Most small business owners know who their competitors are. What they do not know is what those competitors are actually doing — their pricing, their online presence, their strengths, the gaps they are leaving in the market. This guide walks you through the free tools and methods you can use to find out, without paying for a single subscription.

Why competitor analysis matters more than most owners think

There is a common belief among small business owners that watching competitors is something big companies do with expensive consultants. The reality is the opposite. Large businesses have entire teams doing this work constantly precisely because it works. Knowing what your competitors charge, where they are visible, and what customers say about them is some of the most valuable intelligence you can have.

Without it, you are pricing your products or services in isolation. You are making decisions about where to advertise without knowing where your competitors already are. You are potentially ignoring gaps in the market that you are perfectly positioned to fill.

Step one: build your competitor list

Before you can analyse competitors, you need to know who they are. Start with the obvious ones you already know. Then expand using these free methods:

• Google Maps search: Search your product or service category plus your town or city. The businesses that appear in the top results, both in the map pack and the organic results below it, are your real competitors — they are capturing the customers searching for what you offer.
• Google Search: Search the terms your ideal customer would use. Who appears on page one? These are your most dangerous competitors because they have the visibility you want.
• Yell.com and local directories: Search your category on Yell, Checkatrade, or whichever directory is most relevant to your industry. This often surfaces competitors who do not appear in Google at all.
• Ask your customers: Where did they look before finding you? Who else did they consider? This is the most direct intelligence you can gather and it costs nothing but a conversation.

Step two: analyse their online presence for free

Once you have your list of five to eight competitors, you want to understand how visible they are online and what impression they make. Here is what to look at and where to look:

Google Business Profile

Search each competitor on Google and look at their business listing. Note their star rating and the number of reviews. A business with 4.8 stars from 200 reviews has built significant social proof. A business with 3.6 stars from 12 reviews has a credibility problem — and if you can get 30 positive reviews, you will immediately look more trustworthy than them in search results.

Their website

Visit each competitor's website and ask: does this look professional? Is it easy to find their prices? Is there a clear way to contact them or book? Is it mobile-friendly? A slow, confusing, or outdated website is a weakness you can exploit simply by having a clean, fast, easy-to-use one.

Social media

Search each competitor on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Look at when they last posted. An account that has not posted in six months represents a social media gap in your market — customers searching that platform will not find them, but they will find you if you are active.

Step three: find their pricing

Pricing is often the hardest thing to research but it is the most valuable. Most businesses publish at least some pricing information publicly. Here is how to find what is not immediately visible:

• Check their website thoroughly — prices are sometimes buried on individual service pages or in FAQ sections
• Look at their Google and Trustpilot reviews — customers frequently mention prices they paid in reviews
• Check comparison sites relevant to your industry — many sectors have price aggregators
• Ring them up — for service businesses, calling for a quote is entirely normal and gives you exact pricing

Step four: read what their customers say

Your competitors' reviews are a goldmine. Not just for understanding their reputation — for understanding what customers actually value and complain about in your market. Read through the one-star reviews for every competitor. The complaints customers leave are a direct brief for what to do better. Then read the five-star reviews: what are customers raving about? If every five-star review for a competitor mentions "so quick to respond", speed of response is clearly important to your market.

Doing this properly takes time. That is where we come in.

The process above, done well, takes five to eight hours. That is five to eight hours not spent running your business. A Pocket Analysis report does all of this in a structured, 12-page format delivered to your inbox within 24 hours — for less than the cost of an hour of a consultant's time.

Every month, thousands of people in your area search Google for exactly what you offer. And every month, a significant portion of them find your competitors instead of you — not because your competitors are better, but because they appear higher in search results. This guide explains the five most common local SEO gaps that small businesses do not know exist, and what to do about them.

Why local SEO matters more in 2025 than ever before

Google has shifted dramatically toward showing local results for searches that imply local intent. When someone in Leicester searches "best plumber near me" or "coffee shop open now", Google does not show national results — it shows local businesses. The businesses that appear at the top of those results get the overwhelming majority of clicks. Studies consistently show that the first three organic results capture roughly 75% of all clicks on a given search.

If you are not appearing in those top three results for the most relevant searches in your area, you are essentially invisible to a large proportion of your potential customers — even if you have been trading for years and have excellent reviews.

The 5 keyword gaps most businesses miss

1. "Near me" searches

Searches combining a service or product with "near me" have grown by over 200% in the past five years. Your Google Business Profile is the primary tool for appearing in these searches. If your profile is incomplete, has no photos, or has not been updated recently, Google will rank it lower than a competitor's complete, active profile — even if your actual business is better.

The fix is simple and free: complete every section of your Google Business Profile, add at least 10 photos, post an update once a week, and ask satisfied customers to leave reviews.

