Key Takeaways
- Your real SEO competitors are who ranks on page one — not necessarily the businesses you think of as rivals.
- Competitor backlink profiles reveal link-building opportunities you would not find any other way.
- Content gap analysis shows you exactly which topics to write about next for maximum SEO impact.
- A 90-day action plan built from competitor research is more effective than guessing at keywords.
Here is a mistake we see constantly with Ontario businesses doing SEO: they analyse the wrong competitors. They compare themselves to the company across the street or the franchise they bump into at trade shows — but neither of those businesses may actually appear in Google search results for the keywords your customers type. Online competition and real-world competition are two very different things. In early 2016, tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush are becoming genuinely accessible to small businesses, not just enterprise marketing departments. That shift is a big deal. For the first time, a plumber in Brampton or a law firm in Hamilton can see exactly which pages earn their competitors organic traffic, which websites link to them, and which keywords nobody in their local market has bothered to target properly. This guide walks you through a practical five-step process to make use of that intelligence.
Definition: SEO Competitor Analysis
An SEO competitor analysis is a structured review of the websites that outrank yours for your target keywords. It covers their top-performing content, backlink sources, keyword rankings, and on-page strategy — giving you a data-driven map of what you need to do to surpass them in search results.
Step 1: Identify Your Top 5 Online Competitors
Your online competitors are whoever consistently appears on page one of Google for your main service keywords.
Open a private browsing window — so your personal search history does not skew results — and search for three to five of your most important keywords. Things like 'accountant Toronto', 'HVAC repair Mississauga', or 'family lawyer Hamilton'. Write down the five non-directory websites that appear most often across those searches. These are the businesses you actually need to outrank.
You will often find that large national players (think big franchise networks or well-funded agencies) rank for the same keywords you want. Do not ignore them just because they seem out of reach. Studying how they structure their service pages and what topics they cover gives you a content blueprint. Ahrefs' 'Competing Domains' report automates this process if you want to go deeper — enter your domain and it surfaces every site that shares keyword rankings with you.
- Use private/incognito browsing to get unbiased search results
- Search your top 3–5 service keywords and record page-one results
- Ignore Google Ads, Maps listings, and directory pages — focus on organic websites
- Run the same search from a Toronto or Ontario location if your service is regional
- Use Ahrefs 'Competing Domains' for a data-driven competitor list
Step 2: Analyse Their Top-Ranking Content
The pages that earn competitors the most organic traffic reveal exactly what Google thinks is authoritative content in your industry.
In Ahrefs, open 'Site Explorer', enter a competitor's domain, and click 'Top Pages' to see which URLs receive the most estimated organic traffic. You will quickly notice patterns: long-form guides often outperform thin service pages, FAQ content clusters around common customer questions, and location pages targeting specific Ontario cities often pull significant local search traffic.
Look at how long their top pages are, how they are structured (do they use clear headings? Do they answer specific questions?), and what keywords each page targets. This is not about copying — it is about understanding the bar you need to clear. If the top-ranking page on 'web design Toronto' is 2,400 words with case studies and FAQs, a 400-word service page from your site will not displace it.
Step 3: Audit Their Backlink Sources
A competitor's backlink profile is a ready-made link prospecting list — every site that links to them is a site that might link to you.
In Ahrefs, go to 'Backlinks' for each competitor and filter for 'Do Follow' links from unique domains. Sort by 'Domain Rating' to prioritise high-authority sources. Look for patterns: are they listed in Ontario business directories you are not? Do local newspapers or community sites link to them? Have they contributed guest posts to industry blogs? Each category represents a repeatable link-building tactic.
Pay particular attention to local links — mentions in Toronto Life, Ottawa Business Journal, Hamilton community sites, or Ontario Chamber of Commerce publications carry strong local relevance signals. These are links national competitors rarely bother to earn, which means they are a genuine opportunity for a well-connected Ontario business. Moz's free Link Explorer gives you a limited but useful view if you are not ready to invest in Ahrefs yet.
- Filter competitor backlinks to 'Do Follow' links from unique domains only
- Note local Ontario publications, directories, and business associations that link to them
- Identify industry blogs and trade publications where they have contributed content
- Check if they are listed in directories you have not claimed (Better Business Bureau, local chambers, etc.)
