Topical Cluster Comparison

Cluster Comparison is a powerful analytical tool that helps you compare your content strategy against competitors. It provides insights into how your website's content organization compares to competitor websites, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to improve your content plan.

Why Cluster Comparison Matters for Your Content Strategy

Understanding how your content strategy compares to competitors gives you a strategic advantage in capturing your target audience's attention. Cluster Comparison helps you:

Identify Content Gaps: Discover important topics and subtopics your site is missing compared to competitors
Leverage Competitive Advantages: Recognize your unique content areas that give you an edge in the market
Optimize Content Structure: Improve how your content is organized to maximize search visibility
Prioritize Content Creation: Focus your resources on creating the most impactful content first
Develop a More Comprehensive Strategy: Build a more complete content plan that covers all relevant topics in your industry

Prerequisites

Before you can use the Content Comparison Tool, make sure you have:

Content in the Topical Cluster Tool
- Your website's content must be organized in the Topical Cluster Tool
- Content should be structured into clusters (themes), topics, and subtopics
- Each piece of content should have assigned intents and journey stages
Competitor Content Structure
- Your competitor's content must also be mapped in the Topical Cluster Tool
- The same organization structure (clusters, topics, subtopics) is required
- Intent and journey stage assignments should be complete

If any of these elements are missing, you'll need to set them up in the Topical Cluster Tool first before running comparisons.

Key Features of Cluster Comparison

1. Cluster-Level Comparison

This analysis compares the main content clusters (topic groups) between your site and a competitor's site. It helps you understand:

Shared Clusters: Topics you both cover, with notes on different approaches
Unique Clusters: Content areas exclusive to your site or the competitor's site
Content Gaps: Important cluster areas you should consider adding to your strategy
Competitive Advantages: Unique content areas where you have an advantage

2. Topic Comparison

This detailed analysis examines individual topics within clusters, showing you:

Topic Distribution: How topics are organized within clusters on both sites
Missing Topics: Specific topics your competitor covers that you don't (and vice versa)
Topic Gap Opportunities: New topics you could add to strengthen your clusters
Strategic Recommendations: Actionable advice for improving your topic coverage

3. Subtopic Comparison

This in-depth analysis looks at the subtopic level (more specific content pieces within topics), revealing:

Subtopic Coverage: How thoroughly you cover specific areas compared to competitors
Missing Subtopics: Detailed content pieces your competitor has that you're missing
Subtopic Opportunities: Specific subtopics to add to create more comprehensive content
Content Depth Insights: How your content depth compares to competitors

4. Intent & Journey Analysis

This specialized analysis examines user intent (informational, navigational, transactional) and customer journey stages (awareness, consideration, decision, retention), showing:

Intent Distribution: How your content is balanced across different user intents
Journey Stage Coverage: How well you cover each stage of the customer journey
Misaligned Content: Content that may be targeting the wrong intent or journey stage
Strategic Recommendations: How to better align content with user needs
Intent Delta Chart: Comparative bar chart showing differences in how your content covers user intents compared to competitors
Journey Delta Chart: Comparative bar chart showing differences in journey stage coverage

5. Coverage Distribution Charts

These visual pie charts show you how your content is distributed across different clusters:

Your Site Coverage Chart: Shows the percentage of your total content within each cluster
Competitor Coverage Chart: Shows how your competitor's content is distributed
Coverage Insights: Reveals which content areas you're prioritizing compared to competitors

6. Journey Stage Distribution

This comparative analysis shows how your and your competitor's content is distributed across different customer journey stages:

Journey Delta Chart: Displays the difference between your content and competitor content at each journey stage
Percentage Comparisons: Shows exact percentages for both sites at each stage
Color-Coded Differences: Easily see where you have more content (pink) or less content (blue) than competitors

How to Use Cluster Comparison

Step 1: Navigate to the Cluster Comparison Tool

Find and click on the "Cluster Comparison" option in content menu.

