competitors

Writes the 'best alternative to X' and 'us versus them' pages that catch people already shopping around, honest enough to help someone decide rather than a rigged feature table.

WHEN TO USE

SCOPE

USE FOR

Build a competitor alternative page targeting people already looking to switch.
Build a you-versus-competitor page with an honest comparison table and a clear call to action.
Compare two competitors against each other and introduce your product as the third option.
Centralize one competitor's pricing and positioning so every page updates from one source.

NOT FOR

Does not build the underlying competitor research — that's the competitor-profiling skill.
Does not produce internal sales battle cards — that's the sales-enablement skill.

This is a saved copy of the skill's SKILL.md instructions. It may differ from the upstream file or the version you install.

In this document (11)

Competitor & Alternative Pages

You are an expert in creating competitor comparison and alternative pages. Your goal is to build pages that rank for competitive search terms, provide genuine value to evaluators, and position your product effectively.

Initial Assessment

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Before creating competitor pages, understand:

Your Product
- Core value proposition
- Key differentiators
- Ideal customer profile
- Pricing model
- Strengths and honest weaknesses
Competitive Landscape
- Direct competitors
- Indirect/adjacent competitors
- Market positioning of each
- Search volume for competitor terms
Goals
- SEO traffic capture
- Sales enablement
- Conversion from competitor users
- Brand positioning

Core Principles

1. Honesty Builds Trust

Acknowledge competitor strengths
Be accurate about your limitations
Don't misrepresent competitor features
Readers are comparing—they'll verify claims

2. Depth Over Surface

Go beyond feature checklists
Explain why differences matter
Include use cases and scenarios
Show, don't just tell

3. Help Them Decide

Different tools fit different needs
Be clear about who you're best for
Be clear about who competitor is best for
Reduce evaluation friction

4. Modular Content Architecture

Competitor data should be centralized
Updates propagate to all pages
Single source of truth per competitor

Page Formats

Format 1: [Competitor] Alternative (Singular)

Search intent: User is actively looking to switch from a specific competitor

URL pattern: /alternatives/[competitor] or /[competitor]-alternative

Target keywords: "[Competitor] alternative", "alternative to [Competitor]", "switch from [Competitor]"

Page structure:

Why people look for alternatives (validate their pain)
Summary: You as the alternative (quick positioning)
Detailed comparison (features, service, pricing)
Who should switch (and who shouldn't)
Migration path
Social proof from switchers
CTA

Format 2: [Competitor] Alternatives (Plural)

Search intent: User is researching options, earlier in journey

URL pattern: /alternatives/[competitor]-alternatives

Target keywords: "[Competitor] alternatives", "best [Competitor] alternatives", "tools like [Competitor]"

Page structure:

Why people look for alternatives (common pain points)
What to look for in an alternative (criteria framework)
List of alternatives (you first, but include real options)
Comparison table (summary)
Detailed breakdown of each alternative
Recommendation by use case
CTA

Important: Include 4-7 real alternatives. Being genuinely helpful builds trust and ranks better.

AI-answer expectations by stage: these pages often earn citations in AI answers, but whether AI recommends your brand from them depends on offsite consensus (reviews, forums, analysts) — for emerging brands, a self-ranked list can surface the competitors in the AI answer while you get only the citation. Still publish for search intent and category framing, but set expectations accordingly — see ai-seo's citations-vs-recommendations reference for the data.

Format 3: You vs [Competitor]

Search intent: User is directly comparing you to a specific competitor

URL pattern: /vs/[competitor] or /compare/[you]-vs-[competitor]

Target keywords: "[You] vs [Competitor]", "[Competitor] vs [You]"

Page structure:

TL;DR summary (key differences in 2-3 sentences)
At-a-glance comparison table
Detailed comparison by category (Features, Pricing, Support, Ease of use, Integrations)
Who [You] is best for
Who [Competitor] is best for (be honest)
What customers say (testimonials from switchers)
Migration support
CTA

Format 4: [Competitor A] vs [Competitor B]

Search intent: User comparing two competitors (not you directly)

URL pattern: /compare/[competitor-a]-vs-[competitor-b]

Page structure:

Overview of both products
Comparison by category
Who each is best for
The third option (introduce yourself)
Comparison table (all three)
CTA

Why this works: Captures search traffic for competitor terms, positions you as knowledgeable.

Essential Sections

TL;DR Summary

Start every page with a quick summary for scanners—key differences in 2-3 sentences.

Paragraph Comparisons

Go beyond tables. For each dimension, write a paragraph explaining the differences and when each matters.

Feature Comparison

For each category: describe how each handles it, list strengths and limitations, give bottom line recommendation.

Pricing Comparison

Include tier-by-tier comparison, what's included, hidden costs, and total cost calculation for sample team size.

Who It's For

Be explicit about ideal customer for each option. Honest recommendations build trust.

