How do I find competitors using MobileAction?
There are two stages to competitor work: first discovering who your competitors are, then analyzing them. Many competitor tools assume you already know who you are comparing against, so if you are starting from scratch, begin with the discovery tools below. Once you have identified competitors, move on to the analysis tools at the end of this article.
Keep in mind!
Tools like Competitor Keywords and the Competitor Analysis tab compare you against competitors you have already chosen. To find competitors in the first place, start with the discovery tools in the next section.
Stage 1: Discover competitors
These tools surface apps competing with you, even when you have no competitor list yet. Use one or several depending on whether you care about organic rankings, paid activity, or category standing.
Keyword Inspector (ASO Intelligence)
Analyze a keyword you care about and review the Organic Impression Share and Apple Ads Impression Share breakdowns. These show the apps capturing visibility for that keyword, both organically and in Apple Ads. The apps that keep appearing across your important keywords are your real competitors.
Top Charts and Biggest Movers (App Intelligence)
Browse Top Charts to see which apps rank highest in your category, and use Biggest Movers and Biggest Losers to spot apps rapidly gaining or losing ground. Apps ranking near you, or climbing quickly, are natural competitors to watch.
Similar Apps (App Intelligence)
Similar Apps suggests apps related to a given app, giving you a quick starting list of potential competitors based on shared characteristics. It is a fast way to seed a competitor set before you refine it with the other discovery tools.
Search Result/App (Search Ads Intelligence)
Open your app in Search Result/App and review the keyword table. The All Apps column shows every app competing for each keyword, along with their impression share. Apps that show up repeatedly across your keywords are competitors worth tracking, especially on the paid side.
Top Advertisers (Search Ads Intelligence)
Top Advertisers shows which apps are spending the most on Apple Ads, filterable by category. This reveals who is investing most heavily in paid visibility in your space, which surfaces competitors you may not see through organic rankings alone.
Top Advertisers and Top Developers (Ad Intelligence)
In Ad Intelligence, Top Advertisers and Top Developers rank the apps and developers running the most ad activity, filterable by category, network, and taxonomy. Use these to discover competitors advertising across ad networks beyond Apple Ads, and organize the ones you find into App Collections.
Stage 2: Analyze the competitors you found
Once you have identified competitors, use these tools to compare against them in depth:
- Competitor Keywords: compare organic keyword overlap using Direct Comparison (one competitor, unique/shared/competitor-only keywords) or Multi Comparison (up to four competitors side by side).
- Keyword Tracking, Competitor Analysis tab: add up to five competitors and compare rankings for every tracked keyword, with rank changes over time.
- ASO Report, Competitor Ranking view: overlay a competitor's ranking distribution on your keyword set to see which position bands they dominate.
- Search Result/Competitor (Apple Ads Intelligence): for paid strategy, see a competitor's paid keywords, where you overlap, and where they have coverage you do not.
Match the tool to your goal: For organic rankings, start with Competitor Keywords, and for paid strategy, use Search Result/Competitor.
Related links
Need more help?
If you have further questions on the process, contact your dedicated Customer Success Manager or contact the support team via live chat!