How to Do a B2B Competitive Analysis: Step-by-Step

A B2B competitive analysis takes six steps: you determine who your real competitors are (direct, indirect, the status quo and the players AI recommends), you build a fixed analysis grid (positioning, offer, price, content and SEO, channels, reviews), you gather the data with the right tools, you check who ChatGPT and Perplexity name in your category, you look for the gaps nobody fills, and you translate everything into a concrete action list. The craft is not in a thick report, but in sharp observations that you convert into moves. Below we walk through the whole process, with a worked example, concrete tools and the mistakes most teams make.

What you need before you begin

Before you start, get three things ready. A clear picture of your own positioning and ICP, because you can only compare against a competitor once you know what you are measuring yourself against. A list of five to eight names you already experience as competitors (we will expand it shortly). And access to a handful of tools: an SEO tool like Ahrefs, Semrush or the free Google variants, LinkedIn, review platforms like Google, Trustpilot or Capterra, and an AI assistant (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini) to test who gets recommended in your category. If your own ideal customer profile is not sharp yet, do that first. Otherwise you are comparing apples and oranges.

The six steps form a fixed order: you work from a complete competitor list toward a concrete action list. The diagram below shows that method at a glance.

Step 1: Determine who your real competitors are

How: Split your competitors into four groups. Direct competitors solve the same problem for the same ICP. Indirect competitors solve the same problem in a different way (a consultant instead of software, for example). The status quo is your largest and most underestimated competitor: the client who chooses to “do nothing” or a homegrown Excel solution. And the AI shortlist: the companies that surface when you ask an AI assistant “what are the best providers of X in the Benelux”. That last group surprises almost everyone, because it often includes names you never saw as competitors.

Example: a provider of fleet management software notes three direct software players, two consultants (indirect), “homegrown Excel plus an IT person” as the status quo, and discovers via Perplexity two new SaaS names the model recommends spontaneously.

Common mistake: fixating on the five names sales always mentions. Whoever analyzes only the known direct competitors misses the flanks where deals are actually lost: the status quo and the new players popping up in AI answers.

Step 2: Fix your analysis grid

How: Analyze each competitor along the same seven dimensions, so your outcomes are comparable instead of a collection of loose impressions. Those dimensions are: positioning (for whom, which problem, which promise), offer (features, services, packages), price (model, indication, transparency), content and SEO (which keywords they rank for, how much traffic, which pillar pages), channels (LinkedIn, ads, events, partners), reviews (where they are, what customers praise and complain about), and AI visibility (are they named in AI answers). Put this in a simple spreadsheet: competitors in the rows, these seven columns next to them.

Example: in your sheet you see at a glance that competitor A is strong on price transparency but weak on content, while competitor B pulls a lot of organic traffic but shows its prices nowhere.

Common mistake: writing down something different for each competitor. Without a fixed grid you get a messy document in which you see no patterns. The comparability is exactly where the insights sit.

Step 3: Gather the data with the right tools

How: Work through the grid column by column. For positioning and offer you read their homepage, their most important landing pages and their pricing page as if you were a prospect. For content and SEO you use an SEO tool to see their best-performing pages, their keywords and their estimated traffic. For channels you look at LinkedIn (post frequency, themes, engagement) and check whether they advertise via the ad libraries of Meta and LinkedIn. For reviews you collect quotes from Google, Trustpilot, Capterra or G2. Everywhere, note not only what it says, but what it tells you about their choices.

Example: with an SEO tool you see that a competitor draws well over half of its traffic from a single cluster around “fleet management software”, while it does nothing with the search term “vehicle fleet administration”. That is a gap you will claim in step 5.

Common mistake: gathering data without interpretation. A screenshot of someone else’s traffic is not an insight. Ask yourself with every figure: what does this mean for my choices? If you want to map their keywords systematically, use our approach in B2B keyword research.

Step 4: Check who AI recommends in your category

How: More and more B2B buyers start their orientation in ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini instead of in Google. So ask each of those assistants the same questions your buyer would ask: “what are the best providers of X in Belgium”, “which company helps me with Y”, “compare provider A and B”. Note which brands get named, in which order, and which sources the model cites. Repeat that a few times, because answers vary. That way you build a picture of the “AI shortlist” in your market: the parties the model puts forward on its own.

Example: you ask Perplexity three times about the best fleet management software for SMEs and see that one competitor appears first every time, with a link to its comparison guide. Your company does not appear. That is a visibility gap with direct pipeline impact.

Common mistake: skipping this step because it feels “not yet measurable”. Whoever is absent from AI answers quietly disappears from the shortlist before the buyer ever visits your website. Measure it systematically with the five core indicators of AI visibility and test your own position with an AI visibility check.

