Audience research
Part of How to split SEO tool research between sizing a market and equipping one team
How to run SEO tools competitor research that stands up to scrutiny
A practical checklist for SEO tools competitor research in England, covering source selection, claim testing and how to record findings you can reuse.
What to take away
- GOV.UK's content design guidance, published on 10 September 2025, says teams should start from user needs rather than vendor features, and the same discipline applies when you map rival SEO tools in one shared sheet.
- The UK has no single regulator for search marketing servicesadvertising claims sit with the Advertising Standards Authority and consumer issues with the Competition and Markets Authority, so ranking claims must be tested rather than accepted.
- Separate observable evidence (pricing pages, documentation, changelogs) from marketing copy.
- Work in a fixed orderdefine the comparison set, verify licences and pricing, then test the claims that matter.
Define the competitor set narrowly
Most competitor research fails at the first step because the list is too long. Google Search Console data on your own site shows which queries you already compete for, so build the set from the tools that appear there.
Competitor Set Size
- 5–8named tools to aim for
- Feweryou miss patterns
- Moreevidence turns shallow
Aim for five to eight named tools. Fewer and you miss patterns; more and the evidence turns shallow. A workable set for a UK team: Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz and SE Ranking as all-in-one platforms, Screaming Frog for crawling, Similarweb for traffic estimates and AccuRanker for rank tracking. Record host country, billing currency and whether you buy direct or through an agency, and check the vendor's registered name and company number at Companies House rather than trusting the trading name on the site.
Supplier location matters because it decides which regime you check. The Communications Act 2003 sets the framework Ofcom enforces for online services; advertising claims about a tool fall under the CAP Code, which the Advertising Standards Authority polices; and consumer protection law enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority covers the purchase itself. Check where a supplier is registered before you rely on its data.
Check pricing and licences before features
Feature lists are the easiest thing to copy and the least useful thing to compare. Pricing and licence terms are harder to fake and easier to verify.
Pricing and Licence Capture
- Public list price, billing period, currency
- Seat modeluser, project or domain
- API access cost inside or extra
- Data retention on lowest paid tier
- Cancellation and refund terms
Capture the following per competitor in a shared sheet:
Check pricing and licences
- Public list price, billing period and currency.
- Seat modelper user, per project or per domain.
- Whether API access costs extra or sits inside the plan.
- Data retention period on the lowest paid tier.
- Cancellation and refund terms.
If you are building the wider evidence base first, sequence demand data before supplier comparisons: pull your own query and landing-page data, then work through our audience research guide for England.
The checklist
Tick each line below for every competitor and note the source and the date you checked it. The sheet has three parts: the identity and pricing fields above, the evidence checks and the claim tests.
A worked row for a paid platform such as Semrush or Ahrefs records the plan name, the public list price shown on the vendor's own pricing page with its currency and billing period, the seat model, whether API access sits inside the plan or is sold separately, retention on the lowest paid tier, the refund window, and the date you checked all of it. Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools sit in a separate free column, because a zero price changes what you are comparing.
Evidence collection
- Pricing page saved with a dated screenshot.
- Licence terms read in full, not the summary table.
- Two independent sources on accuracy or limits, from different publishers: the vendor's own documentation plus a published third-party test.
- Changelog reviewed for the last six months.
- Support route and named contact confirmed.
Claim testing
- Ranking claim tied to a stated method or sample.
- Index coverage checked against your own crawl.
- Free trial run on a site you control.
- Time to first useful report measured.
- Export confirmed as CSV or API.
Compare claims against your own data
A competitor's headline figure is usually a benchmark you cannot reproduce, so treat it as a hypothesis. Test it on a property you control and compare the output with your existing tool on the same keyword set.
Agencies often build this comparison into a pitch or client review. Semrush's client strategy solutions for agencies describe that workflow, and it works as a template even if you use different software.
When the numbers disagree, the disagreement is the finding. Log the cause: crawl frequency, location settings, device type or index freshness.
Record findings so they stay useful
A checklist that lives in one person's notes is wasted. Store it where the buying decision happens, with a review date attached.
Write each finding with a figure, a currency and a source: the list price you saw, the billing period it covers and the date you checked it is usable; "Competitor A is expensive" is not.
Review the sheet quarterly, because pricing pages change quietly and licence terms change less quietly. If your team also runs direct conversations with buyers, our customer interviews in England method pairs well with desk research.
Order the sheet by the decision you are making, not by the tool's own menu, so it reads as a buying brief rather than a feature dump.
Common questions
How many competitors should the checklist cover?
Five to eight works for a single reviewer. Beyond that, evidence quality drops faster than coverage rises, so keep three as direct rivals and the rest as reference points.
Should I include free tools in the comparison?
Yes, but in a separate column. Free tiers differ on data retention, export limits and API access, so mixing them into the paid comparison distorts pricing conclusions.
How often should the checklist be refreshed?
Quarterly for pricing and licence terms. Feature comparisons only need rechecking when a competitor publishes a release note that touches something you rely on.
What if a competitor will not publish pricing?
Record it as undisclosed and note the sales route. Absence of public pricing is itself a finding, and it affects how long your evaluation will take.
