If you’re building a digital marketing strategy in today’s competitive world, you can’t just guess what works—you need to know what your competitors are doing. Why? Because chances are, they’re already targeting the audience you want, ranking for the keywords you need, and running ads in the same space you’re planning to dominate.
Competitor analysis is your secret weapon. It helps you understand not just who you’re up against, but how they’re gaining traction online. It highlights your gaps, uncovers fresh opportunities, and gives you the direction to improve what’s already working.
Let’s dive into a clear, human-style guide on how to do competitor analysis in digital marketing—without making it sound robotic or complicated.
What is Competitor Analysis in Digital Marketing?
Competitor analysis in digital marketing means studying the online activities of businesses in your industry who are targeting the same audience as you. This includes everything from their SEO strategies to their ad campaigns, content, social media performance, and user experience.
Unlike traditional business competitor analysis, digital marketing adds an extra layer—because most of the action happens in real-time. You can observe competitors’ rankings, posts, ad copies, and even customer feedback—instantly.
This isn’t about copying. It’s about learning, adapting, and outperforming—all while staying true to your brand.
Why You Must Analyze Your Competitors (Especially Online)
Imagine launching a digital campaign and burning money on ads only to realize your closest competitor is getting better results at half the cost. Sounds painful, right? That’s exactly what proper competitor analysis helps you avoid.
By analyzing competitors, you:
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Discover which keywords they rank for
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Find content gaps they’re missing (and you can fill)
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Understand their strengths and weaknesses
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Avoid repeating mistakes they’ve already made
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Learn from the strategies that are clearly working for them
This process lets you build a sharper strategy from day one. Whether you’re doing SEO, PPC, or social media, competitor insights give you an unfair advantage—legally and ethically.
You can also explore our detailed Digital Marketing Audit Services Guide to understand how audits help fine-tune every piece of your strategy.
Step 1: Identify Your True Digital Competitors
Start by figuring out who you’re really competing with online. This might be different from your offline competitors.
For example, if you offer fertility clinic marketing services, you’re not just competing with other marketing agencies—you’re competing with specialized digital marketing agencies targeting fertility clinics.
Use Google Search to type in your core keywords and see who ranks at the top. Try searching “digital marketing for law firms” or “offshore SEO agency” and take note of the brands that pop up again and again. These are your digital competitors.
Tools like SEMrush and Ubersuggest are great for finding domain-level competitors you might have missed.
Step 2: Examine Their SEO & Keyword Strategy
Next up, dive into the SEO efforts of your competitors. Look at the keywords they’re ranking for, how often they publish content, and the structure of their on-page SEO.
Are they using proper meta tags? Do they write keyword-rich headlines? What kind of blogs or articles do they create?
You’ll notice that successful competitors have optimized their pages not only for search engines but also for humans—clear headings, compelling CTAs, and content that answers actual questions.
This stage helps you discover which keywords to target yourself and which ones to skip (because maybe your competitors are already dominating them).
For inspiration, you can check our insights on why digital marketing is crucial—we’ve ranked it based on content quality and relevance.
Step 3: Explore Their Content Strategy in Detail
Once you’ve noted what they rank for, it’s time to understand how they’re doing it through content.
Go through their blog or resource section. Analyze their top-performing content—not just by views, but by engagement. What kind of headlines are they using? Are their articles data-backed? Do they include case studies, infographics, or videos?
Instead of just noting titles, read the content like your customer would. Are they solving real problems? Are they providing surface-level advice or in-depth guidance?
One of the smartest ways to improve your strategy is by learning how to do competitor analysis in digital marketing through their content efforts. If your competitor is publishing regularly, it means their strategy is working. But here’s the opportunity—they might be missing key topics or user-focused formats like how-to guides, downloadable checklists, or comparison posts.
You can learn a lot from their tone, structure, and calls to action too. If their content is too salesy or too generic, that’s your opening to be more authentic and helpful.
Step 4: Look at Their Social Media Performance
Today, social proof plays a huge role in digital decision-making. Your competitors’ social media activity reveals a lot about what resonates with your shared audience.
Check:
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Which platforms they’re active on
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How often they post
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What type of content gets the most likes, shares, and comments
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Whether they run social campaigns or influencer partnerships
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok—each platform works differently depending on the industry. A B2B competitor might be dominating LinkedIn, while a D2C competitor could be killing it on Instagram Reels.
Use free tools like Meta Ads Library to also check their current ad creatives and targeting.
To step up your own game, our guide on Social Media Marketing Power breaks down practical tactics that actually work.
Step 5: Evaluate Their Paid Ad Campaigns
PPC advertising is where many businesses spend heavily—and strategically.
Analyze:
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What kind of Google or Facebook Ads your competitors are running
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Which landing pages they direct users to
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How they structure their ad copy—do they focus on pain points or highlight benefits?
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Do they run promotions, free trials, or bundled services?
Tools like SEMrush (PPC tab) or Google’s Ad Transparency Center can help you uncover the ad strategies competitors are actively investing in.
If they’re pushing paid ads consistently, that means those ads are likely delivering ROI. You can reverse engineer the process and launch a smarter, more refined campaign for your audience.
Step 6: Dig into Their Website UX & Technical Aspects
Your competitor might have great content and ads—but what if their website is slow, confusing, or hard to use on mobile?
Test their site speed with Google’s PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrix. Browse their site on mobile and desktop. Is it easy to navigate? Are there clear CTAs? Is their checkout process seamless?
User experience (UX) is becoming a major SEO factor, and websites that load slow or confuse users are already falling behind. As part of learning how to do competitor analysis in digital marketing, evaluating the technical performance of your rivals’ websites gives you insight into what’s working and what’s not.
By noticing these cracks, you can improve your site structure, visuals, navigation, and loading times—making sure you not only get traffic but also keep it.
Step 7: Check Reviews and Brand Perception
Public reviews offer unfiltered truth about how customers feel about your competitors. They also reveal common issues, satisfaction points, and branding sentiments.
Head over to platforms like Trustpilot, Google Reviews, or G2 (for SaaS or service-based businesses).
Do customers complain about poor service? Hidden charges? Lack of communication?
At the same time, check how your competitors respond to reviews. Are they proactive or defensive? These interactions tell a lot about their brand image—and offer lessons on how you can build stronger customer relationships.
If you’re working in specialized industries like legal or healthcare, you’ll often find niche-specific review sites that offer even more targeted feedback.
Turn Insights into Strategy
You’ve now gathered SEO data, content strengths, ad styles, reviews, and more. But don’t stop there.
The real game-changer is how you act on this data.
Maybe you’ve found a keyword they missed. Or you noticed that their site has weak CTAs. Or they’re not doing video content at all. This is where your competitive edge is born.
Turn that insight into:
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New blog ideas
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Better performing ads
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Clearer landing pages
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More relevant email sequences
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A smoother customer journey
Remember, you’re not just copying. You’re outsmarting—and making data-driven decisions that push your brand ahead.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve been wondering how to do competitor analysis in digital marketing, the answer is simple: stay curious, stay informed, and stay consistent. It’s not a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process that keeps your brand sharp and relevant.
Learn what works. Skip what doesn’t. And most importantly—deliver what your audience truly needs, better than anyone else.
To understand the depth of keyword analysis and backlink strategy, you can also explore Moz’s guide to competitive analysis, which breaks down the process using industry-leading tools and real examples.
