How to Build Competitive Comparison Landing Pages

It used to be relatively easy to rank for competitor comparison keywords (eg: ‘pipedrive alternative’ or ‘zoho vs pipedrive’.)

You could launch a landing page and, as long as it was somehow optimized for SEO, you’d get that baby ranking fairly quick because no one else was publishing content to compete against you.

That’s no longer the case in SaaS.

1. G2, Capterra, and other review sites target almost every variation of the 'product vs product' keyword—especially in B2B SaaS.

2. Affiliate sites go after 'product alternatives' keywords to make bank with product listicles. And that’s not just niche bloggers—even publishers like Forbes go for SaaS listicles.

3. Finally, your competitors are going after the same set of keywords. After all, they compete against the same brands as you and want to capture the same traffic.

An SEO breakdown for comparison-based keywords

Let’s say you’re ThunderMail, an email marketing tool competing against Mailchimp.

Years ago, launching a single landing page targeting ‘mailchimp vs thundermail’ could get you ranked for multiple keywords:

• ‘mailchimp vs thundermail’

• ‘mailchimp alternative’

• ‘mailchimp pricing’

• ‘mailchimp features’

• ‘mailchimp competitors’

• and more…

But today, that same scenario is fiercely competitive. It’s nearly impossible to rank using one-off comparison landing pages.

Does that mean comparison pages are no longer effective? No, they’re still very effective.

But if your main goal is driving organic traffic, then you’ll need to execute a comprehensive SEO approach towards comparison-based content, with different assets targeting each unique keyword.

Here’s a breakdown of what search engines want to see for each comparison-based keywords, using Mailchimp as an example*:

1. ‘mailchimp alternative’: a listicle reviewing multiple products in the email marketing space.

2. ‘mailchimp pricing’: an article breaking down Mailchimp’s pricing and how it compares to other competitors.

3. ‘mailchimp reviews’: a detailed article reviewing Mailchimp, its features, pros and cons, pricing and other critical aspects of the product.

4. ‘mailchimp features’: a comprehensive review of Mailchimp’s features and which plan they’re mapped to.

5. ‘mailchimp vs your brand’: an article explaining how both tools compare to each other. A landing page can work, too. But it would have to be content-heavy to outrank others in the search results.

The game is leaning towards long-form articles as opposed to leaner comparison landing pages with a sales-narrative approach.

You have to answer the specific intent behind each keyword and cover more ground for search engines to consider you an authority on the topic. Once you become the authority, your individual assets start to rank.

i.e. you need to create the rising SEO tide that lifts all content boats.

Take a look at how Gorgias publishes content for different keywords mentioning Zendesk.

*Always analyze the current search results for your target keywords, as this might be different in your category.

Are sales comparison pages still effective?

Absolutely. They’re still an important part of your content strategy. And they’re effective at generating warm leads because they answer a critical question in the buyer’s journey: “how does your product compare vs this competitor?”

It’s not a matter of if they’re effective but when and how to use narrative-based comparison pages.

6 ways comparison sales pages shine

1. By shaping positioning and narrative

Sometimes, explaining what makes your product unique is better done by comparing it to existing solutions.

You’ll want to use a narrative-based comparison page if your approach to solving buyers’ problems is differentiated from what your competitors are doing.

We took this approach when we wrote ProcessKit vs Asana.

2. As a bottom-of-the-funnel asset that can be linked to from other content

Narrative-based comparison pages are the last-mile piece buyers want to read after they’ve done their own research.

If you have other competitor-comparison pieces, such as listicles, then you can link from these articles to your 1-vs-1 comparison pages.

Ideally, your narrative on these pages ties everything together and confirms:

1. The main reason to buy from you

2. The main risk of choosing your competitors

Fathom Analytics does a great job of explaining the risk of choosing Google Analytics, and why you should buy from them instead.

3. They give sales and support talk tracks for on-the-fence buyers

Buyers are constantly measuring you up to competitors. Before they buy and while they’re customers too.

When they bring out the “how do you compare vs XYZ?” question, you want your teams to be ready to answer in a compelling and consistent way.

Building comparison pages helps you find new competitive angles. And they help to frame them during conversations with buyers.

Ahrefs lists 14 things they can do that Moz and SEMrush can’t on their comparison page.

4. Repurposed as downloadable assets and battlecards

When buyers are actively comparing you to competitors, chances are they’ll need to share their findings with other decision-makers.

You can make their job easier by providing a resource that they can use to champion the deal internally. Repurpose your competitor pages to be used as one-pagers that sales and support send out to prospects.

Here’s one slide of a competitive ebook we created for a client in the fitness industry.

5. As landing pages for PPC campaigns

Everybody’s out there bidding for their competitors’ branded keywords. It’s part of the standard SaaS acquisition playbook.

What most companies are doing wrong is linking visitors to their homepage instead of a comparison-based asset.

If you manage to get the click from someone researching your competitors, it’s best to assume that a page comparing that competitor vs your product will be more relevant to your visitor.

6. By using them for retargeting

A big chunk of your traffic won’t convert. At least not today. But after visiting your site, you’ve moved them a bit further down the buying journey. Especially if they’re reading your middle- or bottom-of-the-funnel content.

At some point in that journey, buyers will evaluate your product vs competitors—chances are they’re already doing it!

Meet them where they’re at with a retargeting campaign that shows how you’re unique in your category. And use your narrative comparison pages as the destination.

Check out Buy Me a Coffee’s Facebook ad versus Patreon below.

Your content goals shape your comparison pages

Consider your content strategy and budget to decide your approach to comparison pages.

Organic SEO can take time to kick in. But once you win the top rankings, it’ll be harder for competitors to dethrone you. SEO is your best plan if you can write multiple articles as you wait for content to rank and convert.

Sales comparison pages are a great way to differentiate your product and deposition competitors. They’re more effective in the short-term, as long as you can get them in front of your target audience. Keep in mind that you’ll have to put resources into distribution channels such as Google Ads, sales outreach, or social media.

Can you do both and go all-in? In an ideal world, you should. But covering both the SEO and sales channels is going to require a big effort. Make sure your SEO, PMM and CI teams are aligned and up for the challenge.

P.S. If you liked this, consider listening to the Healthy Competition podcast or joining the community!