Most websites utilise web analytics to track usage and visitor behaviour. Some companies even take this one step further by studying competitor sites using a tool such as Hitwise. This is known as competitor intelligence (CI) or external benchmarking. But Hitwise isn’t free, and what if your company doesn’t have an analytics budget? This post will look at a few free tools that may help you gain insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your direct and indirect competitors.
Compete is a free tool that allows you to look at traffic trends of competitor sites. One advantage of compete is the level of detail that is available. You can compare up to five sites and filter by various metrics including visits and unique visitors. Competes data is accurate and reliable. Its source is 2 million US based users who have agreed to have their online activity monitored. However there are a few constraints. First of all it’s not possible to filter data based on a specific country, so when looking at the results remember that you are only getting a US perspective. Secondly, it’s rather limited in regards to timeframes with only 3, 6 and 12 months available with the free solution.
Finally, data is only available for large sites, ‘why can’t I see my website‘ for more details. The report below compares visits to three sites for the past 6 months; jbhifi.com.au, jbhifionline.com.au and harveynorman.com.au
In addition to traffic trend data, Compete also displays top search terms, top referral sites and top destination sites.
Google Trends for Websites launched in June 2008 has a couple of advantages over Compete. First of all it has a greater level of customisation, allowing you to filter by country specific traffic. For example, you can filter by Australian trafific from the last 30 days or go back and look at trends for a particular calendar year.
Again the data source is reliable and is a combination of Google search data, Google Analytics data, third-party market research and consumer panel data.
The screenshot below is a competitor report of the same three sites filtered by Australian data.
When filtering by country, Google Trends also gives you specific state data, allowing you to analyze the influence of your competitors at a more granular level.
For more information on Google Trends check out this comprehensive post by Avinash Kaushik.
Before we conclude, let me point out that some experts argue that external benchmarking is a waste of time. However, these arguments are largely based on comparing specific metrics such as conversion rates. Avoid comparing specific e-commerce metrics and you’ll find plenty of value in these tools.
In addition to Compete and Google Trends, there are a range of other free tools available that will give you insights into your (and your competitors) online audience. Also checkout Microsoft AdCentre Labs, Fireclick and Alexa.
Have you used these tools before? Let us know your feedback.
September 30th, 2009 at 11:05 am
[...] Leverage external benchmarking – David at Gruden highlights two free "competitor intelligence" options for benchmarking and evaluating competition. [...]