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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
Prerequisites
  • 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)
Claude Code
Cursor
Windsurf
Cline

How to use competitor-analysis

  1. 1.Check for app-marketing-context.md to identify known competitors
  2. 2.Provide your App ID and 3-5 competitor App IDs (or describe your category)
  3. 3.Specify your target country and what you want to learn: keyword gaps, creative strategy, positioning, or all
  4. 4.Review the competitive position map and metadata comparison table
  5. 5.Prioritize the top opportunities and threats identified in the analysis
  6. 6.Use keyword-research skill for deeper dives into specific gaps, or metadata-optimization to implement findings

Use cases

Good for
  • 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
Who it's for
  • 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

How many competitors should I analyze?

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.

What if I don't know who my competitors are?

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.

Can this skill help me find keyword gaps?

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.

What's the difference between this and metadata-optimization?

Competitor Analysis benchmarks you against rivals and identifies gaps. Metadata-optimization focuses on implementing those insights into your own app listing.

Does this analyze paid ads and user acquisition?

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

  1. Check for app-marketing-context.md — read it for known competitors
  2. Ask for the user's App ID
  3. Ask for competitor App IDs (or help identify competitors)
  4. Ask for target country (default: US)
  5. 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:

  1. Category chart — Top apps in the same category
  2. Keyword overlap — Apps ranking for the same keywords
  3. Similar apps — Apple's "You Might Also Like" section
  4. 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

ElementYour AppCompetitor 1Competitor 2Competitor 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):

KeywordVolumeDifficultyComp 1 RankComp 2 RankYour RankPriority

Keywords you rank for but competitors don't:

These are your unique advantages — protect them.

Keywords where you're outranked:

KeywordYour RankBest Competitor RankGapEffort 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

MetricYour AppComp 1Comp 2Comp 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

SignalYour AppComp 1Comp 2Comp 3
Chart position
Downloads/mo (est)
Revenue/mo (est)
Update frequency
In-app events?
Custom pages?
Apple Search Ads?

6. Monetization Comparison

AspectYour AppComp 1Comp 2Comp 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

  1. Quick Win: [something you can do this week]
  2. Keyword Gap: [specific keywords to target]
  3. Creative Edge: [screenshot/video improvement]
  4. Feature Gap: [what users want that competitors don't offer]
  5. 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 identified
  • metadata-optimization — Implement competitive insights into your metadata
  • screenshot-optimization — Redesign based on competitive creative analysis
  • aso-audit — Audit your own listing with competitive context
  • ua-campaign — Competitive paid acquisition strategy

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