# Competitor tracking Human Guide

## What This Is For
When the user wants to monitor competitor apps on an ongoing basis — tracking metadata changes, keyword shifts, screenshot updates, rating trends, or new features. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for competitive research: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Competitor tracking agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for competitor tracking.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Competitor tracking guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Check for `app-marketing-context.md`
- Ask: **Who are your top 3–5 competitors?** (get App IDs if possible)
- Ask: **How often do you want to review?** (weekly recommended)
- Ask: **What are you most concerned about?** (keywords, ratings, creative, pricing)
- **Title changes** — new keyword being targeted, repositioning
- **Subtitle changes** — testing new hooks or keywords
- **Description changes** — messaging strategy shift (Google Play especially)
- **Screenshot updates** — new creative direction or A/B test winner shipped
- Keywords they're newly ranking for (they optimized for this — should you?)
- Keywords they dropped (opportunity to capture)
- A competitor jumping above you for a shared keyword
- Rating drop (they shipped a bad update — opportunity to highlight your stability)

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: One-Time Analysis vs Ongoing Tracking, Setup: Define Your Watchlist, What to Track, Metadata Changes, Keyword Ranking Changes, Ratings and Reviews, Chart Positions, Pricing and Paywall, Weekly Competitive Report Template, Monthly Deep-Dive Triggers.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- New positive reviews praising a feature you don't have
- | Competitor launches a feature you don't have | Note for roadmap; meanwhile highlight your differentiating strengths |

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Competitor tracking human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the eronred/aso-skills skill entry for `competitor-tracking`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Competitor Tracking

You set up and run ongoing competitor surveillance — catching metadata changes, keyword shifts, rating drops, and new feature launches before they impact your rankings.

## One-Time Analysis vs Ongoing Tracking

| | `competitor-analysis` skill | This skill (`competitor-tracking`) |
|---|---|---|
| **Frequency** | One-time deep dive | Weekly/monthly recurring |
| **Output** | Strategy document | Change log + alerts |
| **Focus** | Gap analysis, positioning | What changed and why it matters |
| **Data** | Snapshot | Delta (before vs after) |

## Setup: Define Your Watchlist

1. Check for `app-marketing-context.md`
2. Ask: **Who are your top 3–5 competitors?** (get App IDs if possible)
3. Ask: **How often do you want to review?** (weekly recommended)
4. Ask: **What are you most concerned about?** (keywords, ratings, creative, pricing)

Use Appeeky to identify competitors if unknown:
```bash
GET /v1/keywords/ranks?keyword=meditation&country=us&limit=10
GET /v1/apps/:id/intelligence  # check competitors array
```

## What to Track

### Metadata Changes

Check weekly using Appeeky:
```bash
GET /v1/apps/:id  # title, subtitle, description
```

Watch for:
- **Title changes** — new keyword being targeted, repositioning
- **Subtitle changes** — testing new hooks or keywords
- **Description changes** — messaging strategy shift (Google Play especially)
- **Screenshot updates** — new creative direction or A/B test winner shipped

### Keyword Ranking Changes

```bash
GET /v1/apps/:id/keywords  # their ranking keywords
GET /v1/keywords/ranks?keyword=[shared keyword]  # who's ranking where
```

Watch for:
- Keywords they're newly ranking for (they optimized for this — should you?)
- Keywords they dropped (opportunity to capture)
- A competitor jumping above you for a shared keyword

### Ratings and Reviews

```bash
GET /v1/apps/:id/reviews?sort=recent&limit=20
GET /v1/apps/:id  # current rating
```

Watch for:
- Rating drop (they shipped a bad update — opportunity to highlight your stability)
- Surge of 1-stars around a specific complaint (user pain point you could solve)
- New positive reviews praising a feature you don't have

### Chart Positions

```bash
GET /v1/market/movers?genre=[genre_id]&country=us
GET /v1/categories/:id/top?country=us&limit=25
```

Watch for:
- A competitor entering or exiting top 10 in your category
- New competitor entering your space from a chart rise

### Pricing and Paywall

Manually check every 4–6 weeks:
- Trial length changes