SEO competitor analysis

Summary#

The Free SEO Competitor Analysis fetches two live homepages, scores each one on the same eight on-page and AI-search signals, and shows a row-by-row scorecard with a winner marked on each row. It runs at /free-tools/seo-competitor-analysis with no account.

Purpose#

Competitive SEO usually starts with an argument about who is doing better. This tool replaces the argument with eight measurements you can both read in the same minute. It deliberately compares only what can be measured by fetching a page, so every number on the scorecard is verifiable by viewing source.

Traffic, keywords and backlinks are not here, because none of them can be read from HTML. Those live in Domain Overview, Gap Finder and Backlink Profile.

Overview#

Both URLs are fetched in parallel. For each site the tool extracts the title, meta description, JSON-LD block count, H1 and H2 counts, visible word count, Open Graph presence and whether the final URL is HTTPS. It computes an internal 0-100 AI-readiness score for each, then compares the two site by site across eight rows.

Each row is marked you, them or a tie. The domain that wins more rows takes the overall result and its ring is labelled Winner; the other is labelled Readiness.

Benefits#

• Two inputs and one click. No crawl configuration, no account, no waiting.
• Every row is a signal you can act on directly, not a black-box index.
• Both scores are computed identically, so the comparison is fair even if the absolute numbers are coarse.
• Works on any two public sites, including two you do not own.

Use Cases#

• Pre-pitch research. An agency compares a prospect against their named rival and walks in with a scorecard.
• Settling a priority argument. The rows you lose are the specific gaps to close first.
• Checking a redesign. Compare the new homepage against the competitor you were trying to catch.
• Sanity-checking a claim. Someone says a rival "has better SEO". This shows which of the measurable parts they actually do better.

Requirements#

Two public URLs that return HTML. Private, loopback and internal hosts are refused, and pages behind a login cannot be read.

Permissions#

Anyone. No account, plan or role. A shared hourly fair-use limit applies per IP address across the free tools.

Cost#

Free. Zero credits.

Navigation Path#

metricvaultai.com → Free tools → SEO Competitor Analysis

The page is at /free-tools/seo-competitor-analysis.

Inputs#

Helper line: No signup · No credit card · Compares the live homepages side by side.

Both fields accept a path, so you can compare two specific pages rather than two homepages if you enter full URLs.

Step-by-Step Guide#

1. Open /free-tools/seo-competitor-analysis.
2. Enter your domain in the first field and the competitor in the second.
3. Select Compare. The button reads Comparing… and the result area shows Fetching both sites and comparing signals….
4. Read the two rings first for the headline, then the Head-to-head table row by row. Treat each row you lose as one specific, fixable gap.

Reading the Results#

The versus card. Two rings, one per domain, each showing its 0-100 AI-readiness score. The stronger side is tagged Winner and the other Readiness. If the row counts tie, neither is marked.

How to read. A note repeats the method:

Head-to-head (N – M). The heading carries your win count and theirs. The table has three columns, the signal and one per domain, and highlights the winning cell.

The H1 headings row is informational. It shows both counts but never awards the point to either side, so a difference there does not change the score line. Read the numbers rather than the highlight: exactly one H1 is the healthy value.

How the readiness score is built. The internal 0-100 for each domain is a fixed weighted sum:

Examples#

Screenshots#

![screenshot](placeholder: The "Head-to-head (N – M)" table with the eight signal rows and the winning cells highlighted.)

Tips#

• Hover the i marker beside a row label for a sentence on what the signal is, why it matters and what a good value looks like.
• Compare like with like. Two homepages is the default; if you compare a homepage with a long article, word count and headings will mislead you.
• Run the comparison again after each fix. Nothing is cached, so the scorecard reflects what is live now.
• If a row is close, treat it as parity and spend the effort on a row you lose outright.

Best Practices#

• Start with structured data. It is the single heaviest component of the readiness score at 26 points and is usually the fastest to add.
• Fix template-level rows once. Meta description, Open Graph and HTTPS are normally site-wide settings, so one change moves every page.
• Use this to choose where to look, then go deeper in the app. The rows tell you which on-page gaps exist; they cannot tell you which keywords the competitor ranks for.
• Compare against two or three rivals rather than one, so a single unusual site does not set your agenda.

Common Mistakes#

• Reading this as a full SEO comparison. It measures eight on-page signals on one page each. It says nothing about traffic, rankings, backlinks or revenue.
• Assuming more words is better. The row rewards the higher count, but a longer homepage is not automatically a stronger one. Read it as depth, not quality.
• Expecting the H1 row to pick a winner. It never does.
• Comparing a JavaScript-rendered site with a server-rendered one. The fetch reads raw HTML, so a client-rendered site can look far thinner than it is.

Limitations#

• One page per side per run, normally the homepage.
• On-page signals only. No traffic, keyword, ranking or backlink data.
• Server-rendered HTML only.
• The H1 headings row is never awarded to either side.
• Word count includes visible text extracted from HTML after scripts and styles are stripped, which is an approximation rather than an editorial word count.
• If either fetch fails, no comparison is produced at all.
• No export, history, scheduling or recommendations panel. See Free tools, no account needed.

Troubleshooting#

FAQs#

Why is there no traffic or keyword data? Because neither can be read from a page. Everything on this scorecard is measured from the HTML both sites actually served. Estimated traffic, ranked keywords and backlink profiles come from a paid data provider and live in Domain Overview, Organic Research and Backlink Profile.

Can I compare more than two sites? Not here. Competitor Battle in the app compares domains with the full data set behind them.

Does the winner mean their SEO is better? It means they win more of these eight measurable on-page rows. That is a real signal and a narrow one. Treat it as a starting point.

Why does the H1 row never pick a winner? The comparison reports both counts without awarding the row. Judge it yourself: exactly one H1 is correct, and both zero and several are problems.

Is it really free? Yes. No account, no card, no credits.

What does the paid product add? Estimated traffic, the keywords each domain ranks for, your keyword gaps against them, backlink profiles, and AI-visibility tracking across the answer engines. See What you get on Free.