Search competitors compete for attention on a particular question
Use actual search results to identify who competes for attention on each relevant topic. A publisher or software guide may occupy useful search space even if it never competes for the same contract.
Your sales rivals offer alternatives to your service. Search competitors can also include publishers, directories, software documentation and community discussions. The overlap changes with the query, so one universal competitor list can miss the real information challenge.
A worked example
A hypothetical analytics consultancy competes with other firms for engagements but with an official documentation page for a measurement-definition query. A service page cannot win that task simply by naming more competitors; it needs an appropriate answer and a credible reason to be consulted.
How to apply it
- Choose a relevant query group and document the result types currently appearing.
- Separate commercial alternatives from informational sources and aggregators.
- Identify what the buyer still needs that your page can honestly provide.
What the result can establish
Keep observations dated and market-specific. Do not infer a rival’s revenue or lead volume from rankings. Use the research to improve answer quality and page purpose, not to copy unrelated pages or claim a fixed share of the whole market.
Reference: Google Ads: keyword estimates and competition definitions.
Supporting documentation
Google Ads: keyword estimates and competition definitionsGoogle: Search Console performance reportGoogle: SEO starter guide