Steal Their Secrets: Competitor Analysis in Semrush

Examining their innovative approaches to product development and marketing is essential for any business aiming to thrive in 2026. But how can you truly dissect and understand the strategies of your competitors? The answer lies in using advanced competitive analysis tools, like Semrush’s Brand Monitoring feature. Are you ready to reverse-engineer your competition’s success?

Setting Up Your Brand Monitoring Campaign

Step 1: Access Brand Monitoring

First, log in to your Semrush account. On the left-hand navigation menu, scroll down to the “Competitive Research” section. Click on “Brand Monitoring.” If you’re a first-time user, you’ll see a prompt to create your initial campaign. If not, you can create a new one by clicking the “+ Create campaign” button in the upper right corner of the screen.

Step 2: Configure Your Campaign

1. Campaign Setup: You’ll be prompted to enter your brand name (or a competitor’s brand name, in this case) and the relevant keywords you want to track. For example, if you’re analyzing Coca-Cola, you might include keywords like “Coca-Cola,” “Coke,” “Coca-Cola marketing,” and related product names. Be specific; the more targeted your keywords, the more relevant the results.
2. Specify Competitors: This is where the magic happens. In the “Competitors” section, enter the names of your key competitors. Semrush allows you to add multiple competitors, enabling a comprehensive analysis. You can also add competitor website URLs to refine the search. Pro tip: include both direct and indirect competitors to get a wider view of the market.
3. Location Targeting: Select the geographic locations you want to monitor. This is particularly useful if your business operates in specific regions. For example, if you’re based in Atlanta, you might want to focus on mentions within Georgia and the Southeastern United States.
4. Language Settings: Choose the languages relevant to your target audience. If you’re targeting a global market, select multiple languages. Otherwise, stick to the primary language of your region.

Step 3: Launch Your Campaign

Once you’ve configured all the settings, click the “Start Tracking” button at the bottom of the page. Semrush will then begin crawling the web for mentions of your specified brands and keywords. This process can take some time, depending on the volume of data. Expect initial results within 24-48 hours.

Common Mistake: Forgetting to specify negative keywords. If your brand name is similar to a common word, add negative keywords to filter out irrelevant mentions. For example, if you’re monitoring “Apple” and not interested in fruit-related mentions, add “fruit,” “pie,” and “orchard” as negative keywords.

Expected Outcome: Semrush will gather data from various online sources, including news articles, blogs, social media platforms, and forums. You’ll see a dashboard populated with mentions, sentiment analysis, and other relevant metrics.

Analyzing Competitor Content Strategies

Step 1: Access the Mentions Feed

After your campaign has been running for a few days, navigate to the “Mentions” tab within the Brand Monitoring dashboard. This feed displays all the mentions Semrush has found, sorted by date. You can filter these mentions by source, sentiment, and reach.

Step 2: Identify Top-Performing Content

Focus on mentions with high engagement metrics, such as shares, comments, and likes. These metrics indicate content that resonates with the target audience. Look for patterns in the topics, formats, and tone of this content. Are your competitors focusing on blog posts, videos, or infographics? What kind of language are they using? What are their key messages?

Pro Tip: Pay attention to the sources where your competitors are being mentioned. Are they getting coverage in industry publications, mainstream media, or niche blogs? This information can help you identify potential partnership opportunities and media outlets to target.

Step 3: Analyze Sentiment

Semrush provides sentiment analysis for each mention, classifying it as positive, negative, or neutral. Pay close attention to negative mentions. What are people complaining about? Are there recurring themes or issues? This information can help you identify potential weaknesses in your competitors’ products or services, as well as opportunities to differentiate your own offerings. I had a client last year who was able to identify a major customer service issue their competitor was facing just by analyzing sentiment data. They quickly adjusted their own customer service protocols and saw a significant increase in customer satisfaction.

Step 4: Examine Ad Campaigns

While Brand Monitoring primarily focuses on organic mentions, you can indirectly analyze competitor ad campaigns by looking for mentions of specific promotions, slogans, or products that are likely being advertised. Cross-reference this information with data from Semrush’s Advertising Research tool to get a more complete picture of your competitors’ advertising strategies. In Semrush’s Advertising Research tool, you can enter a competitor’s domain and see their active ad campaigns, ad spend, and keywords they are targeting.

