How to Find Out What Your Competitors Are Doing Online (And Beat Them)

They're Not Better Than You — They're Just More Visible

You've seen it. That one competitor in your town who always shows up first on Google. The one who seems to get all the calls. Maybe their trucks are everywhere. Their reviews keep climbing. They're booked out three weeks.

And you know — you know — you do better work.

It's frustrating. But here's the thing: they're not necessarily better at plumbing, roofing, or electrical work than you are. They're better at being found. That's a completely different skill — and it's one you can learn. Or better yet, one you can have handled for you.

Right now, someone in your service area is searching "roofer near me" or "plumber [your city]." They're going to call the first business they find that looks legitimate and has good reviews. If that's your competitor and not you, it has nothing to do with your craftsmanship. It has everything to do with who shows up first.

The good news? What your competitors are doing online isn't a secret. It's all public. Their website, their reviews, their Google rankings, their ad strategy — all of it is visible if you know where to look.

And once you see exactly what they're doing, you can do it better.

This isn't about copying them. It's about understanding the playbook they're using and then building a better version of it for your business. Think of it like walking through a competitor's finished job and noting what you'd do differently. Same concept, different medium.

Let's go through the exact steps to figure out what your competitors are doing online and how to beat them at it.

Step 1: Google Yourself and Take Notes

Before you analyze anyone else, start by seeing what your customers see.

Open your phone's browser (use an incognito/private window so your search history doesn't influence results). Search for your main service + your city. Start with the obvious ones:

• "plumber [your city]"
• "roofer near me"
• "HVAC repair [your city]"
• "[your service] [your city]"

Now look at what shows up. Don't just glance — actually take notes on your phone or grab a piece of paper.

The Google Maps pack (top 3 with the map): Who's there? What are their review counts and ratings? What photos do they show? Is your business listed? If not, that's a massive problem we'll address.

The organic results (below the map): Which websites rank on page one? Click on each one. Note what their sites look like. How fast do they load? What do they say on their homepage? Do they have pages for specific services?

The ads (very top, marked "Sponsored"): Who's running ads? What do their ads say? Click on one and see where it takes you. What does their landing page look like?

Now do the same search for 3-4 other services you offer. "Drain cleaning [city]." "Water heater replacement [city]." "AC installation [city]." The results might be different — different competitors might dominate different service categories.

Write down the top 3-5 competitors who keep showing up. These are the businesses you need to study and eventually outrank.

This exercise takes about 20 minutes. It's the most important 20 minutes you'll spend on your marketing this month. Because right now, you're seeing exactly what your potential customers see when they search for a contractor in your area. If you don't like what you see, at least now you know.

Step 2: Tear Apart Their Websites

Now you know who your top competitors are. Time to study their websites like you're doing a job estimate on their work.

Pull up each competitor's website and evaluate it on these specific things:

Homepage messaging. What do they say above the fold (before you scroll)? Is there a clear headline? A phone number? A "Get a Quote" button? How does it compare to your site? If their homepage immediately communicates what they do, where they serve, and how to contact them — and yours doesn't — that's why they're winning.

Service pages. Do they have individual pages for each service? A page just for "drain cleaning," another for "water heater repair," another for "sewer line replacement"? Each of those pages is a separate opportunity to rank on Google. If your competitor has 15 service pages and you have one generic "Services" page, Google sees them as 15x more relevant.

Service area pages. Same concept, different angle. If they have pages for each city or neighborhood they serve — "Plumber in Scottsdale," "Plumber in Mesa," "Plumber in Tempe" — they're telling Google they serve those areas specifically. That's how they rank in multiple cities while you only rank (maybe) in one.

Reviews and testimonials. Do they display Google reviews on their website? Do they have a dedicated testimonials page? Reviews on your website serve as trust signals that help convert visitors into callers — even if people already saw the reviews on Google.

Speed and mobile experience. Run their site through Google PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev). Note their mobile score. Now run your own site. If they're scoring 60 and you're at 25, Google is actively favoring their site in search rankings.

Content and blog. Do they have a blog? How often do they post? What topics do they cover? Blog content is a huge driver of organic traffic. A competitor posting monthly articles about common plumbing problems, seasonal HVAC tips, or roofing maintenance is building authority with Google every month. If you have no blog, you're falling further behind with every post they publish.

Write all of this down. You're building a competitive comparison that shows you exactly where you're falling short and — just as importantly — where they have weaknesses you can exploit.

Step 3: Study Their Reviews Like a Detective

Reviews are a goldmine of competitive intelligence. Not just the star rating — the actual content of the reviews.

Go to each competitor's Google Business Profile (just Google their business name). Read their last 20-30 reviews carefully. You're looking for patterns:

What do their happy customers praise? Fast response time? Polite technicians? Fair pricing? Clear communication? These are the things your market values most. Make sure you're delivering on those same things and — more importantly — make sure your own reviews mention them.

What do their negative reviews complain about? Showed up late? Surprise charges? Poor communication? Messy cleanup? Left damage? Every negative review your competitor receives is an opportunity for you. If their customers complain about being surprised by the final bill, make transparent pricing a cornerstone of your marketing. If they complain about slow response times, promote your same-day service.

How do they respond to reviews? Do they respond to every review — positive and negative? A business that responds professionally to negative reviews actually looks more trustworthy than one with all 5-stars. If your competitor ignores negative reviews or responds defensively, that's a weakness you can exploit by being responsive and professional.

What's their review velocity? Are they getting 5-10 new reviews per month, or did their reviews dry up six months ago? Consistent new reviews are a Google ranking factor. If they've stopped getting reviews, there's an opening for you to pass them.

