Your competitors are already showing up in AI search results. Some of them know it. Some of them got lucky. Either way, they are capturing clients who should be finding you.
Running a competitor analysis used to mean checking their Google ranking and scrolling through their website. That is no longer enough. If you want to understand where you stand, you need to see how AI tools perceive your practice compared to others.
What an AI competitor analysis looks like
An AI competitor analysis goes beyond traditional metrics. It examines how AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI view your practice relative to your competitors. It answers three questions.
First, when someone asks AI for a recommendation in your area, does it mention your competitors? Does it mention you? Second, what content and structure on their sites makes them citable by AI? Third, where are the gaps you can fill to overtake them?
How to run your own AI competitor analysis
Step 1: Identify your competitors
Pick five practices that serve the same clients in your area. Include the ones you already know about, plus any that show up when you search Google for your key services. Do not assume you know them all. Search the way your clients would.
Step 2: Ask AI about each practice
Open ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google Gemini. Ask it to recommend practices like yours in your area. Ask it specific questions your clients would ask. “Who is the best family lawyer in Adelaide?” or “Which accounting firm in Cairns specialises in small business tax?”
Note which practices get mentioned. Note what the AI says about them. This tells you who AI considers authoritative in your space.
Step 3: Analyse their website structure
For each competitor that AI recommends, look at their website through an AI lens. Do they have clear, specific service pages? Do they have FAQ sections with real questions? Do they have schema markup? Is their content organised by topic with strong internal linking?
You do not need to be technical to assess this. If their site clearly answers specific questions in short, well-structured paragraphs, that is likely why AI cites them.
Step 4: Check their digital footprint
AI cross-references information across the web. Check whether your competitors appear in industry directories, professional association listings, review platforms, and local business listings. Consistency across these platforms builds AI trust.
Look at their Google reviews. The number and quality of reviews influence how AI evaluates credibility. A practice with 200 genuine reviews will outrank one with 15 every time.
Step 5: Find the gaps
The most valuable outcome of this analysis is finding what your competitors are not doing. Maybe none of them have proper FAQ pages. Maybe their service descriptions are vague. Maybe they have no schema markup at all.
Every gap is an opportunity. If you fill it first, you become the practice AI recommends.
What to do with the results
Create a simple action list. Prioritise the changes that will have the biggest impact on your AI visibility. Usually this means fixing your site structure and content first, then expanding your digital footprint across directories and review platforms.
Do not try to do everything at once. Pick the three highest-impact actions and execute them well. Then reassess.
Want a professional assessment?
At Navii, our AIDA Assessment does this analysis in detail. We score your practice and your competitors across AI discoverability, citability, structure, and digital footprint. You get a clear picture of where you stand and a prioritised plan to get ahead.
Get in touch to find out how your practice compares. The practices that understand their competitive position in AI search are the ones that will win the next wave of clients.