Generally speaking, competitive intelligence is defined as a set of strategies that enable you to stay informed, without spending too much time on it, thanks to the use of fully automated processes. As an entrepreneur, you need to be aware of what your competitors are offering, both in terms of new products and services, and in terms of the prices they charge, if you want to maintain a good position in your market and increase your competitiveness. There are various software tools available to help you in this competitive observation. Here are the 6 most suitable competitive intelligence tools.
Google Alerts
This Google service is a totally free monitoring tool. Not only will it enable you to follow all the latest news in your field of activity, it will also let you know what your competitors are up to.
All you need is a Gmail account. You can create alerts using keywords that correspond to your professional sphere, or by entering the names of your competitors.
You can set parameters on Google Alerts such as :
- notification frequency
- the type of sites displayed
- sources (news, blogs, etc.)
- language and regions of interest
Similarweb
Particularly suited to obtaining data on the domain performance of companies active in your sector, Similarweb is a competitive analysis tool that can be tried out free of charge.
It allows you to :
- examine a site or application in detail
- know your ranking and that of your competitors, with an indication of recent trends (up or down)
- compare the performance of companies operating in the same sector as yours, and discover which have the highest share of traffic.
Similarweb also gives you the opportunity to find out the average overall traffic to a site via the various channels (SEO, SEA, referrers, social networks and direct), as well as the sources of traffic acquisition on your competitors' sites.
Semrush
Semrush is a comprehensive tool that enables you to discover the different products and competitors in your market, then apply the data collected to improve your marketing strategy.
Semrush offers a wide range of functions:
- an overview of your industry (market size and competitive threats)
- profile of your competitors' audience (age, gender, social media preferences, interests...)
What's more, you'll be able to find out which domain a visitor visited before arriving at a competitor's site, and which site they went to next. Last but not least, you'll also have access to reviews left by visitors on a product or service (both positive and negative).
Paarly
The Paarly price monitoring tool has been specifically designed for e-commerce businesses. It can be tested free of charge.
It offers the following features:
- It automatically extracts data from a website, keeping you informed about products distributed by other retailers in your sector.
- You can monitor their assortment and stock levels. You can then accurately analyze their pricing policy and receive recommendations for raising or lowering your prices in line with market trends. By raising prices that are too low compared to the competition, you can significantly increase your margins.
Another important advantage of price monitoring is that it enables you to better negotiate your purchase prices with your suppliers, knowing that your competitors have obtained more attractive rates.
SpyFu
The SpyFu tool is perfect if you want to know everything a domain has put online in the last 16 years.
With its spy device, you will have at your disposal :
- keywords purchased by your competitors
- those that didn't work out so well, so you don't make the same mistakes again
- useful information on their various Google Ads campaigns
- their organic rankings and the changes they've made to their ads
This watch will also enable you to compare several sites to discover their best SEO strategies and pay-per-click marketing, check their backlinks by keyword and spot new players in your sector.
Yooda insight
With Yooda insight you can analyze the competitive environment in your sector. You can evaluate the visibility and SEO traffic of 15 million sites, with a 4-year history. Two packages are available: a free package enabling you to perform 20 analyses per day and obtain 10 results per analysis, and a Premium package with unlimited analyses and results, plus variation alerts.
The following features are also available:
- the ability to enrich the semantic scope of your site's content
- new keyword opportunities
- discovering popular themes