Now count and compare. How many Google reviews do they have versus you? If the gap is massive — say they have 180 and you have 25 — closing that gap becomes priority one. But don't get discouraged by the numbers. What matters more is the trend. If you start getting 8-10 reviews per month consistently, you'll catch up faster than you think.

One practical tip: look at how they're getting reviews. Some competitors use follow-up text message systems that automatically ask customers for a review after the job. Others have "Leave us a review" cards. Whatever system they're using, you can build something similar. It's not about reinventing the wheel.

Reviews are the closest thing to free advertising that exists. A 4.8-star rating with 150 reviews sells harder than any ad campaign.

Step 4: See If They're Running Ads (And What They Say)

You can see exactly what ads your competitors are running. For free. Google doesn't hide this.

Method 1: Google Ad Transparency Center. Go to adstransparency.google.com. Search for your competitor's business name. If they're running Google Ads, you'll see every ad they currently have live. You can see the ad copy, the headlines, and the descriptions they're using. This tells you what messaging they think works for your market.

Method 2: Just search for your services. Search "plumber [your city]" and look at the sponsored results at the top. Are your competitors there? What do their ads say? Note the specific language. Do they mention pricing? Emergency service? Free estimates? "Licensed and insured"? The words they use in ads are likely the words that generate the most clicks in your market.

Method 3: Check for Local Services Ads (LSAs). Local Services Ads are the ones that show up at the very top of the page with a green "Google Guaranteed" checkmark. If your competitors are running LSAs and you're not, they're getting premium placement. LSAs work differently from regular Google Ads — you pay per lead, not per click, and Google pre-screens your business. They tend to have a much higher conversion rate for contractors.

What to do with this information:

If competitors are running ads and you're not, they're getting all the paid traffic in your market. That's leads you're not even competing for.

If competitors are running ads with specific messaging — like "Same Day Service" or "$50 Off Your First Call" — that tells you what resonates with customers in your area. You don't copy their ads verbatim, but you can use similar angles and do them better.

If competitors are NOT running ads, that's actually a huge opportunity. The cost per click is lower when there's less competition. You could start running ads and grab a bunch of leads that nobody else is bidding on.

Also check if competitors are advertising on Facebook. Go to their Facebook page, click "Ad Library" (or go to facebook.com/ads/library), and you can see every ad they're currently running on Facebook and Instagram. Some contractors are killing it with before/after photos and video ads on social. If your competitors aren't doing this, the field is wide open.

Step 5: Build Your 90-Day Takeover Plan

Now you have the intel. Time to turn it into action. Here's a prioritized 90-day plan based on what we see working for contractors who go from invisible to dominant:

Days 1-14: Fix the Foundation

Close the biggest gaps first. If your competitor has 150 Google reviews and you have 12, review generation is job one. Set up an automated text message or email that goes out after every job asking for a Google review. Make it dead simple — one link, one tap.

If their website is significantly better than yours — faster, cleaner, more professional — that's the next priority. At minimum, make sure your phone number is visible, your site loads under 3 seconds on mobile, and you have pages for each service you offer.

Claim and fully optimize your Google Business Profile if you haven't already. Every field filled out. Fresh photos uploaded weekly. Services listed. Hours accurate. This alone can move you into the Maps pack.

Days 15-45: Build What They Have (But Better)

If they have service-specific pages and you don't, create them. But make yours better — longer, more detailed, with real photos of your work instead of stock images. Include pricing ranges if you can. Answer common questions on each page.

If they have a blog, start posting. One article every two weeks minimum. Write about what your customers actually ask you. "How much does a water heater replacement cost?" "Signs you need a new roof." "How often should you service your AC?" Every article is another page Google can rank.

If they're running ads and you're not (and your website is ready), start a small test campaign. $500-$1,000/month targeting your top 2-3 services with highest job value.

Days 45-90: Overtake Them

By now, your review count should be climbing. Your website should be faster and more comprehensive. Your Google Business Profile should be active and optimized. You might have some organic traffic starting to build.

Double down on what's working. If your blog posts are getting traffic, write more. If your ads are generating leads, increase the budget. If reviews are flowing in, start highlighting them on your website and social media.

Track your rankings weekly. Search your main keywords and note your position. If you were on page 3 in month one and page 2 in month two, you're moving in the right direction. Stay consistent.

The biggest mistake people make with competitive strategy is doing it once and stopping. Your competitors aren't standing still. Make this review a monthly habit — 30 minutes checking their reviews, site changes, and rankings. Adapt and keep pushing.

Start With a Clear Picture of Where You Stand

Everything in this article depends on one thing: knowing your actual starting point.

You can study your competitors all day, but if you don't know exactly where your own website falls short, you're just guessing at what to fix first.

Our free website audit gives you a side-by-side look at your online presence. Speed scores, SEO health, mobile experience, conversion elements — all the things we talked about measuring your competitors on. Except now, it's your numbers.

Once you have your audit results, you can stack them against what you found researching your competitors. Where are you ahead? Where are you behind? What's the single biggest gap costing you the most leads?

That's your starting point. That's the first thing to fix.

The audit takes 30 seconds to submit. It's free. No credit card. No commitment. Just a clear, honest assessment of where you stand online.

Because here's the reality: your competitors aren't smarter than you. They're not more talented. They just figured out the online game a little earlier. The gap between you and them is smaller than you think — and it's 100% closeable.

But you can't close a gap you can't see. Get the audit. See the numbers. Then go to work.