How to Run a Competitor SEO Analysis for a SaaS Startup
Amit Malvi
Founder, SearchAxe. Former Senior SEO Manager, Invideo AI
Published Updated 10 min read
Quick answer
The first step in how to run a competitor SEO analysis for a SaaS startup is choosing the right competitors, the sites that outrank you for buying queries, which are often not your sales rivals. Then compare four things: commercial keywords they rank for and you do not, the page types winning those results, their referring domains and mentions, and how deep their pages go. Score each gap by business value and effort.
On this page
- Who are your real search competitors?
- How to run a competitor SEO analysis step by step
- How do you find the keyword gap that matters?
- Why do competitors outrank you for the same keywords?
- How do you turn findings into a prioritized plan?
- How does AI search change competitor analysis?
- When should you not chase a competitor's keywords?
Key takeaways
- Your search competitors are whoever ranks for your buying queries on Google and Bing, which often includes review sites and listicles as well as rivals.
- Filter the keyword gap to commercial queries and strip out competitor brand names, or the list is too long to act on.
- When a competitor outranks you, the cause is usually a different page type or a link gap, and those need different fixes.
- Score every gap by business value, gap size and effort, and accept that some head terms are not worth fighting for yet.
A useful competitor SEO analysis answers one question: why do other sites outrank you for the searches that turn into signups, and which of those gaps can you close first. If you run marketing at a seed to Series B SaaS or AI startup and competitors appear above you for every commercial keyword, this method takes a day or two with a keyword tool, a backlink tool, Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. The worked example halfway down shows what the finished output looks like.
Who are your real search competitors?
Your real search competitors are the domains that appear most often in the top ten for your commercial queries, not the companies your sales team loses deals to. Take 20 to 50 buying queries, record the top ten results on Google and Bing for each, and count how often each domain appears. The three to five domains with the most appearances are the ones to study.
Expect surprises. On the best-tool queries we check in AI categories, roundup articles and review sites often hold more of the top ten than any single vendor. When that happens, part of the fix is getting listed on those pages rather than outranking them, and how to get your AI tool into the best-of lists and directories AI engines cite covers that route.
How to run a competitor SEO analysis step by step
The method has seven steps. The first two define the battlefield, the middle four measure each gap, and the last turns the findings into a plan you can schedule.
Competitor SEO analysis for a SaaS startup
- List 20 to 50 commercial queriesUse alternatives, comparisons, integrations, use cases and pricing searches taken from sales calls and paid search terms, because these are the queries that produce signups.
- Record who ranks on Google and BingUse a private window in your main market and log the top ten for each query, so you know which three to five domains to compare against.
- Run a keyword gapEnter your domain and those competitors in a keyword gap tool and filter to commercial queries they rank for and you do not.
- Compare page typesFor each priority query, note whether the winners are comparison pages, integration pages, use-case pages, listicles or docs, and whether you have that page type at all.
- Measure the link and mention gapFind domains that link to two or more competitors but not to you, and count referring domains to the pages that outrank yours.
- Compare content depthList what the ranking page covers that yours does not, such as pricing, integration lists, screenshots, comparison tables and setup steps.
- Score and prioritise the gapsRate each gap on business value, size and effort, then schedule the high-value, low-effort fixes first.
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Schedule a Free ConsultationHow do you find the keyword gap that matters?
Run a keyword gap tool, then cut the output down to commercial queries you could credibly win. Raw gap reports list thousands of keywords, most of them competitor brand searches or topics unrelated to buying. The useful list is usually a few dozen queries.
Semrush's Keyword Gap compares up to five domains and labels keywords as Missing, where all competitors rank and you do not, Weak, where you rank below all of them, and Untapped, where at least one competitor ranks and you do not. Ahrefs' Content Gap, part of its Competitive Analysis tool, shows keywords competitors rank for and you do not, and lets you keep only those where every competitor ranks. Exclude competitor brand names first. For Bing, the keyword research tool in Bing Webmaster Tools gives a separate view of demand.
Start with Missing keywords that carry commercial intent, because every competitor has proven those queries are winnable for a site like yours. Weak keywords come next, since you already have a page and may only need to improve it. Untapped keywords are a long list to review once the first two are handled.
Why do competitors outrank you for the same keywords?
Competitors usually outrank you for a commercial keyword for one of three reasons: they have the page type the results page favours, they have more links and mentions pointing at that page, or their page answers more of the searcher's questions. Find which one applies before you change anything, because each needs a different fix.
