competitor-analysis
eronred/aso-skills
Analyze competitors' App Store strategy, identify keyword gaps, and find positioning opportunities.
What is competitor-analysis?
Competitor Analysis helps you understand how rival apps are positioned, what keywords they rank for, and where you have advantages or gaps. Use it when you need to benchmark your app against competitors, find untapped keyword opportunities, or understand their creative and monetization strategies.
- Compare metadata (titles, subtitles, descriptions) across your app and 3-5 competitors
- Identify keyword gaps: keywords competitors rank for that you don't, and vice versa
- Analyze creative strategy including screenshots, app preview videos, and icon design
- Review ratings, user feedback, and top complaints vs. praise across competitors
- Track growth signals like chart position, estimated downloads, update frequency, and in-app events
- Compare monetization models including pricing, subscriptions, free trials, and IAP strategies
How to install competitor-analysis
npx skills add https://github.com/eronred/aso-skills --skill competitor-analysis- Your app's App ID
- Competitor app IDs (or willingness to identify them via category charts and keyword overlap)
- Target country for analysis (defaults to US)
How to use competitor-analysis
- 1.Check for app-marketing-context.md to identify known competitors
- 2.Provide your App ID and 3-5 competitor App IDs (or describe your category)
- 3.Specify your target country and what you want to learn: keyword gaps, creative strategy, positioning, or all
- 4.Review the competitive position map and metadata comparison table
- 5.Prioritize the top opportunities and threats identified in the analysis
- 6.Use keyword-research skill for deeper dives into specific gaps, or metadata-optimization to implement findings
Use cases
- Find high-volume keywords your competitors rank for but you don't yet target
- Discover what features users praise in competitor apps to identify feature gaps in yours
- Benchmark your app's visibility and ratings against 2-3 direct competitors and 1-2 aspirational apps
- Analyze competitor creative (screenshots, videos, icons) to improve your own visual strategy
- Identify underserved market segments or countries where competitors are weak
- App Store Optimization (ASO) specialists
- Mobile app product managers
- App marketing managers
- Indie developers competing in crowded categories
- Growth teams evaluating competitive positioning
competitor-analysis FAQ
Recommend 3-5 competitors: 2 direct competitors at your level, 1-2 aspirational apps (larger/more successful), and optionally 1 emerging competitor. This balances depth with actionable insights.
The skill helps identify them through category charts, keyword overlap, Apple's 'You Might Also Like' section, and by asking what users would use if your app didn't exist.
Yes. It identifies keywords only competitors rank for (you don't), keywords you rank for but they don't, and keywords where you're outranked. For deeper keyword research, see the keyword-research skill.
Competitor Analysis benchmarks you against rivals and identifies gaps. Metadata-optimization focuses on implementing those insights into your own app listing.
It covers Apple Search Ads presence and estimated download/revenue signals. For detailed competitive paid acquisition strategy, see the ua-campaign skill.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from eronred/aso-skills.
name: competitor-analysis description: When the user wants to analyze competitors' App Store strategy, find keyword gaps, or understand competitive positioning. Also use when the user mentions "competitor analysis", "competitive research", "keyword gap", "what are my competitors doing", or "compare my app to". For keyword-specific research, see keyword-research. For metadata writing, see metadata-optimization. metadata: version: 1.0.0
Competitor Analysis
You are an expert in competitive intelligence for mobile apps. Your goal is to perform a thorough analysis of the user's competitors and identify actionable opportunities to outperform them.
Initial Assessment
- Check for
app-marketing-context.md— read it for known competitors - Ask for the user's App ID
- Ask for competitor App IDs (or help identify competitors)
- Ask for target country (default: US)
- Ask what they want to learn: keyword gaps, creative strategy, positioning, or all
Competitor Identification
If the user doesn't know their competitors, find them through:
- Category chart — Top apps in the same category
- Keyword overlap — Apps ranking for the same keywords
- Similar apps — Apple's "You Might Also Like" section
- User perception — Ask "What would your users use if your app didn't exist?"
Recommend analyzing 3-5 competitors: 2 direct competitors, 1-2 aspirational (larger), 1 emerging.
Analysis Framework
1. Metadata Comparison
| Element | Your App | Competitor 1 | Competitor 2 | Competitor 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | ||||
| Subtitle | ||||
| Title keywords | ||||
| Char usage (title) | /30 | /30 | /30 | /30 |
| Char usage (subtitle) | /30 | /30 | /30 | /30 |
| Description hook |
Analyze:
- What keywords do competitors prioritize in their title?
- How do they balance brand vs keywords?
- What positioning angle does each take?
- What's their description hook strategy?
2. Keyword Gap Analysis
Keywords only competitors rank for (you don't):
| Keyword | Volume | Difficulty | Comp 1 Rank | Comp 2 Rank | Your Rank | Priority |
|---|
Keywords you rank for but competitors don't:
These are your unique advantages — protect them.
Keywords where you're outranked:
| Keyword | Your Rank | Best Competitor Rank | Gap | Effort to Close |
|---|
3. Creative Strategy
Screenshots:
- How many do they use? (target: 10)
- What's their first screenshot? (hook)
- Do they use text overlays?
- What features do they highlight first?
- Design style: dark/light, device frames, lifestyle?
- Do they use portrait or landscape?
App Preview Video:
- Do they have one?
- What's the hook?
- How long is it?
Icon:
- Color scheme and style
- How does it stand out in search results?
4. Ratings & Reviews
| Metric | Your App | Comp 1 | Comp 2 | Comp 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | ||||
| Total reviews | ||||
| Recent trend | ||||
| Top complaint | ||||
| Top praise | ||||
| Dev responds? |
Analyze:
- What do users love about competitors? (feature opportunities)
- What do users hate? (your advantage if you solve it)
- How do competitors handle negative reviews?
5. Growth Signals
| Signal | Your App | Comp 1 | Comp 2 | Comp 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chart position | ||||
| Downloads/mo (est) | ||||
| Revenue/mo (est) | ||||
| Update frequency | ||||
| In-app events? | ||||
| Custom pages? | ||||
| Apple Search Ads? |
6. Monetization Comparison
| Aspect | Your App | Comp 1 | Comp 2 | Comp 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price model | ||||
| Subscription price | ||||
| Free trial length | ||||
| IAP count | ||||
| Paywall timing |
Output Format
Executive Summary
2-3 paragraphs summarizing the competitive landscape, your position, and the biggest opportunities.
Competitive Position Map
HIGH VISIBILITY
│
Comp 1 ● │ ● Comp 2
│
LOW ──────────────────┼────────────────── HIGH
RATINGS │ RATINGS
│
You ● │
│
LOW VISIBILITY
Top Opportunities
- Quick Win: [something you can do this week]
- Keyword Gap: [specific keywords to target]
- Creative Edge: [screenshot/video improvement]
- Feature Gap: [what users want that competitors don't offer]
- Market Gap: [underserved segment or country]
Threats to Monitor
- [competitor moves to watch]
- [market trends that could shift dynamics]
Related Skills
keyword-research— Deep dive into keyword gaps identifiedmetadata-optimization— Implement competitive insights into your metadatascreenshot-optimization— Redesign based on competitive creative analysisaso-audit— Audit your own listing with competitive contextua-campaign— Competitive paid acquisition strategy
Related skills
More from eronred/aso-skills and the wider catalog.

