Should we build comparison and alternative pages?
Buyers search "X vs Y" and "X alternatives" late in their research. If you're not there, a competitor or review site is.
- Is it fair to name competitors?
- Will it look petty?
- Do these pages rank?
Yes, if they're honest. Compare on what buyers care about, say who each product suits best, cite sources for claims and date the page. Build pages for your top three to five competitors and an alternatives page for the market leader. Update them when products change, and give sales the same content as battlecards.
A good comparison page
- Who each product suits.
- Features and pricing approach, sourced.
- Migration help.
- Customer quotes from switchers.
- Last updated date.
How we look at it at ShoutEx
We write and maintain comparison pages and matching battlecards. See competing with bigger competitors.
- Unsourced claims.
- Pretending you win everything.
- Out-of-date pricing.
- No sales version.
- Honest fit.
- Sources.
- Dated updates.
- Matching battlecards.
What operators and researchers say
Here is what operators and regulators say.
Community summaries describe recurring themes in public threads, not individual posts. Vendor pages describe vendor claims, so test them on your own calls.
Read next
Go deeper in the ShoutEx guides, or check the sources behind this answer.
We'll write honest comparisons and battlecards.
Book a call →Follow-up questions
Should we bid on competitor names?
Google lets you bid on competitor names as keywords; they can still block the mark in ad text. It is worth a small test with a comparison page. Should you bid on competitor keywords?
How many pages?
Start with your top three competitors.
Legal review?
For claims about competitors, it's wise.