Competitive Intelligence for AI Search
🎯 Quick Summary
- Learn to analyze competitors' AI visibility and identify opportunities to outrank them
- Track competitor citation rates, content strategies, and AI Share of Voice
- Discover content gaps where competitors dominate and you're missing
- Implement strategic actions to steal AI market share from competitors
📋 Table of Contents
- Competitive Analysis Fundamentals
- Identifying Your Competitors
- Tracking Competitor Citations
- Content Gap Analysis
- Competitive Strategy
- Monitoring & Alerts
🔑 Key Concepts at a Glance
- Competitive Set: 5-10 brands AI mentions most in your category
- Share Stealing: Taking citation percentage from competitors
- Content Gaps: Topics where competitors dominate, you don't
- Positioning Analysis: How AI describes you vs competitors
- Vulnerability Mapping: Where competitors are weak
🏷️ Metadata
Tags: monitoring, competitors, analysis, strategy
Status: %%ACTIVE%%
Complexity: %%MODERATE%%
Max Lines: 450 (this file: 445 lines)
Reading Time: 10 minutes
Last Updated: 2025-01-18
Competitive Analysis Fundamentals
Why Analyze Competitors?
Traditional SEO:
Competitor analysis = keyword gaps, backlink gaps
Goal: Rank higher on Google
AI Search Competitive Analysis:
Citation gaps + positioning gaps + share of voice
Goal: Get cited instead of (or alongside) competitors
The Stakes:
Query: "best CRM for startups"
Current state:
AI cites: HubSpot (89%), Pipedrive (67%), Salesforce (45%)
AI cites YOU: 12%
If you improve to 60%:
→ You steal 48pp from competitors
→ Directly impacts their business
→ Zero-sum game: your gain = their loss
What You're Analyzing
Five Competitive Dimensions:
1. Citation Rate
→ How often are they cited overall?
2. AI Share of Voice
→ What % of total citations do they capture?
3. Content Strategy
→ What content gets them cited?
4. Positioning
→ How does AI describe them vs you?
5. Vulnerabilities
→ Where are they weak? Where can you attack?
Identifying Your Competitors
Method 1: Ask AI Who Your Competitors Are
Discovery Queries:
Ask ChatGPT:
"What are the top 10 CRM software platforms?"
Response:
1. Salesforce
2. HubSpot
3. Pipedrive
4. Zoho CRM
5. Freshsales
6. Monday.com
7. Insightly
8. Copper
9. Nimble
10. Sugar CRM
→ These are your AI search competitors
(even if different from traditional competitors)
Why this matters:
Your traditional competitors: Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics
AI's view of competitors: HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho
→ AI has different mental model of category
→ You must compete where AI thinks you compete
Method 2: Citation Co-Occurrence
Track who gets cited alongside you:
Query: "best CRM for agencies"
AI Answer:
"Top options for agencies:
- HubSpot (cited alongside you: 78% of time)
- Pipedrive (cited alongside: 65%)
- Salesforce (cited alongside: 34%)
- You (baseline)
- Zoho (cited alongside: 28%)"
→ HubSpot is your #1 AI competitor
(cited together most often)
Method 3: UnrealSEO Auto-Detection
Dashboard automatically identifies competitors:
UnrealSEO → Competitors → Auto-Detect
Your Category: CRM Software
Your competitive set (auto-detected):
Rank | Brand | ASoV | Co-citation %
-----|-------|------|---------------
1 | HubSpot | 34% | 78%
2 | Salesforce | 28% | 56%
3 | Pipedrive | 22% | 65%
4 | YOU | 15% | --
5 | Zoho | 12% | 34%
6 | Freshsales | 8% | 28%
Recommendation: Track top 5 closely
Tracking Competitor Citations
Competitive Citation Dashboard
Setup in UnrealSEO:
Dashboard → Competitors → Add Competitors
Add your top 5-10:
✓ HubSpot
✓ Salesforce
✓ Pipedrive
✓ Zoho CRM
✓ Freshsales
UnrealSEO will track:
- Their citation rate on your test queries
- Where they're cited and you're not
- Their positioning vs yours
- Trends over time
Competitive Metrics View:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Competitive Landscape │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ HubSpot: 34% ASoV [██████████] │
│ Salesforce: 28% ASoV [████████] │
│ Pipedrive: 22% ASoV [██████] │
│ YOU: 15% ASoV [████] ← #4 │
│ Zoho: 12% ASoV [███] │
│ Others: 19% ASoV [█████] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Gap to #3: -7pp (catchable)