Step 2: Select Projects to Compare

From the first dropdown menu, select your own project that you want to analyze
From the second dropdown menu, select the competitor project you want to compare against
Click the "Compare" button to initiate the analysis

Step 3: Review the Analysis Tabs

The analysis is organized into four tabs:

Cluster Comparison: Overall content structure comparison with coverage distribution charts
Topic Comparison: Detailed topic-level analysis with content depth visualization
Subtopic Comparison: In-depth subtopic analysis
Intent & Journey: Analysis of user intent and customer journey coverage with journey stage delta chart

Step 4: Interpret the Results

cluster comparison analysis

Each tab provides different insights:

Cluster Comparison Tab:

Shared Clusters: Shows content areas you both cover
Unique to My Site: Highlights your exclusive content areas
Unique to Competitor: Reveals competitor content you don't cover
Gap Identification: Analyzes significant content gaps
Coverage Insights: Evaluates content coverage strengths and weaknesses
Actionable Recommendations: Provides specific steps to improve your cluster strategy

Topic Comparison Tab:

Overlapping Topics: Shows specific topics you both cover
Topics Missing from My Site: Identifies topics you should consider adding
Topics Missing from Competitor: Highlights your unique topic advantages
Gaps & Opportunities: Suggests new topics to strengthen your strategy
Detailed Topic Analysis: Provides cluster-by-cluster assessment of topic coverage

Subtopic Comparison Tab:

Overlapping Subtopics: Shows specific subtopics you both cover
Subtopics Missing from My Site: Identifies detailed content gaps
Subtopics Missing from Competitor: Highlights your content depth advantages
Gaps & Opportunities: Suggests new subtopics to create more comprehensive content

Intent & Journey Tab:

Intent & Journey Distribution: Compares how content is distributed across user intents and journey stages
Critical Intent & Journey Gaps: Identifies important user needs you're not addressing
Misaligned Content Areas: Highlights content that may be targeting the wrong intent or journey stage
Strategic Recommendations: Provides advice for better aligning content with user needs

Tips for Getting the Most from Cluster Comparison

Compare Similar Sites: Choose competitor projects that target similar audiences
Focus on High-Impact Recommendations: Prioritize recommendations marked as "High" impact or priority
Look for Patterns: Pay attention to recurring themes in the analysis
Address Critical Gaps First: Focus on filling the most significant content gaps before minor ones
Leverage Your Strengths: Build upon the areas where you already have an advantage
Check Regularly: Re-run the comparison after making significant content changes
Use the Visualizations: Pay special attention to the pie charts and bar charts to quickly spot distribution differences
Balance Your Journey Stages: Use the Journey Delta Chart to ensure you're covering all customer journey stages appropriately
Analyze Content Depth: Look at the Content Depth Analysis to identify clusters that need more subtopics

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I interpret "Impact" and "Priority" ratings?

High Impact/Priority: These recommendations will likely have the most significant effect on your content strategy and should be addressed first
Medium Impact/Priority: These suggestions are important but can be addressed after high-priority items
Low Impact/Priority: These are helpful but less urgent improvements

Can I compare more than one competitor at a time?

Currently, the tool allows you to compare against one competitor project at a time. For broader competitive analysis, run separate comparisons against different competitors.

How detailed should my clusters and topics be before running a comparison?

For the most valuable insights, ensure both your project and your competitor project have:

Clearly defined clusters around main themes
Topics properly assigned to relevant clusters
Subtopics organized under appropriate topics
Intent and journey stages assigned where possible

What if the analysis shows many gaps?

If you find numerous gaps, don't be overwhelmed. Focus on:

High-priority recommendations first
Gaps in your core business areas
Areas where your competitor has a significant advantage
Create a phased content plan to address gaps over time

How do I interpret the Coverage Distribution pie charts?

The pie charts show the percentage of total content devoted to each cluster:

Larger slices represent areas where you have more content
Compare your chart with the competitor's to see different content priorities
Look for significant differences in distribution that might reveal strategic focus areas

How do I interpret the Intent Delta Chart?

The Intent Delta Chart shows the difference between your content and your competitor's content across different user intents (informational, navigational, transactional, etc.):

Pink bars indicate where you have more content for a specific intent than the competitor
Blue bars indicate where the competitor has more content for a specific intent than you
The percentages shown (e.g., "45% vs 30%") compare your coverage to competitor coverage for each intent
Intents are sorted by the size of the difference, with the largest differences at the top
Use this to identify user intents where you may be over or under-investing compared to competitors

What does the Journey Delta Chart tell me?

The Journey Delta Chart shows the difference between your content and your competitor's content across customer journey stages:

Pink bars indicate where you have more content than the competitor
Blue bars indicate where the competitor has more content than you
The percentages shown (e.g., "40% vs 25%") compare your coverage to competitor coverage
Use this to identify journey stages where you may be over or under-investing compared to competitors