{"id":122133,"date":"2022-05-23T05:40:55","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T05:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/?p=122133"},"modified":"2025-08-05T08:02:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T08:02:46","slug":"research-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/research\/company-research\/research-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Research a Company: The Ultimate Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good company research can take many forms. Depending on your research goals, you might want to look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a market, or drill down into key industry leaders<\/a> and emerging players to unpack their successes.<\/p>\n

If you want to beat the competition, you need to know their business as well (if not better) than your own. The more intel you have, the quicker you\u2019ll be able to spot and leverage opportunities, respond to market changes, and grow.<\/p>\n

Read on to discover how to research a company online, tear down its strategies, and take over its market share.<\/p>\n

What is company research?<\/h2>\n

Company research gathers and analyzes information about a business and its customers. This means understanding its performance data and target audience so you can optimize your own strategy.<\/p>\n

\"Company<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s fiercely competitive markets, doing good company research is a game-changer. In fact, a 2022 report<\/a> on competitive intelligence found that 98% of businesses believe researching their competitors is vital for success.<\/p>\n

If you have the right tools to collect accurate competitive intelligence<\/a>, you\u2019ll be able to anticipate your competitors\u2019 moves and emerging threats to stay ahead and succeed.<\/p>\n

How to do company research in 8 steps<\/h2>\n

Researching a company is a bit like doing detective work. The deeper you go, the more questions you ask, and the more curious you are, the better the outcome will be.<\/p>\n

Here are eight steps to steer you through the process of doing company research.<\/p>\n

1. Track top competitors<\/h3>\n

You want to know exactly what your rivals are doing, where they\u2019re going, and how the competitive landscape<\/a> is changing. With this data, you can carefully plan your next move and take action when and where it\u2019s needed most. Competitive tracking tools like Similarweb give you the ability to track what your rivals are up to. You can measure each competitor\u2019s digital footprint, and identify any changes or growth over time.<\/p>\n

Did someone experience a sudden uptick in website visits? Would you like to know why and how? Perhaps they launched a new feature\u00a0or ad campaign, or maybe its social channel is driving growth.<\/p>\n

With Similarweb Web Intelligence<\/a>, you get alerts about changes so you can be sure you\u2019ll never miss a beat.<\/p>\n

\"Similarweb<\/p>\n

Analyzing the top performers in your industry will give you new ideas and provide targets for what is achievable for you.<\/p>\n

Similarweb\u2019s Analyze Industry Leaders tool will tell you who is winning in your industry based on their website performance. A Market Quadrant Analysis graph, or competitive matrix<\/a>, provides a visual snapshot of the websites in your industry and how they compare based on different metrics. The industry leaders may inspire you to try new things, while the weaker competitors in your industry can provide you with swift opportunities to chip into their market share.<\/p>\n

\"Similarweb<\/p>\n

Pro tip:<\/strong> Similarweb\u2019s Similar Sites tool helps you uncover up to 40 domains that are similar to yours. Finding these domains can be infinitely useful when conducting a competitive content analysis<\/a>. You can audit these domains to learn more about their content strategy<\/a> and upgrade your own.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Similarweb<\/p>\n

2. Benchmark<\/h3>\n

Now that you have a good view of the market, you need to drill down into your competitors\u2019 performance. You want to understand their metrics and KPIs so you can benchmark<\/a> them against your own.<\/p>\n

A company research and analysis tool can help you understand your competitors\u2019 digital reach and performance. You can look at multiple websites or domains owned by a single company to analyze their aggregated data or look at a specific market. This will give you a good idea of the business\u2019 size and market share<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll also want to look at their engagement metrics<\/a> and any changes over time. If you see their metrics improving, they are probably investing in a digital strategy<\/a>. You should look into this to see what has been working for them. We\u2019ll show you how\u00a0in the next section.<\/p>\n

\"Similarweb<\/p>\n

Pro Tip:<\/b> Don\u2019t forget to look at mobile app intelligence<\/a> too. There are five key metrics you\u2019ll want to track when benchmarking an app:<\/p>\n