in AI answers, in reviews and in the press. Find out how to choose the right competitors and turn the comparison into priorities.
In brief
Competitor analysis: compare where the choice is made.
Useful competitor analysis does not list everything others do: it shows where a customer, at the moment of choice, finds a competitor instead of you, and why.
The same scope
Same questions, same markets, same sources for everyone.
One priority
The point where the gap costs most and can be reduced.
Who they are
How to find the competitors that matter.
The list of competitors comes from the places where customers meet them next to you. A name the team had not considered often appears.
Five places where a brand’s real competitors emerge, what each reveals and the signal that earns a place on the list.
| Where to look | What it reveals | Signal to note |
|---|---|---|
| Category searches | Who holds the top results for your need. | A name that recurs across several searches. |
| Category AI answers | Whom assistants suggest when they don’t name you. | A brand recommended instead of you. |
| Comparison sites | Who you are put in a table with. | The alternatives listed next to you. |
| Reviews | Which alternatives customers mention. | Phrases such as “I chose the other one because”. |
| Lost deals | Where the customer who doesn’t buy from you goes. | The name reported by the sales team. |
What to compare
Five dimensions, one question each.
The comparison only makes sense dimension by dimension. Mixing search, AI answers and reviews into one number hides where you win and where you lose.
Five dimensions on which to compare a brand with its competitors, the question each answers and the evidence to gather.
| Dimension | Question | Evidence to gather |
|---|---|---|
| Search | Who appears for searches about the need? | Positions for the same searches, in the same market. |
| AI answers | Who gets named and recommended? | Mentions and recommendations on the same questions. |
| Reviews | What do customers praise and criticise? | Recurring topics, read by aspect. |
| Press | Who gets written about, and in what tone? | Original articles, separated from pick-ups. |
| Offer | What does each one promise? | Product pages and public terms. |
A fair comparison
The same yardstick for every brand.
A comparison is credible if every brand is observed under the same conditions. The most common shortcuts produce wins and losses that do not exist.
Three common mistakes in comparing with competitors, each with the version that makes the result readable and repeatable over time.
| Skewed comparison | Correct comparison | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | Your brand on brand questions, the others on category questions. | Every brand on the same questions, in the same languages. |
| Sources | More sources for you, fewer for the others. | The same list of sources for every brand. |
| Period | Your best month against an ordinary month for the others. | The same period for everyone, with the dates stated. |
From comparison to choice
One record per competitor.
The result of the analysis is a short record per competitor: where they beat you, why, and what you can do. The rest is context.
An example comparison record between a fictional brand and a fictional competitor: where the competitor is ahead, the observed reason and the chosen action.
Northstar Audio and Competitor A · both fictional
- Where they are ahead
- In AI answers to questions about air travel.
- Why, according to the sources
- A trade guide cites its compact case and not ours.
- Where we are ahead
- In reviews of customer support, with recurring positive topics.
- Action
- A page on the case’s dimensions and a request to update the guide.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about competitor analysis.
How many competitors to include, how often to repeat the analysis, what to do with growing brands and how AI answers come in.
How many competitors should you analyse?
A few, usually three to five: those customers put next to you most often. The others are watched without a detailed comparison.
How often is the analysis repeated?
The full picture every quarter; the main signals, such as mentions and reviews, at the pace of monitoring.
What if a new competitor appears?
It is added to the list and observed on the same scope as the others, without comparing it with data gathered under different conditions.
Why include AI answers?
Because more and more choices start with a question to an assistant, which suggests a few names: knowing whom it suggests, and on which sources, is part of the comparison.
Related paths
After “Competitor analysis guide”, the next step.
The guides explain the concepts with examples on fictional brands. From here you continue with the other guides, the methodology and the features that apply them to your brand.
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