Find competitors website

Run the SimilarWeb overview for traffic source breakdown

Drop the competitor URL into similarweb.com. The free tier shows: estimated monthly visits, traffic source split (direct, organic, social, paid, referral, mail), top countries, audience demographics, top referral sources. This is your single-page strategic snapshot - where their traffic comes from. Organic-heavy = SEO-led; paid-heavy = ad-led; direct-heavy = brand-led; social-heavy = community-led.

Run Ahrefs / SEMrush Site Explorer for SEO depth

Ahrefs Site Explorer (or SEMrush Domain Overview). Pull: Domain Rating, total organic traffic, total organic keywords, top organic pages, top organic keywords, referring domains, total backlinks. The 'Top Pages' report is the highest-value section - it shows which pages on their site generate the most organic traffic, which tells you what content strategy is working.

# Ahrefs Top Pages output to focus on
# - URL
# - Estimated traffic
# - Number of keywords ranking
# - Top keyword
# Sort by traffic desc; the top 10 pages reveal their content strategy

Pull their paid keyword and ad copy via SpyFu or SEMrush

SpyFu Domain Overview -> PPC Research, or SEMrush Domain Overview -> Advertising Research. Both show estimated paid spend, top paid keywords, paid ad copy, and ad history. This reveals their paid acquisition strategy - which queries they pay to dominate and what messaging they use. Combine with the SimilarWeb 'paid traffic' share for context on whether paid is a major lever for them.

Scrape their ad creative from Meta Ad Library

facebook.com/ads/library -> search the competitor's brand name -> filter to 'Currently active' -> apply country filter to your market. The library returns every active ad they're running on Meta. Note creative format mix (image vs video vs carousel), hooks used in the first 3 seconds of videos, offers/CTAs, evergreen winners (ads running 60+ days = working).

Identify their tech stack with BuiltWith or Wappalyzer

Install Wappalyzer browser extension (free); visit the competitor's site. The extension shows: CMS, ecommerce platform, analytics, ad pixels, chat widgets, A/B testing tools, customer data platform, marketing automation. This reveals their operational maturity - sophisticated stack = mature growth team; basic stack = early-stage. Also surfaces specific tools they use that may be worth evaluating yourself.

Walk their conversion funnel as a prospect

Manually navigate their site as a first-time visitor. Homepage -> category page -> product/feature page -> pricing -> checkout/signup. Capture screenshots at each step. Note: number of fields in their signup form, free vs paid trial, time-to-value commitment in copy, social proof placement, abandonment hooks (exit-intent popups, email capture). This is the qualitative layer the data tools can't give you.

Synthesize into a one-page competitor profile

Build a single-page profile that combines all six sections: traffic mix snapshot, SEO summary, paid summary, creative summary, tech stack, funnel notes. Keep it to one page so it's actually re-readable. This is your reference doc for ongoing competitive thinking - not a 30-page report nobody opens twice.

# Competitor profile template
# DOMAIN: example.com (last audited: 2026-05-21)
# TRAFFIC: 1.2M/mo | 65% organic, 18% paid, 12% direct
# SEO: DR 58, 84K keywords, top page = /pricing (28K traffic)
# PAID: $42K/mo est, top keyword = '<term>', evergreen ad = '<hook>'
# CREATIVE: 47 active Meta ads, 12 evergreen, 60% video
# STACK: Webflow, Stripe, Segment, Intercom, GA4, Optimizely
# FUNNEL: 14-day free trial, no CC required, 4-field signup