# Competitors — Marketing Skill for AI Agents

Competitor pages come in four formats matched to search intent: singular alternative (/alternatives/[competitor], for someone ready to switch), plural alternatives (/[competitor]-alternatives, for earlier-stage research), you-vs-competitor (/vs/[competitor], for a direct comparison), and competitor-vs-competitor (for third-party or category-owner positioning). Every page should open with a TL;DR, go beyond feature checklists to explain why differences matter, compare pricing tier by tier, and be explicit about who each option is best for — including honestly acknowledging competitor strengths, since evaluators will verify your claims. On plural alternatives pages, list 4-7 real options (you first, but genuine competitors included), because being helpful builds trust and ranks better. Centralize competitor data as a single source of truth so updates propagate across every page.

> Maintained by Corey Haines · v2.0.1 · Updated 2026-07-09

Install: `npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills`
Source: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/competitors

## What's inside

**The playbook covers:** Initial Assessment, Core Principles, Page Formats, Essential Sections, Content Architecture, Research Process, SEO Considerations, Output Format, Task-Specific Questions

### Reference library

- [Content Architecture for Competitor Pages](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/blob/main/skills/competitors/references/content-architecture.md) — How to structure and maintain competitor data for scalable comparison pages.
- [Section Templates for Competitor Pages](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/blob/main/skills/competitors/references/templates.md) — Ready-to-use templates for each section of competitor comparison pages.

## Example

**Prompt:** Create a 'Best Asana Alternatives' page for our project management tool. We compete mainly on price (we're $8/user vs their $24/user) and simplicity (they've become bloated). Target audience is small teams (5-20 people).

**"[You] vs [Competitor]" page skeleton**

/vs/asana

1. TL;DR — key differences in 2-3 sentences
2. At-a-glance comparison table
3. Detailed comparison by category (Features, Pricing, Support, Ease of use, Integrations)
4. Who [You] is best for — small teams, price- and simplicity-driven
5. Who Asana is best for (be honest) — larger orgs needing deep workflow config
6. What customers say — testimonials from switchers
7. Migration support — what transfers, what needs reconfiguration
8. CTA

## FAQ

### What's the difference between an 'alternative' page and a 'vs' page?

They target different search intent. An alternative page (singular '[Competitor] alternative' or plural '[Competitor] alternatives') serves someone looking to switch or researching options — the plural version should list 4-7 real alternatives with you positioned first. A 'vs' page ('[You] vs [Competitor]') serves someone directly comparing two specific tools and goes deep on a head-to-head across features, pricing, support, and ease of use. Match the format to what the searcher is actually trying to do.

### Should I include real competitors on my 'alternatives' page?

Yes. On a plural alternatives page, include 4-7 genuine options with your product first — being honestly helpful builds trust with evaluators (who will verify your claims anyway) and ranks better than a thinly disguised self-promotion. Acknowledge competitor strengths and be explicit about who each tool is best for. One caveat for emerging brands: these pages often earn citations in AI answers, but whether AI recommends you depends on offsite consensus like reviews and forums, so set expectations accordingly.

### How should I structure a whole competitor comparison hub?

Centralize competitor data as a single source of truth per competitor (positioning, pricing, feature ratings, strengths, weaknesses, complaints, migration notes) so updates propagate everywhere. Build individual alternative pages for each main competitor, a 'best alternatives' roundup, and head-to-head 'vs' pages for the key matchups, then interlink them and add a hub page tying it together. Do the deep research up front — product hands-on, pricing, and review mining on G2/Capterra/TrustRadius — and refresh pricing quarterly.

## Related skills

- **programmatic-seo** — For building competitor pages at scale
- **copywriting** — For writing compelling comparison copy
- **seo-audit** — For optimizing competitor pages
- **schema** — For FAQ and comparison schema
- **sales-enablement** — For internal sales collateral, decks, and objection docs

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Canonical: https://marketing-skills.com/skills/competitors