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Competitor comparisons: What they are, why they work, and how to do one well

A common category of articles we work on at Ritza is "competitor comparisons". In these articles, companies compare their products or services to those of their competitors, either as an SEO strategy (many people search "X vs Y" on Google) or as part of a sales process (so you don't have to answer the question, "Why should I choose your brand instead of Y?" for the millionth time).

This type of head-to-head analysis is a popular and deceptively simple form of content marketing. It's easy to do, but it's easy to do wrong.

We've done many variations of the competitor comparison with different goals for several customers, so here's what we've learned along the way.

Eric from Hit Subscribe has a great video on competitor comparisons that we'll reference a few times in this post, so it's worth a watch.

Four patterns of comparison posts

The main patterns of comparison posts we see are:

  • "X vs Y": The classic - comparing two things head-to-head
  • "X vs Y vs Z": Useful if you are much smaller than two well-known competitors
  • "Alternative to X": Picking up disgruntled customers from X
  • "Migrating from X to Y": Helping people get free

Let's take a closer look at each.

X vs Y articles

If you are fairly well-known but up against a better-known incumbent, then this is a great format. For example, Supabase does this to compare their platform to Firebase in Supabase vs Firebase. It's easy to rank for articles like this because you probably already have a strong keyword in your domain name, which positively influences Google ranking.

Even though the Supabase article is fairly short and hardly the most standout comparison, it ranks second after Reddit.

  • The X vs Y format is great for SEO if people already know about you and are actively comparing you to your competition. Use this format to steer the narrative but remember, as Eric points out in his video, your readers will default to skeptical on any claims you make, so make extra effort to be completely honest and refer to objective data as much as you can.
  • This format works well for those already inclined to prefer your product. For example, if you have met them in person or already convinced them that your product is better, but they need to make the case to internal stakeholders before signing off on a deal. We've produced X vs Y articles for customers because their prospective customers have said, "We know you're better, but we need to prove it because our CTO/board/advisors are questioning why we shouldn't choose the safer, better-known option."
  • Head-to-head comparisons help create general awareness of your product, speaking to customers at the top of the funnel. Often, landing pages do a pretty bad job of explaining what a product is because they say something like, "The easiest way to get everyone on the same page. In one place. Finally." People searching "X vs Y" might not be in the market to buy one of these products, but rather figuring out what "X" does by comparing it to a product they already know. Use this existing knowledge of your competitor to your advantage by funneling these leads to your comparison page to quickly get them up to speed on what your product offers.
  • The X vs Y format isn't a worthwhile option if you're still relatively unknown as your audience might not find your article. If this is the case, see X vs Y vs Z for how you can raise awareness among those looking to compare two of your better-known competitors.

X vs Y vs Z articles

A similar approach to the X-vs-Y pattern is a three-way comparison. For example, say you launch a new service called "BestBaaS" to compete with Firebase and Supabase. Writing a "BestBaaS vs Supabase" comparison won't bring you much SEO value as no one knows about BestBaaS, so no one is searching for it.

A better strategy in this case would be to write a "Supabase vs Firebase vs BestBaaS" comparison. "Supabase vs Firebase" is a search term that gets a lot of traffic, so if you can write the best thing on the internet to help users compare those, your article may even rank first. After helping readers choose between Supabase and Firebase, you can throw in your new service as a third alternative with a shout-out to your biggest differentiating factors. Even if most visitors to your article use the information you provide to select one of your competitors, at least some may consider your service as a third option.

A two-way comparison may still deliver value to readers by explaining what your product is or why you were motivated to build a new competitor in an established market. But if your business is still on the small side, you probably care more about the top of the funnel and getting page views.

If the competitors you're writing about have already published X vs Y comparisons, it's going to be hard to beat them. But if there aren't too many articles comparing your competitors and you're the smaller contender, this comparison format could work well for you.

Alternative to X articles

The "alternative to X" comparison pattern is another way you can leverage the greater search traffic for a bigger competitor. Plausible's Alternative to Google Analytics is a notable example of this format.

Many Plausible customers switched to the platform as disgruntled former GA customers. Likely, many users aren't even aware that there are viable GA alternatives, and they certainly won't have heard of Plausible, so they aren't searching "Google Analytics vs Plausible". But potential customers might find Plausible by searching for alternatives to the one platform they do know.

The "alternative to X" format is a great option if your competitor is an established "default" in the space. Big platforms always have unhappy customers, so use their churn as lead generation.