2. Seasonal and gift searches

Most businesses optimise their website and profiles for their core service — but completely ignore the seasonal variations of that search. A florist might rank for "florists Leicester" but be entirely absent from "Valentine's flowers Leicester" or "Mother's Day bouquet delivery LE1". These seasonal searches often have very low competition because most local businesses have not thought to target them, yet they carry buyers with high purchase intent.

3. Problem-first searches

People do not always search for the solution. Often they search for the problem. A plumber might rank for "plumber Leicester" but have no presence for "boiler making noise Leicester" or "radiator not heating up LE3". These problem-first searches are searched by people in immediate need — they are your highest-converting visitors. And because most businesses do not write content targeting these terms, the competition for them is remarkably low.

4. Competitor brand name searches

When someone searches for your competitor by name, they are in the market for exactly what that competitor offers. If your business appears alongside your competitor in those results — through a well-structured Google Business Profile, active review responses, or a blog post comparing options in your market — you have an opportunity to capture a customer who was going to a competitor. This is entirely legitimate and widely practiced by larger businesses.

5. "Best" and "top" searches in your category

"Best accountant in Leicester", "top rated hair salon LE1", "most recommended electrician Leicester" — these searches indicate buyers who have not yet decided where to go and are actively researching. They want to see options and comparisons. The businesses that appear for these searches tend to have strong Google Business Profiles with large numbers of recent reviews. Ranking here is a function of review volume and recency more than anything else.

How to find the gaps specific to your business

The five categories above are common to almost every local business. But the specific keywords within those categories — the exact searches happening in your area, in your industry, for your type of customer — are different for every business. Finding them requires keyword research tools, competitor analysis, and local search data.

Our SEO keyword gap analysis section identifies the ten specific search terms your competitors currently rank for that you do not — including estimated monthly search volumes and difficulty scores so you can prioritise the easiest wins first.

Of all the mistakes small business owners make, pricing in isolation from the market is one of the most expensive. It is not that owners do not think about pricing — it is that they think about it in the wrong way, using the wrong reference points. This guide explains the most common pricing errors we see in our market analysis work, and how to establish what your market is actually willing to pay.

The problem with pricing based on your costs

The most common approach to pricing among small businesses is cost-plus: work out what it costs you to deliver the product or service, add a margin, and that becomes your price. This approach feels logical but has a fundamental flaw — it tells you what you need to charge, not what the market will bear.

If your cost-plus price is lower than what the market is charging, you are leaving profit on the table. Every customer who would happily have paid £85 for your service and paid £60 because that is what you charged represents £25 in unrealised revenue. Over a year, across hundreds of customers, this adds up to a significant sum.

If your cost-plus price is higher than the market, you will struggle to win customers regardless of the quality of your work.

The four pricing reference points you should know

When we compile the pricing landscape section of a Pocket Analysis report, we look at four key reference points for every market:

1. The market floor

The lowest price being charged by a credible, established competitor in your area. This is the minimum you need to know about — not because you should match it, but because pricing below it sends a signal of low quality that can actually reduce conversions. Customers who see a price significantly below market average often wonder why.

2. The market average

The midpoint price across your direct competitors. This is your most important reference point. Pricing within 10% above or below this figure means you are competing on factors other than price — service quality, speed, reputation, specialisation. Pricing more than 20% above it requires a clear and visible reason why you are worth the premium.

3. The premium tier

What the highest-charging established competitor charges, and what justifies that premium in the eyes of their customers. Understanding the premium tier tells you how much headroom exists in your market and what positioning you would need to occupy that space.

4. The value gap

The difference between what the cheapest and most expensive credible competitors charge. A wide value gap — say, the cheapest charges £30 and the most expensive charges £120 — suggests a market with diverse customer segments. A narrow gap suggests a commoditised market where price is a primary decision factor.

Why owners systematically underestimate what the market charges

There are three reasons most business owners have an inaccurate picture of market pricing. The first is that they know what they charge and assume their competitors are similar without actually checking. The second is that they see competitor prices quoted in online directories or on websites and assume those are the real prices — but many businesses list entry-level prices and charge more in practice. The third is that they base their understanding on the competitors they know about, which are often not the most relevant ones.

How to research pricing properly

Thorough pricing research involves visiting competitor websites, reading customer reviews (which often include price mentions), requesting quotes as a prospective customer, and cross-referencing with price comparison directories relevant to your sector. It is time-consuming to do properly — but the financial impact of having accurate pricing data is significant enough to make it worthwhile.

The pricing landscape section of our reports presents the market's price distribution across all direct competitors, identifies where your business sits within it, and highlights the tier with the highest transaction volume — which is usually the most commercially attractive place to be positioned.