How to write competitor comparison landing pages [with examples]

In this post we’ll look at what makes a compelling comparison page and how you can start creating your own.

What is a competitor comparison landing page?

It’s a marketing page on a brand’s website that lays out, in detail, the facts that separate a brand from a competitor or multiple top competitors.

Here’s one example of a comparison page that is doing everything right from Posthog:

How competitor comparison pages fit in the traditional marketing funnel

Competitor comparison pages are designed to target potential buyers on the verge of making a decision, and focus on details that matter most to a buyer: price, product features, use cases, and proven results.

It might be one of the final pieces of “bottom funnel” content that a buyer reads before making their decision.As such, this is where marketers can make the clearest, most detailed, and educated case for their product.

Brand-driven vs consumer-driven comparison landing pages

Consumer-driven comparison pages usually exist on a consumer-advocacy website – G2 being the most popular example in the Saas world.

Buyers trust consumer-driven pages for their supposed neutrality. Those pages are more like journalism than they are marketing.

Our focus in this blog post is brand-driven landing pages, which are fundamentally marketing pages. They don’t aspire to neutrality though they do aspire to transparency (more on this below).

Why build comparison landing pages for SEO campaigns?

So why would a company bother creating a comparison landing page if there are already so many consumer-driven, G2-style comparison pages out there?

Here are few reasons:

• Buyers are looking for comparison information
• Your have valuable insights to offer them
• Your competitor is probably also trying to woo them with comparison info
• Comparison pages are persuasive

For example, look at all of these search queries for “Figma vs…”

You can win traffic away from competitors

People are talking about your product online, so you might as well join the conversation. Especially when it’s a search query that has significant volume, this is an opportunity just waiting to be seized.

The screenshot above shows pretty significant traffic for brand comparison queries. You can steer those leads toward your site instead of your competitor’s… and make the leads happy about it. If your competitor is winning on the SERPs, they’re also winning more attention from buyers.

What makes a great competitor comparison landing page?

There’s no single way to structure a comparison page (though most of them look like product landing pages). Regardless, the persuasive element of the page depends on specificity and detail.

• Brand messaging. Your core messaging shapes the narrative. Remind people why you’re the most valuable product option.
• Clear differentiators. The differences between your product and your competitors should be crystallized here with precise copy and undeniable points of comparison.
• Product comparison charts. Software products, especially, are multifaceted. A chart makes all of the finer points of comparison clear, accessible, and persuasive. (More on this below)
• Migration information. To win clients away from competitors, it helps to show them just how very easy it would be to switch teams.
• Social proof. Client testimonials are essential for any product page on a website. If you happen to have any from clients who have switched from your competitor to your product, this is the perfect place to share.
• Conversion links. A comparison page is useful to leads who are on the verge of spending money. Make the decision easier by giving them ample opportunities to learn more about your product, talk to a sales rep, or sign up today.

Framing the conversation with simple charts

In order to build trust with a lead, the facts presented on a comparison page need to be forthright and clear. However, no one is expecting your page to be completely neutral.

Comparison charts are one of the most effective ways to shape the narrative in favor of your product. You can do it by focusing on the feature categories in which your product is most compelling.

Guru does this, and fairly aggressively. They only give their competitor Notion a checkmark in a couple of generic categories, including a sneaky one that’s actually a way of pigeonholing them into a very specific use case.

Don’t compare yourself to your competitors based on what they think is important. Compare yourself based on what you think is important.

Comparison pages can promote friendly competition

“But we’re friendly with our competitors. We don’t want to hurl any mud at them.” This is a reasonable concern that we hear often, but a comparison page doesn’t need to be slimy or petty to be effective.

Your brand likely offers something unique and better than other brands, this is a chance to show off where you excel and you can do so in simple, factual terms. Take this Databricks page, for example:

The marketing copy on the page is minimal. The headline leads with a fact: “ETL costs up to 8x more on Snowflake than Databricks Lakehouse”. Farther down, they’ve laid out a simple chart in which (surprise, surprise) Databricks seems to satisfy more of the crucial criteria.

If you want to be more aggressive with your copywriting, you can. Let’s look at Figma next, and see how they’re getting a little spicier in their comparison pages.

Example: Figma’s competitor comparison landing pages

What does an awesome comparison page look like? Figma has quite a few great ones to learn from, let’s look at what they’re doing right:

• Figjam vs Miro
• Figma vs Invision

Example: A feature comparison list to steer the conversation

Feature charts are user-friendly ways to make the nitty-gritty details clear. Accuracy is essential here, but you’re also entitled to frame the terms of comparison in your own unique way.

The items you include are a reflection of what you think is most important to user experience.

This Figjam vs Miro chart lays out key features in a clear, specific way.

You'll also notice quite a few gaps on Miro's side of the checklist. And, wow: Figma's product has checked every box.

Example: subheads optimized for search (without seeming stale)

Look at Figma throwing shade at Miro in a way that also catches the attention of search engines.

Well played! The H1 and title tags are very smartly worded from a copywriting standpoint – and they’re set up to rank well for anyone searching for “Miro” features or “Figjam vs Miro”.

Plus, like any good heading, it sums up the page in an evocative way.

Example: directions for leaving the competition behind

Migration instructions can be mighty persuasive. Figma not only tells the reader that it's easy to leave Miro: it's showing them the buttons to click.

The header here is particularly sweet: “Moving your files takes minutes.” Minutes! It's targeting people who are currently signed up with your competitor and directly soothing their concerns about stress, cost, and security.

Example: strong marketing copy

Check out the counter-arguments in the screenshot below.Figma calls them out in bold headers), as if they can read your mind.

Each of those sections links directly to a features page, beckoning buyers to step farther along in their journey.

Testimonials (a.k.a. social proof) instill confidence in readers. And this page has social proof all over it. The Figma team has combined great copy, design and social proof into a very compelling (and extremely readable) pitch for switching teams.

Best practices for building a competitor comparison landing page

People reading your comparison page are already pretty educated on your product and your competitors. So now is the time to show them the points that are going to make the decision easy:

• Be honest and opinionated. Your audience is smart. They know you’re trying to sell them on your product. So there’s no reason to try fooling them. If your competitor has you beat in certain features, don’t obscure that fact. But focus on your great differentiators..
• Lead with proof. Since your audience is so very savvy, the fastest way to win them over is to present them with compelling facts. Following up with some social proof never hurts either.
• Optimize for search. To make this page as visible and accessible as possible, you’ll need to build it on some basic SEO fundamentals: clearly structured pages targeting specific search queries.

A comparison page is built on the foundations of solid product marketing and competitive research.

• Know your product. Where you fit in the landscape. What differentiates you. Pulling in the product marketing team here is really helpful.
• Know your audience. Which use cases are dealmakers for them? How can they sell it to their higher ups?
• Know your competitors. What is their value prop? What are the finer points of their product for the user? What are their pricing tiers?
• Do your SEO research. Which comparison queries are getting the most volume around your brand?

Next steps

You can deploy this competitor-focused content in an improvisational fashion – but you’ll get more return on the investment if you design those pages as part of a larger content strategy.

There are various ways to best your competitors with organic search content. Comparison pages are merely one of many content marketing tools. In addition to challenging them directly by brand name, you can also outrank them in search for topics that are central to both of your brands.

You can start laying the groundwork for that strategy by researching the topics that your competitors are writing about already. A tool like SEMrush has free tools for data-driven competitor research.

And, of course, if you’re feeling stuck – or what to riff out ideas about a really ambitious project – you can always send a note to the ércule team. We love talking shop.