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How to find competitor websites

A purely procedural step-by-step on how to find competitor websites - exactly what to type into which tool, in what order, with the validation checks at each stage.

Updated

Before you start

  • A clear definition of who your target customer is (without this, 'competitor' is undefined)
  • Access to: Google, LinkedIn, SimilarWeb (free tier), and ideally one paid SEO tool
  • A spreadsheet or Notion doc to track competitor URLs as you find them
  • 45-60 minutes for a full first-pass discovery

The playbook

7 steps

0/7

  1. Step 1: Write down what you sell, to whom, in one sentence

    Open a doc. Type: 'We sell [product/service] to [customer segment] who want to [outcome].' This sentence is your operative definition of 'competitor'. Without it, you'll list everyone vaguely related to your category and call them competitors. Example: 'We sell ad creative generation to ecommerce performance marketers who want to ship more variants per week.'

    Expected outcome

    A one-sentence definition that scopes which brands count as competitors.

  2. Step 2: Open Google and search your category keywords

    Search 5-10 category-level keywords - the things your target customer types when looking for a solution. Examples: 'ad creative tool', 'creative automation software', 'AI ad generator'. Open each in incognito. Note: the top 10 organic results per query, the top 4 ads per query (if any). 5 keywords × 10 organic + 4 ads = up to 70 candidate domains per search batch.

    TipUse incognito browsing. Logged-in Google personalizes results and skews the competitor list toward sites you've already visited.

    Expected outcome

    Initial candidate domain list pulled from category-keyword SERPs.

  3. Step 3: Tally domains by frequency

    In your spreadsheet: Column A = domain, Column B = number of times it appeared across your 5-10 SERPs. Sort B descending. Domains appearing 3+ times across the SERPs are systematic - they consistently show up where your customers look. Single-appearance domains are situational; track them lightly but don't prioritize.

    # Spreadsheet formula
# Column A: domain (pasted from SERP harvest)
# Column B: =COUNTIF(A:A, A2)
# Sort by B desc
# Filter to B >= 3 = systematic competitors

    Expected outcome

    Frequency-ranked candidate list with 10-20 systematic competitors at the top.

  4. Step 4: Validate each candidate against your one-sentence definition

    For each candidate, click through to their site. Does what they sell match your one-sentence definition closely (direct), loosely (adjacent), or barely (not really)? Tag each: direct / adjacent / not-a-competitor. The direct list is your primary set; adjacent is your secondary set; not-a-competitor goes off the list entirely. This is the qualitative filter the tools can't apply.

    Expected outcome

    Tagged candidate list - direct, adjacent, not-a-competitor - with weak matches removed.

  5. Step 5: Cross-validate with SimilarWeb's algorithmic suggestions

    Pick your top 3 direct competitors from step 4. Drop each into similarweb.com. The 'Similar Websites' section returns 5-10 audience-similar sites per competitor. Any domain appearing across 2+ of your top competitors' Similar Websites is a high-confidence competitor you may have missed. Add them to your candidate list and re-run the validation from step 4.

    Expected outcome

    Expanded candidate list with SimilarWeb-suggested competitors validated and added.

  6. Step 6: Cross-validate with Ahrefs / SEMrush / SpyFu

    If you have access to a paid SEO tool: Ahrefs Site Explorer -> Organic Competitors, or SEMrush Domain Overview -> Competitors, or SpyFu Top Organic Competitors. Drop your domain in. Each tool's algorithm produces 10-20 competitor suggestions based on keyword overlap. Cross-check against your manual list. Domains appearing in tool + manual = high-confidence; tool-only = worth investigating; manual-only = the tool may have data gaps.

    Expected outcome

    Triangulated competitor list with confidence tiers (high / medium / low) based on cross-validation.

  7. Step 7: Document the final list with metadata

    For each confirmed competitor, capture: domain, category (direct / adjacent), how you found them (SERP frequency / SimilarWeb / Ahrefs / etc.), confirmation date, top 3 shared keywords (from your SERP analysis). Save in Notion or Airtable so the team can reference it. Set a calendar reminder to re-run the full discovery quarterly.

    # Competitor record template
# Domain: example.com
# Category: direct
# Found via: SERP frequency (4/5 priority keywords)
# Confirmed: 2026-05-21
# Shared keywords: 'ad creative tool', 'AI ad generator', 'creative automation'
# Notes: <free-form context>

    Expected outcome

    Documented, dated competitor registry that anyone on the team can reference and you'll re-validate quarterly.

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Discovery surfaces who competes; execution wins or loses. Shuttergen turns competitor discovery into shipped creative - ad variants tuned to your category's winners.

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Pitfalls

What goes wrong

  • Skipping the one-sentence definition

    Without a tight operative definition of 'competitor', the list grows to 30 vaguely-related brands. The validation step (step 4) collapses without a clear criterion. Always start with the sentence.