Gap to #1: -19pp (long-term goal)
Query-Level Competitive Analysis
Detailed view of each query:
Query: "CRM for startups under 10 people"
Citation Results:
├─ HubSpot: ✅ Cited (Position #1, 92% of tests)
├─ Pipedrive: ✅ Cited (Position #2, 78%)
├─ YOU: ✅ Cited (Position #3, 45%)
├─ Zoho: ✅ Cited (Position #4, 23%)
└─ Salesforce: ❌ Not cited (too expensive for startups)
Insights:
→ HubSpot dominates this niche
→ You're #3 but cited less than half the time
→ Opportunity: Improve to overtake Pipedrive
→ Salesforce weak here (expensive positioning hurts)
Manual Tracking Spreadsheet:
| Query | You | HubSpot | Salesforce | Pipedrive | Winner |
|-------|-----|---------|------------|-----------|--------|
| Q1 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Tie |
| Q2 | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Lose |
| Q3 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | Tie |
| Q4 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | Tie |
| Q5 | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Lose |
Your wins: 3/5
HubSpot wins: 4/5
→ HubSpot slightly ahead
Content Gap Analysis
Finding Where Competitors Dominate
Gap Analysis Process:
Step 1: Identify high-value queries they own
Queries where HubSpot cited but YOU are not:
1. "CRM for startups" → HubSpot 89%, You 0%
Gap: -89pp ← HIGH PRIORITY
2. "free CRM software" → HubSpot 95%, You 0%
Gap: -95pp (they have free tier, you don't)
3. "CRM with email integration" → HubSpot 78%, You 8%
Gap: -70pp ← MEDIUM PRIORITY
4. "inbound marketing CRM" → HubSpot 91%, You 5%
Gap: -86pp (HubSpot's core strength)
Step 2: Analyze WHY they're cited
Query: "CRM for startups"
HubSpot cited because:
✓ Has dedicated "CRM for Startups" landing page
✓ Free tier prominently mentioned (perfect for startups)
✓ 150+ backlinks from startup blogs
✓ Case studies with 50+ startup customers
✓ FAQ schema with 20 startup-specific questions
Your content:
✗ Generic "CRM features" page only
✗ No startup-specific content
✗ Pricing starts at $12/user (not free)
✗ No startup case studies
→ Clear content gap
Step 3: Map content gaps
Topic Matrix:
You HubSpot Pipedrive Opportunity
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
CRM for startups ❌ ✅✅✅ ✅✅ HIGH
Free CRM N/A ✅✅✅ ❌ N/A (no free tier)
Email integration ⚠️ ✅✅ ✅ MEDIUM
Real estate CRM ✅✅ ❌ ❌ DEFEND
CRM pricing ✅ ✅✅ ✅ IMPROVE
Setup guides ⚠️ ✅✅✅ ✅✅ HIGH
Legend:
✅✅✅ = Dominant content (cited 70%+)
✅✅ = Strong content (40-69%)
✅ = Present (10-39%)
⚠️ = Weak ( under 10%)
❌ = No content
Competitive Content Audit
Analyze their best-performing content:
HubSpot's most-cited content:
1. "Ultimate Guide to CRM" (hubspot.com/crm-guide)
├─ 4,500 words
├─ 15 comparison tables
├─ Video walkthrough
├─ FAQ schema (25 questions)
├─ Updated monthly
└─ Citation Rate: 67%
2. "CRM for Startups" (hubspot.com/startups/crm)
├─ Startup-specific use cases
├─ Free tier prominently featured
├─ 12 startup case studies
├─ ROI calculator tool
└─ Citation Rate: 89%
Your equivalent content:
├─ "CRM Features" (yoursite.com/features)
├─ 800 words
├─ No tables
├─ No video
├─ Last updated: 2023
└─ Citation Rate: 12%
→ Massive quality gap
Competitive Strategy
Attack Strategies
Strategy 1: Head-to-Head Comparison
Create direct comparison content:
# HubSpot vs [Your Brand]: Honest Comparison
## Quick Verdict
Choose HubSpot if:
✓ You need a free tier (forever free for limited features)
✓ Large team (50+ users)
✓ Want inbound marketing integration
Choose [Your Brand] if:
✓ Agency/consultancy (client billing features)
✓ Budget $12-24/user (vs HubSpot $25-50/user)
✓ Want faster setup (10 min vs 30 min)
## Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Your Brand | HubSpot |
|---------|-----------|---------|
| **Pricing** |
| Starting price | $12/user | Free (limited) → $25/user |
| Value rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| **Best For** |
| Agencies | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Startups | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Enterprise | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
[Comprehensive, honest comparison with 20+ criteria]
Result: When AI searches for "HubSpot vs [You]", cites YOUR comparison.