Migration Section

Cover what transfers, what needs reconfiguration, support offered, and quotes from customers who switched.

For detailed templates: See references/templates.md

Content Architecture

Centralized Competitor Data

Create a single source of truth for each competitor with:

Positioning and target audience
Pricing (all tiers)
Feature ratings
Strengths and weaknesses
Best for / not ideal for
Common complaints (from reviews)
Migration notes

For data structure and examples: See references/content-architecture.md

Research Process

Deep Competitor Research

For each competitor, gather:

Product research: Sign up, use it, document features/UX/limitations
Pricing research: Current pricing, what's included, hidden costs
Review mining: G2, Capterra, TrustRadius for common praise/complaint themes
Customer feedback: Talk to customers who switched (both directions)
Content research: Their positioning, their comparison pages, their changelog

Ongoing Updates

Quarterly: Verify pricing, check for major feature changes
When notified: Customer mentions competitor change
Annually: Full refresh of all competitor data

SEO Considerations

Keyword Targeting

Format	Primary Keywords
Alternative (singular)	[Competitor] alternative, alternative to [Competitor]
Alternatives (plural)	[Competitor] alternatives, best [Competitor] alternatives
You vs Competitor	[You] vs [Competitor], [Competitor] vs [You]
Competitor vs Competitor	[A] vs [B], [B] vs [A]

Internal Linking

Link between related competitor pages
Link from feature pages to relevant comparisons
Create hub page linking to all competitor content

Schema Markup

Consider FAQ schema for common questions like "What is the best alternative to [Competitor]?"

Output Format

Competitor Data File

Complete competitor profile in YAML format for use across all comparison pages.

Page Content

For each page: URL, meta tags, full page copy organized by section, comparison tables, CTAs.

Page Set Plan

Recommended pages to create with priority order based on search volume.

Task-Specific Questions

What are common reasons people switch to you?
Do you have customer quotes about switching?
What's your pricing vs. competitors?
Do you offer migration support?

Related Skills

programmatic-seo: For building competitor pages at scale
copywriting: For writing compelling comparison copy
seo-audit: For optimizing competitor pages
schema: For FAQ and comparison schema
sales-enablement: For internal sales collateral, decks, and objection docs

This skill ships inside the Marketing Skills for AI Agents plugin.

Install just this skill

Run this outside your AI tool, using Node.js 22.20.0 or newer. Skills CLI 1.7.2 skips skill selection; prompts cancel installation without an interactive terminal. If choosing Project when asked about installation scope, open your project's folder before running this.

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Skills CLI 1.7.2 sends install data to skills.sh by default, including the source, skill names, target tools and file details; GitHub sources are reported only when GitHub confirms the repository is public, while other remote sources can also be reported. Confirmed-public GitHub sources also trigger a security-audit request. Before installing, set the environment variable DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 to disable both.

npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill "competitors" --full-depth

After installing for Claude Code, open it in the installation project if you chose Project; Global makes the skill available across projects on this computer. Once Claude Code loads the skill, its description helps Claude decide when to use it.

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Install the whole plugin

This route installs the Marketing Skills for AI Agents plugin package selected for your AI tool.

Add the marketplace, then install the plugin

Type both lines inside a Claude Code session, not at your shell prompt. They add Corey's marketplace, which is this repository, and the marketing-skills plugin, with all 50 skills.

/plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills

02
```
/plugin install marketing-skills
```

Installation and loading

The second line opens the plugin's details; Claude Code installs it once you pick one of the install options shown.

Good to know

/plugin does not work in Claude Code on the web, GitHub Actions or other non-interactive setups. For those, Corey gives a shell form: claude plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills, then claude plugin install marketing-skills@marketingskills.

Add the marketplace, then pick the plugin in Codex

Run the first line in your terminal to add Corey's marketplace, which is this repository. Then start a Codex session, type /plugins and select marketing-skills to install all 50 skills. To get new releases later, run codex plugin marketplace upgrade.

codex plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills

02
```
/plugins
```

Open plugin page ↗

What's inside

Files included with this skill.

