How to Research Your Competition with AI

If you already know your competitors, skip to Step 2. If not, use Claude or ChatGPT with this prompt:

I run [describe your business in 1-2 sentences]. Who are my main direct competitors in [your country or market]? Give me the 5 most relevant with their website, main value proposition, and who they sell to.

You can also search on Perplexity: type the name of your service or product followed by “competitors” or “alternatives” and you’ll get updated results with sources.

Save the list. You’ll use it in the next steps.

For each competitor, go to their website, copy the text from their main page (or “About us”) and paste it into Claude or ChatGPT with this prompt:

Here is the text from my competitor's website:
[paste the text]

Analyze:
1. Their main value proposition (what they promise)
2. Who they're talking to (ideal customer profile)
3. Their apparent strengths and weaknesses
4. Which keywords or messages they repeat most
5. What they offer that I don't, and vice versa

Repeat for each competitor. In the end you’ll have a clear map of what each one does well and poorly.

Tip: if their site uses a lot of JavaScript and it’s hard to copy text, use your browser’s “Reader” mode or paste the URL into Perplexity so it reads it for you.

Perplexity AI is ideal for this step because it searches the internet in real time and cites sources.

1. Go to https://perplexity.ai (the free plan is enough for this).
2. Enable “Pro Search” mode or just type your search.
3. Try these searches (replace with real names):

What are the current prices of [competitor] in 2026?

What changes or announcements has [competitor] made in the last 3 months?

Recent reviews of [competitor]: what do customers say they dislike?

Your competitors’ customer complaints are opportunities for you. If everyone complains that “support takes days,” being fast can be your differentiator.

Confirm prices on the official page before quoting them to a client or on your website, because they can change.

Social media:

Visit your competitors’ profiles on Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok and ask Claude:

Here are 5 posts from my competitor on [social network]:
[paste the post text]

What topics do they cover most? What type of content generates the most engagement? What are they not covering that could interest their audience?

Basic SEO (without paid tools):

Search on Google for the service or product you offer. Which pages come up first? Are they your competitors’? That tells you which terms they rank for.

Then ask Claude:

My competitor ranks first on Google for "[term]." What type of content should I create to compete for that position?

For more detailed SEO data (search volume, backlinks), tools like Semrush or Ahrefs have trial periods. Confirm their prices and conditions on their official pages.

With everything you gathered in the previous steps, ask Claude to consolidate it:

I have information about my 3 main competitors. Here it is:
[paste your notes]

Create a structured competitive analysis with these sections:
1. Summary of the competitive landscape
2. Comparison table (value proposition, price, strengths, weaknesses)
3. Differentiation opportunities for my business
4. 3 concrete actions I can take this week

Save the result in a document. You can repeat this process every month to see how your competition evolves.

If you want to take your research further, the tutorial How to do market research with AI shows you how to combine these tools with surveys and audience analysis.

If you need a quick picture, use this all-in-one prompt in Perplexity (it searches in real time with sources):

Quick competitive analysis for [describe your business] in [country/market]:
1. List the 5 main competitors with URL
2. Compare prices and value proposition
3. What do their customers say in recent reviews?
4. What market opportunities is no one taking good advantage of?

It’s not as deep as the full process, but in 10 minutes you’ll have enough to make basic decisions.

The tutorial How to create a digital marketing plan with AI can also help you turn this analysis into an action strategy.

Problem	Fix
Claude or ChatGPT make up data about a competitor	Use Perplexity for real-time searches or verify on the official site
I can’t copy text from my competitor’s site	Use browser reader view, look for Google Cache, or paste the URL into Perplexity
My competitor has little public content	Check their reviews on Google Maps, Trustpilot, or G2; they’re a gold mine
The AI gives very generic analysis	Give it more context: your niche, country, price range, and who you sell to