They have the page type that wins
If the top five results for a query are comparison pages and you are trying to rank a feature page, no amount of editing will close the gap. Build the page type the results reward. For alternatives and versus queries, should an AI startup build alternatives and comparison pages explains how to do it fairly. For integration queries at scale, when programmatic SEO makes sense for an AI SaaS covers templates.
They have links and mentions you do not
Links still count. Google's guide to its ranking systems says PageRank continues to be part of its core ranking systems. In Ahrefs' search traffic study, only 2,997 of roughly 20 million pages with no referring domains got more than 1,000 search visits a month. Ahrefs' Link Intersect shows the domains and pages that link to competitors but not to you, which turns the gap into a target list.
Their page answers more of the question
Open the winning page and yours side by side and list what theirs covers that yours does not. On SaaS commercial pages the usual differences are pricing, a full integration list, real screenshots, a comparison table, setup steps and a recent update date. Google's ranking guide also describes a passage ranking system that identifies individual sections of a page, so a page with clearly separated answers gives it more to match. Cover the same ground in your own words, then add what only you can show, such as product output.
| Gap | Queries affected | Business value (0 to 3) | Effort | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missing integration pages | 14 | 3 | Low, four pages from one template | First |
| Missing alternatives pages | 6 | 3 | Medium, needs fair comparisons | Second |
| Absent from the roundup and review site | Many best-tool queries | 2 | Medium, outreach and reviews | Third |
| Link gap on category head terms | 2 | 3 | High, months of link building | Later |
How do you turn findings into a prioritized plan?
Score each gap on three things: business value, using a 0 to 3 scale for how central your product is to the query, the number of queries the fix affects, and the effort to close it. High value and low effort goes first. High value and high effort goes on the roadmap with a realistic date. Low value goes nowhere, however large the gap looks.
- Weeks one to four, build the missing page types that affect the most commercial queries.
- Weeks four to eight, rework weak pages using the content depth comparison.
- From week four onward, run outreach to the domains that link to two or more competitors and to the roundups and review sites that rank.
- Every month, rerun the ranking check on the same query list so progress is measured against the baseline.
Page-type gaps are usually the fastest to close because they are within your control. Link gaps are the slowest because they depend on other people. Decide early who does each part. The SEO agency vs in-house comparison covers that choice, and a SaaS SEO consultant is one way to get the analysis and the plan without hiring a full team.
How does AI search change competitor analysis?
AI answers add a second competitor list. When buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode or Copilot for the best tool, the cited sources are often third-party pages rather than vendors. Wix Studio's March 2026 analysis of 75,000 AI answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode found that on commercial prompts, discussion threads drew 11.44% of citations, 52.1% above their average share, and listicles drew 40.86%. Run the same analysis on the citations in those answers. How to analyze which sources AI engines use to recommend your competitors gives a worksheet for that half of the job.
When should you not chase a competitor's keywords?
Do not chase a keyword when the competitor's lead is mostly links you cannot match this year, when the query is their brand name, or when the traffic they get from it is informational and unlikely to convert. A competitor's total keyword count is not a target. Their signup-producing pages are.
Also skip any gap that would pull your positioning toward a market you do not serve. If a rival ranks for enterprise compliance queries and you sell to small teams, matching them adds traffic that never signs up. The analysis should end with fewer, sharper priorities, which you can then fold into a SaaS SEO strategy built for signups.
Frequently asked questions
What tools do I need for a competitor SEO analysis?
You need a keyword gap tool such as Semrush's Keyword Gap or Ahrefs' Content Gap, a backlink tool with a link intersect report, Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools for your own data, and a private browser window to check live results. A spreadsheet holds the query list, the page type comparison and the scores.
How many competitors should a SaaS startup analyze?
Three to five search competitors is enough. Pick them by counting which domains appear most often in the top ten for 20 to 50 of your commercial queries on Google and Bing, rather than by who your sales team meets in deals. Semrush's Keyword Gap compares up to five domains at once, and more than that usually adds noise without changing the priorities.
Why does a competitor outrank me with worse content?
Usually because it has more links and mentions, or because its page is the type the results page favours, such as a comparison page against your feature page. Google says PageRank remains part of its core ranking systems, so a link gap can outweigh better writing. Check the referring domains to both pages and the page types in the top five before rewriting anything.
How often should I repeat a competitor SEO analysis?
Rerun the ranking check on your fixed query list every month and the full analysis every quarter, or sooner when a competitor launches a new page type or a funding announcement brings them press links. Keeping the same queries and markets each time means changes reflect real movement rather than a different sample, and it shows whether the gaps you prioritised are closing.
