If two or three other firms consistently appear above you in local search results, they are getting the enquiries that would otherwise be yours. An SEO competitor comparison is the structured way to work out why, and what to do about it. This article sets out a method a business in Bicester or Banbury can follow, the tools that help, the mistakes to avoid, and how B Bizzi does it for clients.
Step 1: Identify your real search competitors
Your search competitors are not always your business competitors. They are whoever ranks for the terms you want. Search your priority terms — “kitchen fitter Bicester”, “accountant Banbury” — from a browser set to your target location, and note the businesses that appear in the map pack and the top organic results. Some may be directories or national sites; include them, because they are taking clicks. Aim for a shortlist of three to five genuine rivals plus any directories that dominate.
Step 2: Compare the fundamentals
For each competitor and for yourself, record:
- Indexed pages — roughly how large is the site? A site with a page for each service and each town usually out-ranks a five-page brochure.
- Page titles — do they include the service and the place? Are they unique?
- Content depth — do their service pages answer real questions, or are they thin?
- Local pages — do they have dedicated pages for Bicester, Banbury and nearby areas?
- Google Business Profile — is it complete, correctly categorised, with recent reviews and photos?
- Reviews — how many, what average rating, how recent, and do they respond?
- Page speed — test their key pages in PageSpeed Insights; Core Web Vitals are a ranking factor.
- Structured data — use a testing tool to see if they use LocalBusiness, Service or FAQ schema.
- Content freshness — when did they last publish? A steady stream suggests active investment.
Step 3: Compare visibility and keywords
Using a tool such as Ahrefs, Semrush or our own SEO Toolz platform, look at:
- How many keywords each competitor ranks for in the top ten
- Which valuable terms they rank for that you do not — these are your content gaps
- Which terms you rank for on page two, where a competitor is on page one — these are your quick wins
- Their estimated organic traffic trend over the last year — rising, flat or falling
- Which specific pages bring them the most organic traffic, and what those pages do well
Step 4: Compare authority
Check the number and quality of other websites linking to each competitor. For local businesses this is often local news, suppliers, trade bodies, sponsorship pages, chambers of commerce and community sites. You are looking for realistic link opportunities you have missed, not a race to the highest number. Ten relevant local links usually beat a hundred low-quality ones.
Step 5: Turn the comparison into a plan
A good competitor comparison ends with a short, prioritised list:
- Content to create or improve, based on the gaps
- Local pages to add
- Technical fixes where competitors are faster or better structured
- Google Business Profile improvements and a review-gathering routine
- A handful of realistic link targets
- One or two competitor pages to study and beat with something more useful
Pitfalls to avoid
- Copying instead of beating. Matching a competitor’s page is not enough; yours needs to be clearly more useful to rank above it.
- Chasing vanity keywords. A high-volume national term you will never rank for is a distraction from the local terms you can win.
- Ignoring the map pack. For many local searches the three map results get most of the clicks, and that is won largely through the Business Profile and reviews, not the website alone.
- One-off analysis. Competitors move; a comparison is a snapshot and needs refreshing.
- Comparing the wrong businesses. Benchmark against who ranks, not who you think of as your rival.
How often to do it
A full comparison once or twice a year is enough for most Oxfordshire small businesses, with lighter rank-tracking checks monthly so you notice movement between reviews. If a competitor makes a sudden jump, that is the trigger for an ad-hoc look at what changed.
How B Bizzi does it
Competitor comparison is a standard part of our SEO audits. Our SEO Toolz platform tracks named local competitors continuously — shared keywords, gaps, and who is winning the positions you want — and we build the findings into your content and technical plan. Because we also build and manage sites, the resulting changes actually get made and then measured.
Local to Oxfordshire
B Bizzi is based in Witney and works with businesses in Bicester, Banbury, Oxford, Woodstock, Burford, Kidlington, Abingdon and Didcot.
Talk to B Bizzi
For an SEO competitor comparison that tells you exactly where you stand in your local market, call B Bizzi on +44 7973 693972, email hello@bbizzi.co.uk, or use the contact form at https://beebizzi.co.uk. We are based in Witney, Oxfordshire.