how to do competitor research using free online tools

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how to do competitor research using free online tools

most competitor research advice tells you to buy Semrush or Ahrefs. both are excellent tools and both cost $100-250/month.

this guide covers what you can find for free — which is more than most people realize — and how to use it to make actual decisions.

what competitor research actually tells you

competitor research answers four questions:

  1. what are they ranking for? (find keyword opportunities they have proven exist)
  2. how much traffic do they get and from where? (validate market size and channel mix)
  3. what content works for them? (find content gaps and angles that underperform in their coverage)
  4. who links to them? (find potential link opportunities and partnerships)

the free tools below cover questions 1, 2, and 3 well. backlink research (question 4) is the area where paid tools have the biggest advantage over free alternatives.

free traffic research

SimilarWeb free tier

SimilarWeb estimates traffic for any domain. the free tier shows:
– estimated monthly visits
– top traffic sources (direct, search, social, referral, email)
– top 5 referral sites
– top 5 organic keywords
– geography breakdown

accuracy: directionally reliable, not exact. the estimates use panel data and machine learning. for sites with over 50,000 monthly visits, accuracy is generally within 20-30%. for small sites, the estimates are less reliable.

use it for: understanding channel mix (does this competitor live primarily on organic search or paid social?) and relative size comparisons between competitors.

SpyFu free tier

SpyFu shows what keywords a domain ranks for organically and what they bid on in Google Ads. the free tier is limited but gives enough data to see:
– a sampling of their top organic keywords
– whether they run paid ads and on which queries
– their estimated monthly organic clicks

the data quality is good for keyword ideas even when the exact numbers are restricted on free.

Ubersuggest free tier

Ubersuggest (Neil Patel’s tool) shows domain-level organic traffic estimates and top ranking keywords. free tier gives a limited number of searches per day but includes competitor keyword data that helps identify what is driving their traffic.

Google’s own search results

the most underused free competitor research tool is Google Search itself.

discovering what their audience asks:

search: [competitor name] vs

Google auto-complete reveals every comparison their audience makes. this is a direct reading of buying-intent queries in your market.

finding their full indexable content:

search: site:competitor.com

this shows every page Google has indexed for the competitor. filter by time period in Google’s Tools to see what they have published recently.

finding their backlink anchors:

search: link:competitor.com (limited but still shows some external links)

better: use Google Search Console for your own site to see what sites link to you, then check those same sites for competitor links.

free content gap analysis

AnswerThePublic

AnswerThePublic shows every question and comparison phrase people search related to a keyword. the free tier allows a few searches per day.

enter a competitor’s main topic and see the entire universe of questions their audience asks. any question that the competitor does not have a dedicated page for is a content opportunity.

Google People Also Ask

search any competitor’s core topic on Google. expand every “People Also Ask” result. these are verified real questions that Google is already answering from the search results — and often one thin answer is all that ranks.

copy the questions into a spreadsheet. cross-check against the competitor’s site. any question that the competitor’s content does not directly answer is a gap you can fill.

Google Related Searches

the bottom of any Google results page shows 8-10 related search queries. these are Google’s own data on what people search next. they reveal sub-topics, comparisons, and modifiers that the core query alone does not surface.

free backlink research

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (free, own domain only)

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for your own verified domain. it shows your own backlinks, broken links, and keyword rankings. you cannot see competitor backlink data on the free plan.

use it to: find sites already linking to you, then check if those same sites have linked to competitors (Google their name + the competitor’s name to find relevant coverage).

Moz Link Explorer free tier

shows limited backlink data for any domain. the free tier allows a few lookups per month. enough to see a competitor’s top 10-20 backlinks and understand what types of sites link to them.

manual method for finding competitor links: search for a competitor’s brand name in Google News and Google’s web search. news coverage, press mentions, and directory listings are backlinks. industry directories that feature a competitor probably have a submission process — get listed there too.

how to turn competitor data into a content plan

the research above gives you three types of information:

  1. competitor keyword data (from SpyFu, Ubersuggest, SimilarWeb top keywords): the queries they are ranking for that are driving their traffic

  2. content gaps (from AnswerThePublic, PAA, Related Searches): questions their content does not directly answer

  3. positioning gaps (from reading their top pages): angles they do not cover, formats they do not use, audiences they do not specifically address

the content plan builds from these three:

step 1: identify their top 10 organic keywords from SpyFu or Ubersuggest. note which ones you do not have a page for.

step 2: for each keyword gap, run it through AnswerThePublic and Google PAA to find sub-questions their content does not answer.

step 3: read their ranking page for each keyword. what angle do they take? what is missing — specific examples, pricing, a particular use case, a comparison?

step 4: write a brief for each gap. the brief should specify: why your version beats theirs (specific angle, missing information, better structure, fresher data).

step 5: prioritize by search volume and difficulty. use Google Keyword Planner for volume estimates.

the paid tools worth knowing

two paid tools come up constantly in competitor research discussions:

Semrush ($140/month): the most comprehensive competitor research platform. full keyword overlap analysis, competitor backlink comparison, traffic history, and content gap tool.

Ahrefs ($129/month): strongest backlink database and keyword explorer. the site explorer shows exactly what keywords any domain ranks for and their estimated traffic.

for the ROI calculation on Semrush specifically, see Surfer SEO vs Semrush 2026.

for AI-assisted competitor research: how to use AI for competitor research.