Strategy 2: Niche Domination
Own specific niches they ignore:
HubSpot's weaknesses (gaps to exploit):
1. Agency-specific features
→ They're general-purpose
→ You have client billing, project profitability
→ Create: "Best CRM for Agencies" content
2. Mid-market pricing
→ Free tier (startups) + Enterprise ($$$)
→ Weak $50-200/month range
→ You dominate: $12-24/user sweet spot
3. Real estate niche
→ Generic CRM, not industry-specific
→ You can add real estate features
→ Own: "Real estate CRM" category
Strategy: Can't beat them everywhere. Own 3-5 niches.
Strategy 3: Superior Content Quality
Out-execute on content they have:
Their content: "CRM Pricing Guide"
├─ 1,200 words
├─ 5 platforms compared
├─ Generic pricing ranges
├─ Last updated: 6 months ago
└─ Citation Rate: 38%
Your new content: "CRM Pricing Guide 2025"
├─ 3,500 words
├─ 15 platforms compared
├─ Exact pricing (verified Jan 2025)
├─ Cost calculator tool
├─ Video comparison
├─ FAQ schema (30 questions)
├─ Updated monthly commitment
└─ Target Citation Rate: 60%+
Goal: Superior content beats established content
Defensive Strategies
Protect where you lead:
Your current strengths (defend these):
Query: "CRM for real estate agents"
→ You: 67% citation rate
→ HubSpot: 8%
→ Salesforce: 15%
Defense tactics:
✓ Maintain content freshness (update monthly)
✓ Add more real estate case studies
✓ Build backlinks from real estate sites
✓ Monitor for new competitors entering niche
✓ Alert if your citation rate drops >5pp
Monitoring & Alerts
Competitive Alerts to Set
1. Share Loss Alert
Alert: Competitor gains >3pp ASoV in one month
Example trigger:
HubSpot ASoV: 34% → 38% (+4pp)
Action:
→ Investigate what changed
→ Did they launch new content?
→ New feature announcement?
→ React quickly to prevent further loss
2. New Competitor Alert
Alert: New brand enters top 10 citation frequency
Example:
"Monday.com" suddenly cited frequently
├─ Was: Not in top 10
├─ Now: #7 (9% ASoV)
└─ Rising fast: +9pp in 2 months
Action:
→ Analyze their content strategy
→ Understand their angle
→ Prepare competitive response
3. Query Loss Alert
Alert: Competitor overtakes you on key query
Example:
Query: "CRM for agencies"
├─ Previous: You #1 (78% CR)
├─ Now: Pipedrive #1 (82% CR), You #2 (71%)
└─ You lost 7pp
Action:
→ Analyze Pipedrive's content
→ Improve your content quality
→ Reclaim #1 position
Competitive Intelligence Dashboard
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Competitive Intelligence Summary │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 🎯 Your Position: #4 (15% ASoV) │
│ 📈 Trend: ↗ +2pp vs last month │
│ 🥇 Leader: HubSpot (34% ASoV) │
│ ⚠️ Alerts: 2 active │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Opportunities Identified: │
│ • "CRM for startups" - Close 70pp gap │
│ • "Email integration" - Close 60pp gap │
│ • Dominate "real estate CRM" niche │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Competitive Movements: │
│ • Pipedrive gained 3pp this month │
│ • Salesforce flat (no change) │
│ • New player "Copper" entering market │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Monthly Competitive Report
# Competitive Analysis Report - January 2025
## Market Position
**Your Rank:** #4 (was #5 last month) ↗
**Share of Voice:**
- You: 15% (+2pp)
- HubSpot: 34% (-1pp)
- Salesforce: 28% (0pp)
- Pipedrive: 22% (+3pp) ⚠️
**Key Insight:** Pipedrive growing fastest, investigate why
## Competitive Wins
✅ Overtook Zoho CRM (now #5, was #4)
✅ Closed gap to Pipedrive from 10pp to 7pp
✅ Maintained dominance on "real estate CRM" (67% CR)
## Competitive Losses
⚠️ Pipedrive improved faster than you (+3pp vs +2pp)
⚠️ Lost #1 position on "CRM for agencies" to Pipedrive
## Content Gaps Identified
1. **"CRM for startups"** - HubSpot 89%, You 0%
Priority: HIGH
Action: Create startup-specific landing page
2. **"CRM integrations guide"** - Salesforce 67%, You 12%
Priority: MEDIUM
Action: Comprehensive integrations documentation
## Actions for February
1. Launch "CRM for Startups" content suite
2. Create "Pipedrive vs [Your Brand]" comparison
3. Improve integration documentation
4. Monitor Pipedrive growth closely
📚 Related Topics
Other Monitoring:
Metrics:
Strategy:
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Last updated: 2025-01-18 | Edit this page