  • Searching in a logged-in Google session

    Personalization distorts SERPs. Your competitor list will reflect your browsing history, not your market. Always use incognito.

  • Treating algorithmic suggestions as ground truth

    Ahrefs/SEMrush/SimilarWeb each use different competitor algorithms. Each surfaces useful signals; none is definitive on its own. Always cross-validate against the manual SERP method and your one-sentence definition.

  • Conflating adjacent and direct competitors

    An adjacent competitor (overlapping audience but different product) needs a different response than a direct competitor (same product, same customer). Tag them separately or your competitive strategy gets muddied.

  • Running the discovery once and forgetting to refresh

    Competitive sets shift. A list run in January is stale by July. Set the quarterly refresh as a recurring calendar event before you close the doc.

Limits

When this playbook won't work

  • You haven't defined who your target customer is yet - fix that first; competitor discovery requires customer clarity
  • Your category is so new there's no established search demand to harvest SERPs from
  • Your customer base is found through entirely off-search channels (relationship sales, channel partners) - the SERP method has nothing to grip onto
  • Your category is dominated by a single mega-platform (e.g. 'sellers on Amazon' - the competition is the platform itself, not other sellers)

Why the procedural sequence matters

The order of the seven steps is load-bearing. Starting with tools before the one-sentence definition produces a candidate list with no filter criterion. Starting with manual SERP work before incognito browsing produces a personalized list. Starting validation before triangulation produces a list missing the harder-to-find competitors.

Each step's output is the next step's input. Step 1 produces the filter; step 2 produces the raw candidates; step 3 ranks them; step 4 validates against the filter; steps 5-6 expand and triangulate; step 7 documents. Skipping a step breaks the chain.

Total time is 45-60 minutes for a clean first pass. Less than that suggests you skipped a validation step; significantly more suggests you're auditing each candidate rather than just identifying them. The deep audit happens after this discovery, on the confirmed shortlist.

Found competitors? Now match them in paid. Discovery surfaces who competes; execution wins or loses. Shuttergen turns competitor discovery into shipped creative - ad variants tuned to your category's winners.

Generate competitive creative free

What to do once the list is built

Pick the top 3 direct competitors for deep audit. Single-competitor deep dives produce richer insight than 10 shallow profiles. Block 60-90 minutes per deep audit; ship one per week if you're behind.

Set up monthly monitoring on the top 5-10. Rank tracking (Ahrefs Rank Tracker / SEMrush Position Tracking), ad creative monitoring (Meta Ad Library, Foreplay, AdSpy), content monitoring (Ahrefs new content alerts). 30 minutes/month review catches strategic shifts.

Run content gap and backlink gap on the top 3. Ahrefs Content Gap and Ahrefs Backlink Gap produce the editorial roadmap and link prospecting list. These are the most actionable competitive outputs.

Quarterly: re-run steps 2-6 to catch new entrants. New competitors appear; old players drop out. The full 7-step discovery is quarterly maintenance, not a one-time project.

Internal: find-competitors, find-competitor-websites, seo-competitors.

FAQ

Frequently asked

How do I find competitor websites step by step?
Seven steps: define your offering in one sentence, search category keywords in incognito, tally domains by SERP frequency, validate against your definition, cross-validate via SimilarWeb, cross-validate via Ahrefs/SEMrush/SpyFu, document the final list. 45-60 minutes for a clean first pass.
What's the first step in finding competitor websites?
Write down what you sell, to whom, in one sentence. This sentence is the filter that distinguishes real competitors from vaguely-related brands. Skip it and the discovery returns a 30-brand list with no usable criterion.
How long should finding competitor websites take?
45-60 minutes for a first-pass discovery of 10-20 systematic competitors. Less suggests you skipped validation; much more suggests you're auditing each candidate rather than just identifying them. Audit comes later.
What tools do I need to find competitor websites?
Mandatory: Google in incognito mode, a spreadsheet, SimilarWeb free tier. Recommended: one paid SEO tool (Ahrefs, SEMrush, or SpyFu). The free path covers discovery; paid tools speed up triangulation.
How many competitor websites should I find?
10-20 systematic competitors from first-pass discovery; narrow to 5-10 for deep audit and ongoing monitoring. More than 10 to track deeply and the maintenance overhead dominates value.
How do I know if I've found all my competitors?
You won't. The discovery converges as you cross-validate methods - manual SERP analysis, SimilarWeb suggestions, and tool algorithms each produce overlapping lists. When two methods stop surfacing new candidates, you've covered the high-confidence set. The long tail is endless.
How often should I refresh my competitor list?
Quarterly full re-discovery (re-run steps 2-6). Monthly lightweight check (any new domains appearing in your priority SERPs?). The competitive set shifts slowly but ignoring it for 12+ months produces a stale list.

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Found competitors? Now match them in paid.

Discovery surfaces who competes; execution wins or loses. Shuttergen turns competitor discovery into shipped creative - ad variants tuned to your category's winners.

Generate competitive creative freeAudit framework →