A competitor's SEO strategy is public if you know where to look: an Ahrefs or Semrush domain overview, their top pages by traffic, and the SERPs themselves. An afternoon of reading tells you what they bet on and what they skipped.
Find who actually ranks, not who shares your city
Type your ten most valuable searches and write down who appears. The list is rarely your business rivals. It is usually Weedmaps, Leafly, maybe a local news site, and one or two operators who did the work. Those ranking operators are your real study subjects. The rest of the page tells you which queries an operator can win right now and which still belong to the directories.
Run a domain overview in Ahrefs or Semrush
Drop the competitor's domain into Ahrefs Site Explorer or Semrush Domain Overview; a trial or entry tier covers a one-off analysis. Go straight to Top Pages by traffic. That single report is their strategy summary. If most of their organic traffic lands on strain pages, that is their bet. If it is city-plus-dispensary landing pages, that is a different bet. You now know where they spend their effort without asking them.
Read the SERPs by hand
Tools miss what page one actually looks like: the local pack, the AI answer box, which results are directories. Search your target terms the way a customer in your city would, note who holds the map pack and what their review counts are, and read the titles on page one. Titles are competitors telling you which promise they think wins the click.
Read their links like a realist
Open the referring domains report and sort by what repeats. One-off press from a funding announcement is not copyable. Local news mentions, event sponsorships, city guides, and chamber-style listings are, because those sources link to categories of business rather than to one lucky brand. Build your link plan only from the repeatable sources.
A worked example, ending in a gap list
Run a rival dispensary through this and you might find forty how-to queries they rank for that you never wrote about, location pages that are obviously template-thin, and links from two local event calendars you could also be on. That becomes a three-column plan — topics they ignored, weak pages of theirs you can beat, link sources open to anyone. Strategy reading is only worth the afternoon if it ends in that list.
Key takeaways
- Your search competitors are whoever ranks, usually directories plus one or two operators, not your business rivals.
- The Top Pages report in Ahrefs or Semrush is a one-screen summary of a competitor's whole content bet.
- Manual SERP reading catches the local pack and answer boxes that tools underreport.
- Only copy repeatable link sources; one-off press is not a strategy.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a paid Ahrefs or Semrush subscription?
Not for a one-off read. Trial and entry tiers show top pages, top keywords, and referring domains, which is enough to reconstruct a competitor's strategy.
Are Weedmaps and Leafly competitors I should analyze?
They are SERP competitors, and worth noting where they are beatable, but study the ranking operators. Directories win on aggregate authority you cannot copy; operators win on moves you can.
What is the single fastest signal of a competitor's strategy?
Top Pages by organic traffic. Where a site's traffic concentrates tells you what it invested in, whether that is strain pages, city landing pages, or guides.
How often should I re-run competitor analysis?
Twice a year is plenty for a full pass. SERPs move slowly in most cannabis markets, and quarterly glances at your main terms catch anything sudden.
Should I copy what is working for a competitor?
Read for gaps, not for imitation. Matching their best pages makes you a follower; filling the queries and link sources they ignored is where the analysis pays.
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