Spying on online competitors is a key method of growing your startup. Want to know how your competition is doing? Check out ways to spy on your competitors by using these 20 sneaky tools to spy on your competitors.
1. Google Alerts
Google Alerts are usually use by businesses to monitor their brand. Did you know you can easily use Google Alerts to monitor your biggest competitors. Creating a custom Google Alert is an extremely simple way to monitor mentions, new content, and developments your competition is running.
Search Terms You Should Run In Google Alerts
- Your competitors name
- Variations of your competition name
- Search for their product or services
- Networking events
2. Topsy
Topsy is a great tool to monitor your competitors most shared content and influencers. Analyzing your competitions Twitter account can identify key areas of opportunities for your brand.
Benefits of using Topsy:
- Review all shared content of your competitors
- Find influencers on a specific topic
- Find content form a specific topic
- Find all tweets from your competitors all the way back to 2006
- Review sentiment scores and track over time
- Track and analyze your competitors tweets
3. Marketing Grader
Marketing Grader is a free tool from HubSpot. Marketing Grader lets you measure your competitors SEO strategy so you can improve your own brand. The tool is very simple to use, just enter your website address and you’ll get a free report of how well your competitors are doing with their online marketing.
The HubSpot Marketing Grader Will Help You Understand:
- Mobile Device: Reviews your homepage looking from presence of mobile CSS or redirect to a mobile website.
- Lead Generation: Searches for sample of pages from your website and determine if any of them include a conversion form.
- SEO: Marketing Grader will check your SEO for alt tags, page titles, page description, authoritative pages linking to the site.
- Social Media: Searches for links in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Plus.
- Blogging: Searches for different methods your competitors is link to.
4. SEO Book
Use SEO Book to perform competitive research for your competitors Internet marketing. The on-site analysis feature will help you see what type of links your competitor is getting and reveal high performing keywords within minutes. Another great feature is been able to place this gadget directly on your site.
Features of SEO Book:
- Keyword Tool
- Analytics Tool
- Keyword Research
- Competitive Research
- Pay Per Click Tools
- Link Analysis
- Rank Checker
5. Infini Graph
Lets you track social media trends within your industry. Infini Graph lets you obtain insight into your competitors social media trends and content that is been shared.
6. Google Keyword Planner
Keyword planner is a free Adwords Tool that helps you find competitive keywords to use for your site. Use Google Keyword Planner Tool to find your competitors keywords.
Top 5 Reasons To Use Google Adwords:
- Measurable Results
- Cost Effective
- Maximum Relevance
- Highly Targeted (Location, Mobile, Time, Auto)
- Re-marketing
7. Social Mention
Social mention uses real time search to find your competitors mention in any social media outlet. Social mention works with over one hundred social media sites that will help you keep an eye for your competitors influence online.
8. Monitor Backlinks
Get notified when your competitor removes or add backlinks. This tool will help you keep track and manage your competitors backlinks. The online SEO tool will automatically notifies you when your competitors backlinks are changed, removed, or about to expire.
Features of Monitor Backlinks:
- Discover & monitor your SEO backlinks
- New backlinks alerts
- Competitors top backlinks
- Keywords ranking checker
SEO Metrics:
- Google pagerank
- Alexa rank
- No follow checker
- External Link Count
- Moz Rank
- Social Shares
9. Instapaper
This is a free tool that allows you to bookmark web pages at a later time. This tool is available for any platform such as computers, tablets, and mobile devices. Instapaper is the simplest way to save and store articles from your competitors to read at a later time.
10. Semrush
Semrush is an online SEO tool for taking a look at your competitors keywords. This tool analyzes SERP’s and give you your competitive strategies over your competitor.
Features of Semrush:
- Organic Reasearch
- Advertising Research
- Adsense
- Backlinks
- Keyword Research
- Analytic Tools
- Rank Tool
11. SpyFu
SpyFu exposes the search marketing secret formula of your most successful competitors. Be the first to know when ever your competitors add or changes their keywords. This tool also lets you review your competitors keywords in the past six years.