Step 5: Find the gaps

How: Place your filled-in grid next to your own positioning and look for three kinds of gaps. Positioning gaps: an audience or problem nobody clearly claims. Content gaps: valuable keywords and questions no competitor scores well on. Experience gaps: complaints that recur in the reviews of several competitors (slow onboarding, hidden costs, mediocre support). Every gap is a chance to set yourself apart. Rank them on two axes: how big is the opportunity, and how easily can you claim it.

Example: you discover that three competitors are penalized in reviews for “onboarding takes months”, while nobody promises a fast implementation. That becomes your new promise: “live in two weeks”. Immediately usable on your homepage and in sales.

Common mistake: only looking at what competitors do well and trying to copy it. You do not win by imitating them, but by finding the space they leave empty. Develop your distinctive edge with B2B brand positioning and test your strengths and weaknesses against those of the market with a SWOT analysis.

Step 6: Translate everything into action

How: Close with an action list, because an analysis without consequences is wasted time. For each gap you found, choose one concrete move with an owner and a date. Think of: sharpening a message on your homepage, building a pillar page on an unoccupied search cluster, repricing a package, claiming a LinkedIn theme, or making a comparison page that AI assistants can cite. Limit yourself to three to five actions for the coming quarter. More does not get done.

Example: four moves roll out of the analysis: (1) the promise “live in two weeks” on the homepage, (2) a pillar page around “vehicle fleet administration”, (3) a transparent pricing page because competitors hide theirs, (4) a comparison guide that makes you visible in AI answers.

Common mistake: filing the report away neatly and moving on with business as usual. A competitive analysis only pays for itself at the moment a finding changes a choice. Make sure you move from analysis to strategy, not to loose tasks.

Worked example: a competitive analysis on one page

Here is what the skeleton looks like filled in for a fictional provider of fleet management software:

• Competitors: 3 direct SaaS players, 2 consultants (indirect), “homegrown Excel” (status quo), 2 new names from the AI shortlist.
• Positioning: competitor A targets large fleets, B targets SMEs, nobody explicitly claims “fast implementation”.
• Offer and price: A and B show no prices, one small player does. Price transparency is a gap.
• Content and SEO: B dominates “fleet management software”, nobody ranks on “vehicle fleet administration”.
• Channels: all active on LinkedIn, none with a strong content guide.
• Reviews: recurring complaint at three players: slow onboarding and hidden costs.
• AI visibility: Perplexity always names competitor B first; you do not appear.
• Actions: promise “live in two weeks”, pillar page “vehicle fleet administration”, transparent pricing, citable comparison guide.

These eight lines are worth more than a thirty-page report. If they are right, you know exactly where you are going to win.

Common mistakes (summarized)

• Only looking at direct competitors. The status quo and the AI shortlist cost you the most deals.
• No fixed grid. Without comparable dimensions you see no patterns.
• Data without interpretation. A figure only becomes an insight once you know what it means for your choices.
• Ignoring AI visibility. Whoever is absent from ChatGPT and Perplexity falls off the shortlist before the buyer finds your site.
• Imitating competitors. You win with the space they leave empty, not with copywork.
• An analysis without an action list. Without concrete moves with an owner, your work disappears in a drawer.

Checklist: is your competitive analysis solid?

• Competitors sorted into direct, indirect, status quo and AI shortlist
• Fixed grid with seven dimensions in a spreadsheet
• Positioning, offer and price of each competitor recorded
• Content and SEO mapped with an SEO tool (traffic, keywords, pillar pages)
• Channels and reviews collected with concrete quotes
• AI assistants tested on who they recommend in your category
• Positioning, content and experience gaps named and ranked
• Three to five actions chosen, each with an owner and a date

If you want to dive deeper into the audit side, also read our write-up on the competitive audit.

What this means for your AI findability

A sharp competitive analysis does more than improve your position in Google: it also makes you citable in AI answers. Language models recommend sources that are specific and structured and that fill a clear gap. The moment you are the only one to claim “fast implementation” or “vehicle fleet administration for SMEs” crystal clear, your brand becomes easier for ChatGPT and Perplexity to understand and refer to than a vague all-rounder. That same sharpness that sets you apart from your competitors makes you the source AI chooses. You can read more about that in GEO for B2B, the GEO guide 2026 and getting found in ChatGPT.

Want to move from analysis to execution that delivers pipeline? See how we approached it with account-based marketing that produced 189 percent more MQLs, discover our approach to marketing strategy or simply get in touch. Then we will turn your competitive analysis into moves that genuinely shift your market.