# Competitor research Human Guide

## What This Is For
Guides competitor research for SEO, content, backlinks, and positioning. 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 research 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 research.
- 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 research 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
- **Obtain URLs**: From user, project-context Section 11, or web search for `"[target keyword]"` to find top-ranking pages
- **Fetch content**: Use mcp_web_fetch or WebSearch to fetch 2–3 top-ranking pages
- **Analyze**: Word count, H2 structure, keyword placement, content gaps, CTA, schema
- **Output**: Competitor URLs, brief structure comparison, content gaps, length target, keyword opportunities
- **Parse** — Read Excel/CSV, infer domain, visits, traffic sources, etc. from headers
- **Enrich** — Web search, visit competitor sites; read `project-context.md` if present
- **Build** — Structure data for report
- **Generate** — Output report in chosen format
- **Research type** (keyword, content, backlink, pricing)
- **Findings** (gaps, opportunities, benchmarks)
- **Recommendations** (content to create, links to pursue, positioning)
- **keyword-research**: Competitor reverse; keyword discovery

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Research Types, Competitor Keyword / Topic Analysis, Competitor Content Analysis, Competitor Article Fetch Workflow (for Article Analysis), Competitor Backlink Analysis, Competitor Pricing, Data Sources, Report Workflow, Output Format, Report Structure Reference.

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
- **Output**: Keyword opportunities; topics competitors cover that you don't.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Competitor research 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 kostja94/marketing-skills skill entry for `competitor-research`.

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

# SEO Content: Competitor Research

Guides competitor research for SEO, content, backlinks, and positioning. Use when planning content, auditing articles, building links, or evaluating market position.

**When invoking**: On **first use**, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On **subsequent use** or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

## Research Types

| Type | Purpose | Output |
|------|---------|--------|
| **Keyword/topic** | Topics competitors rank for; gaps | Keyword opportunities; content ideas |
| **Content** | Structure, length, gaps vs top rankers | Length target; H2 structure; content gaps |
| **Backlink** | Link profile; sites linking to competitors | Link gap; outreach targets |
| **Pricing** | Competitor pricing, positioning | Pricing context; differentiation |
| **SEO metrics** | Organic traffic, rankings vs competitors | Benchmark; opportunity areas |

## Competitor Keyword / Topic Analysis

| Method | Practice |
|--------|----------|
| **Reverse engineering** | Analyze competitor titles, H1, URL; identify topics they rank for |
| **SERP overlap** | Keywords with overlapping top-ranking pages → same cluster; #4–10 = opportunity |
| **site: operator** | `site:competitor.com` to see indexed pages |
| **Tool** | Ahrefs, Semrush—competitor keyword overlap, gap analysis |

**Output**: Keyword opportunities; topics competitors cover that you don't.

## Competitor Content Analysis

| Element | Check |
|---------|-------|
| **Word count** | Top 10 average; length target for your content |
| **H2 structure** | Topics covered; structure to adopt |
| **Content gaps** | What top rankers cover that you miss |
| **Keyword placement** | Primary keyword in title, H1, first 100 words |
| **Format** | Lists, tables, FAQ; match or improve |

**Use when**: Auditing or creating articles; see **article-page-generator** for Research Phase integration.

### Competitor Article Fetch Workflow (for Article Analysis)

When analyzing or auditing a single article, use this lightweight workflow to obtain competitor articles:

1. **Obtain URLs**: From user, project-context Section 11, or web search for `"[target keyword]"` to find top-ranking pages
2. **Fetch content**: Use mcp_web_fetch or WebSearch to fetch 2–3 top-ranking pages
3. **Analyze**: Word count, H2 structure, keyword placement, content gaps, CTA, schema
4. **Output**: Competitor URLs, brief structure comparison, content gaps, length target, keyword opportunities

**Output format**: Competitor URLs; word count and H2 structure per URL; content gaps vs your article; recommended length target; keyword opportunities (terms top rankers use that your article misses).

## Competitor Backlink Analysis

| Action | Purpose |
|--------|---------|
| **Compare profiles** | Your backlinks vs competitors |
| **Link gap** | Sites linking to competitors but not you |
| **Opportunity** | Outreach to those sites; content they might link to |

**Tools**: Ahrefs, Semrush—Link Intersect, competitor backlink reports. See **backlink-analysis**.

## Competitor Pricing

| Use | Practice |
|-----|----------|
| **Positioning** | Where you sit vs competitors |
| **Differentiation** | Value prop when price differs |
| **Alternatives pages** | Who to include; how to position |

See **pricing-strategy**, **alternatives-page-generator**.

## Data Sources

| Source | Use |
|--------|-----|
| **SimilarWeb** | Traffic, engagement, traffic sources by domain |
| **Ahrefs** | Competitor domains, backlinks, DR |
| **SEMrush** | Organic competitors, traffic share |
| **GA** | Referral traffic, acquisition by source |
| **PostHog** | Competitor feature usage (if tracked) |