Competitor Analysis for Website Planning

Competitor analysis should help you make better website decisions, not encourage you to copy another business. The useful questions are not “Which colours do they use?” or “How many pages do they have?” They are: which customer needs do they answer well, where do they create uncertainty and what evidence will your own website need to compete credibly?

This guide provides a practical process for UK small businesses planning a new site or redesign. It focuses on customer journeys, content and commercial positioning rather than imitation.

Choose the right comparison set

Do not analyse only the businesses you already regard as direct competitors. Include several types:

• local competitors: businesses serving the same area;
• search competitors: sites appearing for the questions and services your customers search for;
• commercial alternatives: different ways a customer could solve the same problem;
• strong examples outside the area: businesses with a similar model but no direct local conflict;
• market leaders: useful for understanding expectations, but not always realistic models for a small business.

A set of six to ten sites is normally enough to reveal patterns without producing an unmanageable spreadsheet.

Start with the customer's task

Choose three to five realistic customer situations. For example:

• someone comparing providers for the first time;
• a visitor who needs a service urgently;
• a price-sensitive prospect deciding whether to request a quotation;
• a returning visitor looking for contact or booking information;
• a customer checking whether the business serves their location or specialist need.

Review each competitor site through those situations. This is more revealing than scoring isolated design features.

Record what the visitor can understand quickly

On the home page and one important service page, check whether a new visitor can determine:

• what the business provides;
• who it is for;
• where it operates;
• why it may be credible;
• what the process involves;
• what the next step is;
• whether obvious restrictions apply.

Do not assume that a polished design communicates these points. A visually impressive site can still be commercially unclear.

Compare the evidence, not just the claims

Examples of claims and supporting evidence

Claim	Evidence a visitor may expect
Experienced	Relevant work, years operating where verifiable, team information or a clear specialist process.
Local	Real service areas, address where appropriate, local work and accurate contact information.
High quality	Detailed examples, specifications, guarantees or a transparent quality-control process.
Trusted	Genuine reviews, memberships, accreditations or policies that can be checked.
Easy to work with	A clear process, response expectations, useful forms and straightforward terms.

Record where competitors make unsupported claims. Your opportunity may be to explain and prove rather than simply claim more loudly.

Review page coverage and depth

List the pages that repeatedly appear across strong competitors, then ask whether each page exists because customers need it or merely because the industry copies itself.

Look for:

• separate service or product pages;
• location information;
• pricing or quotation guidance;
• case studies and portfolios;
• process and timescale explanations;
• delivery, returns, cancellations or booking rules;
• frequently asked questions that reflect real buying concerns;
• guidance content that helps people make a decision.

Do not create a page simply because every competitor has one. Create it when it serves a distinct user need and can contain genuinely useful information.

Test the enquiry or purchase journey

Follow the main route from arrival to action. On mobile as well as desktop, check:

• how quickly the relevant page can be found;
• whether the call to action matches the decision stage;
• how much information a form demands;
• whether response times are explained;
• whether booking, checkout or quotation steps create surprises;
• whether contact details are consistent;
• whether the confirmation tells the user what happens next.

Do not submit false enquiries or interfere with a competitor's systems. The goal is to understand the visible journey, not to test their staff.

Assess mobile usefulness and accessibility

Most small-business sites receive substantial mobile use, but the exact proportion varies. Check the important pages on a normal phone rather than relying only on a desktop browser reduced in width.

Note whether:

• navigation is understandable;
• text is readable without zooming;
• buttons are easy to use;
• forms use appropriate fields and error messages;
• important information is not hidden behind hover effects;
• large banners or pop-ups obstruct the content;
• the page remains usable with a keyboard.

Use search results carefully

Search results can show which businesses and content types Google currently presents for a query, but they do not reveal a complete strategy. Results vary by location, device, language and personal context. Paid placements are not evidence that an organic page ranks well.

Record:

• the wording customers appear to use;
• whether results favour service pages, guides, directories, shops or local listings;
• questions that recur in titles and snippets;
• gaps where existing pages answer the query poorly;
• which results are direct competitors and which are publishers or marketplaces.

The purpose is to understand the search intent, not to reproduce another page heading by heading.

Create a decision table

Competitor analysis decision record

Observation	Customer effect	Decision for our site	Evidence needed
Competitors hide service areas	Visitors may enquire only to discover they are outside coverage	State coverage on relevant pages and the contact page	Approved postcode, county or distance rules
Pricing is unexplained	Visitors cannot judge suitability	Provide factors, starting points or quotation process where commercially sensible	Real pricing policy and exclusions
Portfolios lack context	Work looks attractive but does not prove relevance	Add problem, approach, result and limitations to examples	Permission, accurate project facts and images

What not to copy

• another company's wording, photographs, diagrams or page structure;
• claims you cannot substantiate;
• features that do not fit your operating process;
• large-company navigation on a five-page local-business site;
• industry jargon that customers do not understand;
• reviews, pricing or legal wording taken out of context.

Copying the visible surface also copies assumptions and mistakes you may not recognise.

Finish with priorities, not a gallery of screenshots

A useful analysis should end with a short list of decisions:

1. customer questions the site must answer better;
2. evidence the business must gather;
3. pages or journeys required for launch;
4. areas where the business will deliberately differ;
5. ideas to test later rather than add immediately.

The next practical step is to turn the three most important findings into requirements in the website brief. If the analysis does not change a decision, it has probably become observation for its own sake.