Reviewing Competitor Outlines Results

Read each competitor page's section outline, compare structures across the batch, and turn the patterns into a content brief.

Once a batch finishes, its value is in the reading: each scraped page becomes a section outline you can study on its own, and the batch as a whole becomes a structure comparison across everything that ranks for your keyword.

The project view

Open a project from the Competitor Outlines dashboard by clicking its row (or View Project). The project view shows:

The project name (its target keyword) and a status badge: Completed, Analyzing, Failed, or Pending.
What these pages have in common, with average heading and word counts, section type coverage, and headings that repeat across pages.
Page outlines side by side, with each page's URL, title, heading hierarchy, heading count, and word count.

Page URLs link to the live competitor page in a new tab, so you can check the outline against the real thing as you read.

Note: If a project is still analyzing, the view refreshes itself every few seconds. You don't need to reload.

Reading the page outlines

Each page has its own column showing its headings in their original order. H1 and H2 sections contain their H3 and deeper subheadings. Heading levels show the page hierarchy, while section labels and word counts help compare its structure and depth.

Long groups initially show four subheadings. Click + N more to reveal the remaining headings in the same column.

Comparing structures across the batch

Use Page outlines side by side to compare the pages in one view. Click a heading under Headings that repeat to highlight it in the outlines. Matches use the words in the headings, so differently worded headings may cover the same topic without being grouped together. Look for three patterns:

What every page covers. Sections that appear in all or most outlines are table stakes. If four out of five ranking pages have an FAQ and a pricing section, your page almost certainly needs both.
Where pages diverge. Sections unique to one competitor show different angles on the topic. Decide deliberately whether each is worth adopting or is just that site's quirk.
What nobody covers. Questions or subtopics missing from every outline are your opening: content you can add that no ranking page currently has.

The heading levels matter as much as the headings. A competitor that gives a subtopic its own H2 with three H3s underneath is treating it as a major theme; one that mentions it in a single H3 is not.

Building a content brief from the results

A practical way to turn a reviewed batch into a brief for a writer:

List every distinct section theme that appears across the outlines (deduplicate similar headings, since "How much does X cost" and "X pricing" are one theme).
Mark how many of the competitor pages cover each theme. High-frequency themes go in your outline; one-off themes are judgment calls; gaps become your differentiators.
Sketch your own heading hierarchy from that list, using the live pages to note what each section needs to say, and where you can go deeper than the pages you studied.
Pull customer language for the draft from a Message Mining campaign, so the sections are written in the words your buyers actually use.

Once the new or rewritten page is live, consider measuring the change with an SEO test instead of assuming it worked.

Tips

Review outlines with the live page open beside them to read the section content and see how it is designed and illustrated.
Section type labels are estimates. Check the live page when a label seems inconsistent with its heading.
Re-run a batch when a SERP shifts. Outlines are a snapshot of the competitors at scrape time, not a live feed.

Troubleshooting

An outline looks incomplete. Very large or heavily scripted pages can come back partial. Spot-check against the live page; if key sections are missing, try scraping a different page from the same competitor.

Sections seem out of order or oddly grouped. Grouping follows the page's own heading structure. Competitors with messy heading hierarchies (skipped levels, decorative headings) produce messy outlines, which is itself useful competitive information.

Last updated 2026-10-28