Compare the Best Competitor Analysis Tools
Competitor research tools are great for helping you gain insight into how much traffic your competitors are getting and analyze which keywords and websites they are getting it from, so you can identify new search marketing and advertising opportunities for your own business. Although there are several different types of competitive research, the software and tools covered here primarily pertain to identifying profitable keywords used by your competitors, to help you maximize your organic SEO and paid search engine marketing campaigns.
Comparison Table of the Top Competitive Intelligence Tools
| Search Analytics | PPC Insight | Referral Data | Demographic Information | Starting Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web-Based Tools | ||||||
| SEMRush | ✔ | ✔ | - | - | $69.95 /mo | |
| SpyFu | ✔ | ✔ | - | - | $79 /mo | |
| Compete | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | $199 /mo | |
One important thing to remember is that not all subscription levels or software versions support all features. It is recommended that your review each tool individually and sign-up for the free trials whenever possible to ensure they are capable of fulfilling your specific needs.
Competitor Research Tools: Pros and Cons
| Tool | Pros / Strengths | Cons / Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|
| SEMRush | ||
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| SEMrush is niche keyword research tool used for advanced competitive analysis. It allows you to quickly identify top Google keywords in both the organic and Adwords search results, that are used by your competitors. Key features include searching by keyword, to quickly see who’s ranking for those keywords, get related keywords and analyze plenty of other helpful data you won’t get from a typical keyword suggestion tool. You can also search by URL or domain name to get a list of a site or page’s best keywords and trends, top competitor data, potential ad buyers and sellers. And plenty more. SEMrush provides a good overall combination of organic search and pay-per-click data that’s easy to understand and use. Read the full SEMRush review, or try SEMRush free. | ||
| SpyFu | ||
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| SpyFu is a niche keyword research tool very similar to SEMrush. You can use it to research specific keywords and analyze your competitors’ organic search results and PPC ads on Google. Where this tool really shines is its Adwords ad history reports. Using these reports you can see which competitors are bidding on which keywords, and how their ad copy has changed over time. This can be helpful in spotting common trends such as profitable or poor keywords, and actionable ad copy. SpyFu also provides a number of advanced reports that are simple to read and make finding opportunities easy. You can go to their website and try SpyFu for free. | ||
| Compete | ||
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| Compete.com is a bit different than some of the previous competitive analysis tools, specifically in the way that it gathers its data and the information it provides. Instead of scraping the major search engines, then extrapolating the data by some internal metrics, Compete’s data is collected by sampling the daily browsing activity of over 2,000,000 U.S. Internet users, from over 2,000,000 member panels. In addition to advanced paid and organic search analytics; Compete offers detailed referral analytics, traffic estimates, user engagement and demographic information. This tool may be a bit on the expensive for many individuals and small-businesses, but can be an essential instrument for larger corporations in competitive markets. You can go to their website and try Compete for free. | ||
Whichever competitive intelligence software program you use for your keyword research and other investigative analysis, just be sure to research them well so you fully understand how they gather their data and extrapolate their information. For instance, many people don’t understand Compete.com is limited to United States Internet traffic, and improperly refer a website’s Compete profile when announcing a its world-wide unique visitor count and traffic details. If your visitors come primarily from another country, then Compete’s data won’t align well with your self-installed analytics data.
Also, there are several other notable competitive analysis software programs and web-tools that I am not as familiar with or haven’t used in a long time, so I didn’t feel it was appropriate to compare them to the rest just yet. I do plan on reviewing these other well-known competitive intelligence and market research tools in the near future: Ispionage, AdGooroo, MixRank, Trellian Competitive Intelligence, comScore, Keyword Competitor, KeyCompete, ReverseInternet and HitWise.
If you know of another competitor analysis program or online spying tool used for researching advanced third-party referral data, that you think should make it on this list, please don’t hesitate to tell me about it.
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