Features of SpyFu:
- Find Profitable Keywords
- Eliminate Bad Keywords
- Find The Best Ad Copy
- Outrank your Competitors
- Get To The Top Position
- Sell SEO Reports
12. WooRank
WooRank is the most popular Website Review and SEO Tool. The tool is very simple to use, just type in the URL for the website and WooRank will review the site. The website report will give you the top priorities you will need to improve in your website. In addition, the tool can also be use to run a review on your competitors website. The review will give you insightful information on the site and you can use the information to improve your website optimization.
13. Similar Web
Similar web lets you compare traffic. Basically see any website’s traffic sources and uncover their online marketing strategies.
14. Open Site Explorer
Open Site Explorer let you perform competitive link research, explore backlinks, anchor text, and more for free.
Benefits of Using This Tool:
1. Reviews all inbound links of your competitors
2. Top 5 site competitors
3. Anchor text
4. Top pages on site
5. Authority information
6. Easy to use tool
15. Alexa
Alexa tool can be used as a competitive intelligence tool. It allows you to quickly assess the ranking value of your website and those of your competitor’s site.
16. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a great tool for deep dive analysis into your backlink. Ahrefs is a powerful site explorer and back link checking tool that offers detailed insight into the link profiles of your website and the websites of your competitors. It also can be use to find topic ideas for your future content assets, you can use Ahrefs as a content marketing tool.
17. Simply Measured
Simply Measured’s leading social media analytics provide in-depth measurement and reporting across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and many more. This is a great tool to analyze your competitors social media presence.
18. Majestic SEO
Majestic SEO is a tool focused on providing information for link building, reputation management, and competitive link analysis. The tool lets you compare your website to any competitors you’ve added.
19. The Search Monitor
The Search Monitor provides real-time competitive ad intelligence tools to monitor brand & trademark use, affiliate compliance, and competitive advertisers.
20. ISpionage
ISpionage is easy to use and provides accurate, up-to-date competitive intelligence information and is a great way to size up competing website.
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Hi, I’m Nancy, nice to meet you! I work with Etsy Sellers like yourself that want to build a thriving Etsy business and embrace the entrepreneurial adventure.
Learn everything about Etsy at my #blog NancyBadillo.com!
That’s a great list.
Some of the tools that you mentioned here are new to me. Like Infini Graph, Social Mention, Monitor Backlinks, Simply Measured.
Among these competitive research tools, I love SEmRush and Ahrefs. They are simply awesome for spying on your competitor keywords and backlinks.
Ahrefs has the largest accurate database of links around the web.
Thanks for the post.
You have mentioned all the tools that required to do seo for website. Don’t you think using all tools together would be bit confusing. I am currently using semrush, and SEOMOZ and working fine for me so far. Btw thanks for the great post. 20 tools are enough to spy any competitors.
Hi Shreya,
I have shared more than one tool to spy on your competitors;It’s not necessarily for anyone to use all 20 but to have options. I also use Semrush and love it. Thank you for leaving a comment and support.
Hey , I just wanted to say , You are doing a great job by keeping people informed of all the great stuff. Keep it up. I have so many tools after reading some of your post, I am glad I followed you on twitter 🙂
Hello Riyaz,
Thank you so much for the awesome feedback! I am so glad my articles are very informative and helpful. Thank you for the follow on Twitter.
Hey Nancy,
This is a wonderful list. I personally have tried ahrefs and SEMRush but this is a huge list. This is really useful for someone who is pretty new to SEO and even for all.
Keep on continuing this wonderful work.
Thank You
Michael
Hey Nancy
I was curious if these tools work on etsy competitors..? I’ve tried to use a few of the backlink checkers but they only check the main domain..etsy.com but not an individual shop.
Topsy seems to be down. Thanks for the list of tools. I was here to find out a way to look for an Etsy spying tools but it seems there are very few tools available in the market. Please help me out with this