- Record each link source in a spreadsheet and flag the ones you can realistically pursue
Step 4: Find Content Gaps You Can Fill
Content gaps are keywords your competitors rank for that your site does not — and they are your fastest path to new organic traffic.
Ahrefs has a dedicated 'Content Gap' tool under Site Explorer. Enter your domain and add two or three competitor domains, then run the analysis. The tool shows every keyword that competitors rank for while your site ranks outside the top ten or not at all. Sort by search volume and estimated difficulty, and you have an instant editorial calendar.
For Ontario businesses, the gaps often cluster around specific city pages ('plumber Barrie', 'accountant Kitchener'), service sub-topics ('HVAC maintenance contract vs. emergency repair'), and question-based content ('how much does a kitchen renovation cost in Ontario'). These are the searches your potential customers are already making — and your competitors are capturing that traffic while your site sits invisible.
Step 5: Turn Findings into a 90-Day Action Plan
A competitor analysis only creates value when it leads to specific, prioritised actions with deadlines.
Take your content gaps, backlink opportunities, and structural observations and build a simple 90-day plan. In the first month, focus on the easiest wins: claim missing business directory listings, create one or two high-priority content pieces targeting low-competition gap keywords, and audit your existing service pages against the structure of your competitors' top-ranking equivalents.
In months two and three, tackle the medium-difficulty items: longer-form content on your highest-value topics, outreach to local Ontario publications for mentions or features, and adding FAQ sections to your core service pages. Repeat the competitor analysis at the end of the 90 days to measure how your rankings have shifted. This iterative cycle — analyse, execute, measure, repeat — is how Ontario businesses steadily move up in competitive search results.
- Step 1: Identify Your Top 5 Online Competitors: Search Google in private browsing for your main service keywords and record the five non-directory websites that appear most consistently on page one.
- Step 2: Analyse Their Top-Ranking Content: Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to pull each competitor's top organic pages. Note length, structure, topics covered, and which keywords each page targets.
- Step 3: Audit Their Backlink Sources: Review competitor backlink profiles for local Ontario publications, directories, and industry blogs. Record each source as a link-building opportunity.
- Step 4: Find Content Gaps: Use Ahrefs Content Gap tool to identify keywords competitors rank for that your site does not. Sort by volume and difficulty to prioritise your editorial calendar.
- Step 5: Build Your Action Plan: Create a 90-day plan with specific content, link-building, and on-page tasks ordered by priority. Re-run the analysis at the 90-day mark to track progress.
Experience Signal
We ran this exact process for a Burlington-based landscaping company in late 2015. Their instinct was that their biggest competitor was another local landscaper they had lost a few jobs to — but when we searched their main keywords, that company barely appeared. The real page-one competition was a Mississauga franchise with a content-heavy blog and dozens of directory links they had quietly built over three years. Once we mapped the gap, we created four targeted service pages and claimed twenty-two local directory listings the client had never heard of. Within four months, they were ranking on page one for six keywords the franchise had owned unchallenged. That is the power of analysing who actually competes online, not just who you bump into at industry events.
Frequently Asked Questions
Search Google for your main service keywords and note which businesses consistently appear on page one. These are your real online competitors — they may be different from the businesses you think of as rivals day to day. Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush can also show you which sites share keyword rankings with yours.
A thorough competitor analysis should be done at least once every six months for most Ontario small businesses. If you are in a competitive market like Toronto professional services or eCommerce, quarterly checks make sense, especially after any major Google algorithm update.
Paid tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush make the process much faster and more accurate, but you can do a basic analysis for free. Google Search, Google's Keyword Planner, and Moz's free tools give you a usable starting point without spending anything.
Focus first on their top-ranking pages and the content that earns those rankings. Understanding what topics they cover thoroughly — and which gaps they leave — tells you exactly where you can outperform them with better, more specific content.
Sources
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Book a Free SEO ConsultationAbout the author
Rutul Shah
Founder & CEO
Rutul founded Webnixon in 2012 and has spent over 15 years at the intersection of technology and digital marketing. He has managed more than $700,000 in Google Ads spend, built local SEO programs for 30+ service businesses, and architected ecommerce platforms on Magento and Shopify for clients across North America. He writes about paid search strategy, SEO, analytics, and emerging technology for business.
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