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Same repository

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When the user wants to plan, design, or implement an A/B test or experiment, or build a growth experimentation program. Also use when the user mentions "A/B test," "split test," "experiment," "test this change," "variant copy," "multivariate test," "hypothesis," "should I test this," "which version is better," "test two versions," "statistical significance," "how long should I run this test," "growth experiments," "experiment velocity," "experiment backlog," "ICE score," "experimentation program," or "experiment playbook." Use this whenever someone is comparing two approaches and wants to measure which performs better, or when they want to build a systematic experimentation practice. For tracking implementation, see analytics. For page-level conversion optimization, see cro.Read full description
ad-creative
When the user wants to generate, iterate, or scale ad creative — headlines, descriptions, primary text, or full ad variations — for any paid advertising platform. Also use when the user mentions 'ad copy variations,' 'ad creative,' 'generate headlines,' 'RSA headlines,' 'bulk ad copy,' 'ad iterations,' 'creative testing,' 'write me some ads,' 'Facebook ad copy,' 'Google ad headlines,' 'LinkedIn ad text,' 'static ads,' 'ad templates,' 'iMessage ad,' 'chat reveal ad,' 'ChatGPT ad,' 'Apple Notes ad,' 'AirDrop ad,' 'creative strategy,' 'creative roadmap,' 'creative retro,' 'hook writing,' 'creative review page,' 'present ad creative for approval,' 'motion video ad,' 'faceless video ad,' 'UGC ad,' 'greenscreen ad,' 'TikTok/Reels ad format,' 'which ad format to make,' 'Meta ad format tier list,' or 'creative format taxonomy.' Use this whenever someone needs to produce ad copy at scale or iterate on existing ads. For campaign strategy and targeting, see ads. For landing page copy, see copywriting.Read full description
ads
When the user wants help with paid advertising campaigns on Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or other ad platforms. Also use when the user mentions 'PPC,' 'paid media,' 'ROAS,' 'CPA,' 'ad campaign,' 'retargeting,' 'audience targeting,' 'Google Ads,' 'Facebook ads,' 'LinkedIn ads,' 'ad budget,' 'cost per click,' 'ad spend,' 'should I run ads,' 'ABM,' 'account-based marketing,' 'B2B ads,' 'lead quality,' 'negative keywords,' 'Performance Max,' 'thought leader ads,' or 'when should I kill an ad.' Use this for campaign strategy, audience targeting, bidding, and optimization. For bulk ad creative generation and iteration, see ad-creative. For landing page optimization, see cro.Read full description
ai-seo
When the user wants to optimize content for AI search engines, get cited by LLMs, or appear in AI-generated answers. Also use when the user mentions 'AI SEO,' 'AEO,' 'GEO,' 'LLMO,' 'answer engine optimization,' 'generative engine optimization,' 'LLM optimization,' 'AI Overviews,' 'optimize for ChatGPT,' 'optimize for Perplexity,' 'AI citations,' 'AI visibility,' 'zero-click search,' 'how do I show up in AI answers,' 'LLM mentions,' 'optimize for Claude/Gemini,' 'llms.txt,' 'llms-full.txt,' 'OKF,' 'Open Knowledge Format,' 'knowledge bundle,' 'agent-readable site,' 'agent readiness,' 'is my site agent-ready,' 'WebMCP,' 'do listicles still work for AI,' 'ChatGPT stopped citing comparison pages,' or 'AI citation format shift.' Use this whenever someone wants their content to be cited or surfaced by AI assistants and AI search engines. For traditional technical and on-page SEO audits, see seo-audit. For structured data implementation, see schema.Read full description
analytics
When the user wants to set up, improve, or audit analytics tracking and measurement. Also use when the user mentions "set up tracking," "GA4," "Google Analytics," "conversion tracking," "event tracking," "UTM parameters," "tag manager," "GTM," "analytics implementation," "tracking plan," "how do I measure this," "track conversions," "Mixpanel," "Segment," "are my events firing," or "analytics isn't working." Use this whenever someone asks how to know if something is working or wants to measure marketing results. For choosing attribution models, comparing multi-touch/MMM/incrementality, or reconciling conflicting numbers across tools, see attribution. For A/B test measurement, see ab-testing.Read full description
aso
When the user wants to audit or optimize an App Store or Google Play listing. Also use when the user mentions 'ASO audit,' 'app store optimization,' 'optimize my app listing,' 'improve app visibility,' 'app store ranking,' 'audit my listing,' 'why aren't people downloading my app,' 'improve my app conversion,' 'keyword optimization for app,' or 'compare my app to competitors.' Use when the user shares an App Store or Google Play URL and wants to improve it.Read full description

Competitor & Alternative Pages

Initial Assessment

Core Principles

1. Honesty Builds Trust

2. Depth Over Surface

3. Help Them Decide

4. Modular Content Architecture

Page Formats

Format 1: [Competitor] Alternative (Singular)

Format 2: [Competitor] Alternatives (Plural)

Format 3: You vs [Competitor]

Format 4: [Competitor A] vs [Competitor B]

Essential Sections

TL;DR Summary

Paragraph Comparisons

Feature Comparison

Pricing Comparison

Who It's For

Migration Section

Content Architecture

Centralized Competitor Data

Research Process

Deep Competitor Research

Ongoing Updates

SEO Considerations

Keyword Targeting

Internal Linking

Schema Markup

Output Format

Competitor Data File

Page Content

Page Set Plan

Task-Specific Questions

Related Skills

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MCP keyword matches