Sample layout. Not a real client.
Trade, city: the problem in one line
- Starting point
- Rank grid before any change
- What changed
- The one or two changes that moved it
- Result
- Rank grid after, and the change in calls
SEO competitor analysis: what the companies above you have.
The companies that outrank you're doing something Google rewards, or they are simply closer to the customer. Competitor analysis works out which, one competitor and one neighborhood at a time.
No long contracts. You talk to Simon.
Map pack: roofing company Escondido
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B
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- 17 years in SEO
- Engineering degrees
- 85% of clients in San Diego County
- No long contracts
What their website alone will not tell you
- A competitor's trucks keep appearing in your neighborhoods
- You cannot tell why they sit above you
- The last agency copied their tactics without testing any
How competitor analysis runs
Scientific SEO
- 1 Measure You see who outranks you for each service, neighborhood by neighborhood.
- 2 Change one thing I pick one gap you can close, such as a missing service page, and you close it.
- 3 Measure again In about two weeks I rerun the grid for the area where that competitor beat you.
- 4 Keep what works You keep closing gaps of the kind that moved your position and set the rest aside.
What competitor analysis compares
- Map pack positions by area
- Profile categories and services
- Review count and recency
- Local links they have earned
- Searches they rank for
- Their service and city pages
How SEO competitor analysis separates real gaps from noise
SEO competitor analysis is a side-by-side comparison of your business with the companies above you in search, done to find which measurable differences explain the gap and which of those can be closed. Within a Scientific SEO Audit it’s most useful once you already know where you rank.
Who counts as a competitor
A roofing company in Santee may think of its competitors as the two other roofers it bids against. The search results may show a larger company from La Mesa on the map and a national directory in the ordinary listings, with a lead marketplace above both.
Your search competitors are whoever appears above you for the searches you want, in the places you want them, and that list changes by neighborhood and by service. So I take the list from the rank grids rather than from anyone’s memory. The companies shown on the map change as the searcher moves, an effect of how map pack ranking works.
What gets compared
I compare what can be seen from outside and could plausibly affect ranking. On the Google Business Profile that means the primary and secondary categories and the listed services, plus how complete the profile is. With reviews I look at count and recency, and at which services and places customers mention.
I check whether they have a dedicated page for the service and the city where they beat you, and what that page covers. I note which other websites link to them, especially local ones such as suppliers and trade associations. Last is location: where they are based relative to the searches they win.
Sorting gaps by whether they can be closed
Some differences you can act on and some you can’t, so I sort every one I find.
| Kind of gap | Example | What the analysis recommends |
|---|---|---|
| Closable soon | They have a page for tile roof repair and you don’t | Test it: publish one page and measure again |
| Closable slowly | They have several years of steady reviews | Start now, accept that it takes time, and track progress |
| Not closable | Their yard is in the neighborhood and yours is twelve miles away | Leave it, and put the effort where distance is on your side |
What I can’t see
A competitor’s call volume and booked jobs are private, and so is what they pay for advertising. Traffic figures for someone else’s website are estimates produced by software, and I treat them as rough indications. I also can’t see everything Google sees. So a competitor analysis produces likely explanations, short of proof, and each one becomes a hypothesis to test on your own site.
What not to copy
Some of what a higher-ranked competitor does is helping them, some is neutral, and some they rank in spite of. Copying all of it’s expensive and teaches you nothing.
One example is a business name with extra words added on the profile, such as a city or a service that isn’t part of the real name. It can appear to work. It also breaks Google’s rules and puts the profile at risk of suspension. I point out tactics like this and recommend against them. The same caution applies to links: I look for the kind of link you could earn honestly, the approach behind local link building.
Also in Scientific SEO Audits
Questions owners ask
What a result looks like
Every engagement starts and ends with the same measurement.
Competitor analysis across San Diego County
How many competitors do you analyze?
As many as the grids show above you in the areas you care about most. The number isn't fixed in advance, because the competitor in Escondido is often a different company from the competitor in Poway. For each main service I look at the companies holding the positions you want, and I examine those closely instead of skimming a long list.
Will my competitors know they are being analyzed?
No. Everything I look at is public: their profile, reviews, website and the sites that link to them. I don't contact them or pose as a customer. They would find the same about you if they looked.
Should I do what the top-ranked company is doing?
I wouldn't copy it wholesale. A company at the top is there for a mix of reasons: some of what it does helps, some is neutral, and some it ranks in spite of. A few things may be rule-breaking tactics that could get a profile suspended, such as extra words added to the business name. I pick the differences most likely to matter and test them one at a time on your site, keeping the ones that move your rankings.
A competitor is using a fake address or a stuffed business name. Can you get it removed?
Google decides that, and it doesn't always act. It lets anyone suggest an edit to a profile or report one that breaks its rules, and I can show you which listings appear to qualify and how to report them. I wouldn't build a plan on a removal. The audit treats it as worth reporting and then concentrates on what you control.
Find out what the companies above you are doing.
Start with your trade and who you keep seeing above you. I'll check whether the measurements agree.
- A rank grid showing where you appear, and where you don't
- The technical and Google Business Profile issues that matter most
- What I'd change first, in plain English
Prefer to talk? Call (619) 675-7678, 9am to 6pm.