Expected Outcome: You’ll gain a deep understanding of your competitors’ content strategies, including the types of content they create, the topics they cover, the channels they use, and the sentiment they generate. This information will help you refine your own content strategy and create content that resonates with your target audience.

Using the Competitive Positioning Map

Step 1: Access the Competitive Positioning Map

Within the Brand Monitoring dashboard, navigate to the “Competitive Positioning Map” tab. This map visually represents your brand and your competitors based on their online presence and brand reputation. The axes of the map are determined by key metrics, such as brand visibility and sentiment score.

Step 2: Interpret the Map

The map shows how your brand stacks up against your competitors. Brands clustered closely together are perceived similarly by the public. Brands located far apart are differentiated in some way. Analyze the position of each brand relative to the others. Are you positioned as a leader, a follower, or a niche player? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each position?

Pro Tip: Experiment with different metrics to change the axes of the map. For example, you could use “reach” and “sentiment” to see how your competitors’ brands are perceived in terms of both visibility and public opinion. You can customize the axes by clicking the “Customize Map” button in the upper right corner and selecting the metrics you want to use.

Step 3: Identify Opportunities for Differentiation

Look for gaps in the market. Are there any areas where your competitors are weak? Are there any unmet needs or desires among your target audience? Identify opportunities to differentiate your brand and position yourself as a unique player in the market. For example, if your competitors are primarily focused on price, you could differentiate yourself by focusing on quality or customer service. Or, if they are targeting a broad audience, you could focus on a niche market.

Step 4: Monitor Changes Over Time

The Competitive Positioning Map is not a static tool. It updates dynamically as your brand and your competitors evolve. Regularly monitor the map to track changes in your competitive landscape. Are your competitors gaining ground? Are you losing market share? Use this information to adjust your strategies and stay ahead of the competition. Nobody tells you that consistent monitoring is key. It’s not a one-time analysis.

Expected Outcome: A clear visual representation of your competitive landscape, enabling you to identify opportunities for differentiation and monitor changes over time.

Monitoring Sentiment and Identifying PR Crises

Step 1: Regularly Review Sentiment Analysis

Within the Mentions feed, pay close attention to the sentiment associated with each mention. Semrush uses natural language processing to classify each mention as positive, negative, or neutral. However, it’s important to manually review the mentions to ensure the accuracy of the sentiment analysis. Algorithms aren’t perfect, after all.

Step 2: Identify Emerging PR Crises

Look for spikes in negative sentiment. Are there sudden increases in negative mentions related to a specific issue or event? This could indicate an emerging PR crisis. Investigate the issue immediately and take steps to address it. This could involve issuing a statement, offering a public apology, or taking corrective action.

Step 3: Track Competitor Responses

If a competitor is facing a PR crisis, monitor their response carefully. How are they addressing the issue? What steps are they taking to mitigate the damage? Learn from their mistakes and successes. This is what we did when a major competitor in the Atlanta metro area, a regional chain of urgent care facilities, faced a data breach in early 2025. We carefully watched their response and adjusted our own data security protocols and communication strategies.

Step 4: Use Sentiment Analysis to Improve Your Own Brand

Sentiment analysis isn’t just about monitoring your competitors. It’s also about understanding how your own brand is perceived. Use sentiment data to identify areas where you can improve your products, services, or customer service. Address negative feedback promptly and proactively. This will help you build a stronger brand reputation and foster customer loyalty.

Common Mistake: Ignoring negative feedback. It’s tempting to focus on positive mentions and ignore the negative ones. However, negative feedback is a valuable source of information. It can help you identify problems you didn’t know existed and improve your products or services.

Expected Outcome: The ability to proactively identify and address PR crises, protect your brand reputation, and improve your products or services based on customer feedback.

By examining their innovative approaches to product development and marketing through Semrush’s Brand Monitoring, you can move beyond guesswork and make data-driven decisions. Don’t just react to the market – anticipate it. Start using these strategies today to gain a competitive edge and secure your position in the marketplace.

Ultimately, understanding your competitors helps you dominate your market. But what if you need more direct, personalized help? It might be time to consider marketing consultant.