competitor-tracking
When the user wants to monitor competitor apps on an ongoing basis — tracking metadata changes, keyword shifts, screenshot updates, rating trends, or new features. Use when the user mentions "competitor monitoring", "track competitors", "competitor alert", "competitor changed their title", "watch a competitor app", "competitor weekly report", "competitive intelligence", or "what changed in competitor's listing". For a one-time deep competitive analysis, see competitor-analysis. For market-wide chart movements, see market-movers.

crash-analytics
When the user wants to monitor, triage, or reduce their app's crash rate — including setting up Crashlytics, prioritizing which crashes to fix first, interpreting crash data, and understanding how crashes affect App Store ranking. Use when the user mentions "crash", "crashlytics", "crash rate", "ANR", "app not responding", "crash-free sessions", "crash-free users", "symbolication", "stability", "firebase crashes", "app crashing", or "crash report". For overall analytics setup, see app-analytics.

creator-ugc-marketing
When the user wants to plan, brief, source, or measure organic creator / influencer / UGC marketing for their app — including TikTok creators, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, micro-influencers, paid creator briefs, UGC ad creative for Meta/TikTok, affiliate programs, and seeding strategy. Use when the user mentions "creators", "influencers", "TikTok marketing", "UGC", "user-generated content", "creator briefs", "creator outreach", "influencer marketing", "Reels", "Shorts", "creator gifting", "seeding", "affiliate", "Whop", "TikTok Spark Ads", "Instagram collab posts", or "I want my app to go viral on TikTok". For paid social ad campaigns (Meta/TikTok ad accounts), see ua-campaign. For PR / press, see press-and-pr. For viral in-app loops, see referral-program.

custom-product-pages
When the user wants to design, deploy, or measure Apple Custom Product Pages (CPP) — the alternate App Store product pages with different screenshots, preview videos, and promo text shown to users coming from specific URLs (typically ad campaigns or social posts). Use when the user mentions "Custom Product Page", "CPP", "alternate product page", "App Store URL variant", "ASA CPP", "campaign-specific landing page", "product page per audience", "App Store Connect CPP", "ppoUrl", "?cpp=" parameter, or "show different screenshots to different ad audiences". For App Store A/B tests on the default page, see ab-test-store-listing. For paid ad campaigns that route to CPPs, see apple-search-ads or ua-campaign.

in-app-events
When the user wants to create, plan, or optimize App Store In-App Events — the event cards that appear on the Today tab, search results, and your product page. Use when the user mentions "in-app event", "App Store event", "event card", "Today tab", "live event", "challenge", "game event", "seasonal event card", or wants visibility beyond organic search. For general ASO, see aso-audit. For seasonal keyword strategy, see seasonal-aso.

keyword-research
Discover and prioritize high-value App Store keywords to drive downloads.