Migrate from X to Y articles

Articles that show users in detail how to migrate from a competitor's platform to yours are valuable much further down the funnel. A migration tutorial is mostly helpful for customers who have already bought your product, so you may not even consider this format a part of marketing at all.

However, don't underestimate how sticky platforms are. Even if a prospective customer is convinced that your service is the better option, they might have a hard time moving. Anything you can do to make migrating easier is going to be useful:

  • Prove it's possible to do the migration.
  • Help them migrate with as few resources as possible.
  • Provide clear estimations of what they need for the migration and how long it will take.

As with all the comparison patterns, honesty is key here. If you write something like this:

Migrating from X to Y is an easy three-step process. First you should define and analyze your needs and design a solution. Then you should implement the solution. Finally, make sure to maintain the solution.

...you're not going to make any friends. Do the work: Set up your competitor's product, load in some example data, and then figure out how to move that onto your platform. Anticipate what is likely to be hard for your customers doing this (presumably with much more complicated requirements), and use code samples, screenshots, and a repository of helper scripts to demonstrate that it's feasible to migrate from your competitor's platform to yours.

Building a complementary collection

You don't have to choose between the four comparison article patterns. Consider publishing all of them. For example,

  • Alternative to X: Help your market discover your offering when they're unhappy with X.
  • X vs Y: Once you've piqued prospects' interest, prove that your offering is a viable alternative by outlining its advantages over X.
  • Migrate from X to Y: Close the deal by demonstrating how easy it is to move and give customers all the information they need to plan a migration project internally.

Benchmarking and academia

These comparison article patterns, especially X vs Y, often get close to benchmarking or formal, academic comparisons. You'll find a lot of these for database offerings especially. It can be hard to draw a line between a marketing post and an academic study, and this can cause several issues around:

  • Ethics – If your comparison is an academic project, you need more stringent requirements concerning neutrality, not cherry-picking favorable results, and declaring your biases.
  • Timelines – Academic studies can take months or years to complete, while a marketing article is usually expected to be completed in weeks.

Depending on your field, and especially in Big Enterprise settings, you'll probably also discover reports from places like Gartner and Forrester. Again, it might be tempting to try to do something with the amount of detail and rigor that you see in those reports, but keep in mind that those are usually compiled over months or years with input from hundreds of people. Keep your expectations realistic.

Legality

I'm not a legal expert, but as Eric mentioned in the video, you probably want to discuss your approach with someone knowledgeable before implementing it. Rules about competitive advertising vary across the globe, but often the main considerations are:

  • No defamation - You cannot lie about your competitors to make them seem worse than you.
  • No confusion - You cannot use competitors' names or brands in a way that might lead to users confusing who is who.
  • Life's not fair - If your competitor's legal team and budget are much bigger than yours and they sue you, you're probably not going to have a good time, even if you did nothing wrong. Be careful about poking the bear, especially if that bear is known for aggressive legal action.

Neutrality and promotion

Finding the right balance between neutrality and promotion can be hard. If you host comparison articles on your own domain (as we usually recommend), you don't want to say anything bad about your own product.

But your readers are also unconvinced by default: They know you have a vested interest in convincing them that your offering is better. Some candid self-criticism can help to convince your audience that the article is a good source of objective information.

Overall, don't be afraid to brag a little where it's justified and feel free to point out flaws in your competitor, but this should be done tastefully and subtly. Don't drop a comparison table with 10 checkmarks on your side and 10 X marks on your competitor's. Don't present a series of 10 comparison points in which your platform "wins" all 10. If a reader sees stuff like this (even if it's true), they will lose all trust and close the page immediately.

Instead, give a balanced take, ideally showing objective data wherever you can (even if it's slightly cherry-picked ;) ).

Producing comparison articles

At Ritza, we specialize in producing comparison articles for highly technical companies. We'll onboard our team to your platform and your competitor's, try them both out, and write articles in any or all of the formats we describe here.

Of course, you can also do this in-house and often that is the better option, especially if you already have experts on your team that know your platform and your competitor's well.

Advantages of using our services include:

  • We've done it before: We know what to look out for, how to do the keyword research, and how to find a balance between promotion and objectivity.
  • We'll give you our honest feedback: While our articles will emphasize your platform's strong points and show it at its best, we'll also give you private feedback about how you can improve your product to truly beat your competitors.