Competitor Content Intelligence

Competitor Content Intelligence

Compare public content evidence to identify differentiated editorial and landing-page opportunities. This Skill calls the named search, extraction, and analysis capabilities in the SandBase API map through the SandBase MCP gateway. Use an authorized SandBase MCP connection and the discover → inspect → run workflow below; never request, print, or store an API key in the research output.

Read example workflows when the user needs a starting prompt or wants to understand the output.

Operating principles

• Focus on content strategy differentiation, not content copying. The goal is to find what's missing, underserved, or poorly served.
• Treat web data and content analysis as evidence; treat gap identification, angle suggestions, and content briefs as judgment clearly separated from observations.
• Respect intellectual property: do not reproduce competitor text beyond short necessary excerpts for analysis.
• Select geography, language, and audience deliberately. A gap in one market may be saturated in another.
• Optimize for content that serves the target's audience and conversion goals, not content volume alone.
• Keep user strategy, positioning, and competitor lists confidential unless sharing is explicitly requested.

Workflow

1. Frame the analysis

Collect or infer: the target audience and their problems, the topic or category, 2–5 competitor domains or brands, the target's positioning and differentiation, content types in scope (blog, landing page, documentation, comparison, tool), and the intended use of findings (content calendar, brief backlog, editorial strategy).

Classify the request as one or more of:

• Coverage mapping: what topics do competitors cover vs. not?
• Depth analysis: where is competitor content superficial or outdated?
• Angle discovery: what perspectives, formats, or audiences are underserved?
• Question gap: what buyer questions remain unanswered across competitors?
• Format opportunity: what content types are missing (interactive, data, video, tool)?

2. Select and call SandBase capabilities

Read the SandBase API map before selecting tools. Treat each listed tool_name as a capability identifier to resolve through the SandBase gateway:

1. Use sandbase_discover with the provider and capability to find the current endpoint name.
2. Pass the returned name to sandbase_inspect; read inputSchema, pricing, and execute_as.
3. Follow execute_as to call sandbase_run using execute_as.arguments.name and schema-defined arguments. If it returns a run_id, poll sandbase_run_get within the task budget until completed or failed; report pending or failed runs without automatically resubmitting them.
4. Keep the returned endpoint name, query parameters, and result metadata with the returned data.

3. Discover competitor content

Use exa_search and cloudsway_search to map the competitor content landscape:

Strategy	Approach
Topic coverage	Search for the category + each competitor's domain to find their published content
Question targeting	Search for buyer questions in the category and see which competitors answer them
Format variety	Search for comparisons, guides, tools, calculators, templates in the category
Freshness gaps	Search with date filters to find where competitor content is outdated

Tips:

• Use the domain restriction option from the inspected schema to search within a specific competitor’s site.
• Use semantic queries that describe the ideal content (Exa responds well to this).
• Search for the same topic across multiple competitors to build a coverage matrix.
• Search for "[category] + [buyer question]" to find question-gap opportunities.
• Use cloudsway_search for broader web coverage that may surface sources Exa doesn't index.

4. Extract and analyze selected pages

Use context_dev_scrape_markdown and dataforseo_v3_on_page_content_parsing_live for deeper analysis:

When to extract full pages:

• Competitor's top-ranking content for a target topic (to understand depth and angle)
• Pages that rank for queries you want to target (to understand what Google rewards)
• Content that gets high engagement or links (to understand format patterns)

What to analyze in extracted content:

Dimension	Questions to answer
Depth	How thorough is the coverage? What subtopics are included/excluded?
Freshness	When was it last updated? Are examples and data current?
Audience	Who is it written for? (beginner/advanced, role, industry)
Angle	What perspective or opinion does it take?
Format	How is information structured? (listicle, guide, comparison, tutorial)
Conversion	What CTA or next step does it offer?
Gaps	What questions does a reader still have after reading?

5. Validate topic patterns

Use dataforseo_v3_content_analysis_search_live to validate broader patterns:

• Confirm whether a content gap is real (no one covers it) vs. just missed by your competitor sample.
• Check content volume and freshness for a topic to assess saturation.
• Identify emerging subtopics with growing coverage.

6. Synthesize opportunities

For each identified opportunity, document:

• The gap: what's missing, superficial, or underserved
• The evidence: which competitors were checked, what they cover vs. don't
• The audience: who would benefit from this content
• The differentiation: why the target can serve this better than competitors
• The format: recommended content type and structure
• The priority: based on audience value, competitive vacuum, and feasibility

Output

Return a structured content intelligence brief:

Coverage matrix

Topic / Question	Competitor 1	Competitor 2	Competitor 3	Target	Gap type
...	✅ deep	⚠️ shallow	❌ absent	❌ absent	Full gap
...	✅ deep	✅ deep	✅ deep	⚠️ outdated	Freshness gap
...	❌ absent	❌ absent	❌ absent	❌ absent	Market gap

Priority opportunities

#	Opportunity	Gap type	Evidence	Audience value	Differentiation angle	Recommended format	Priority
1	...	...	...	...	...	...	...

Content brief backlog

For the top 3–5 opportunities, provide actionable briefs:

Brief: [Topic]

• Target query/question: ...
• Audience: ...
• Angle that differentiates from competitors: ...
• Key subtopics to cover: ...
• Format and structure: ...
• Evidence/data to include: ...
• Conversion path: ...
• Success metric: ...

Competitive patterns

Observations about competitor content strategy (publishing cadence, preferred formats, topic clusters, content quality trends).

Evidence gaps

What couldn't be verified, what additional research would help, and confidence levels.

Tips for better results

• Compare, don't copy: The goal is finding whitespace, not replicating what works for competitors.
• Think in questions: Frame gaps as buyer questions that lack good answers.
• Check the SERP, not just competitor sites: Sometimes the gap exists because no one ranks well for a query (use with SEO Keyword Insights skill).
• Look for format gaps: Sometimes the information exists but the format is wrong (text wall when a comparison table would serve better).
• Consider the full journey: Map content to funnel stages; gaps at one stage may be more valuable than gaps at another.
• Freshness is a strategy: Outdated competitor content is an opportunity even if the topic is "covered".
• Non-obvious competitors: Include content publishers (blogs, media sites) not just product competitors.

Failure handling

• If SandBase is unavailable or unauthorized, report the failed capability and ask the user to connect or authorize SandBase; do not silently substitute a direct provider API.
• If scraping is blocked (authentication, paywall, JavaScript-heavy), note the gap and work with available metadata and search results.
• If competitors have minimal public content, note the early-market signal and suggest alternative research approaches (Reddit, community forums, sales conversations).
• If the topic is highly saturated, shift focus from "topic gaps" to "angle gaps", "depth gaps", or "format gaps".

Quality gate

Before delivering, verify that:

• The coverage matrix is based on actual page analysis, not assumptions about competitor content.
• Each opportunity has specific evidence of the gap (not just "they don't cover X").
• Differentiation angles are tied to the target's actual capabilities or positioning.
• Content briefs are specific enough for a writer to execute without additional research.
• The priority considers audience value and business impact, not just ease of creation.
• Competitive analysis is fair — acknowledge where competitors do well, not just where they're weak.