In the fast-paced Australian business landscape, waiting for monthly reports to see what your competitors are doing is a recipe for falling behind. An automated competitive intelligence dashboard gives you a 'crystal ball' view of your market, allowing you to respond instantly to competitor price drops, new product launches, or shifts in their digital strategy without spending hours on manual research.
By centralising this data, you move from reactive guessing to proactive, data-driven decision-making. Whether you are a local Brisbane retailer or a national service provider, knowing exactly where you stand against the competition is your greatest unfair advantage.
Prerequisites: What You’ll Need
Before we dive into the build, ensure you have the following ready:- A Google Account: For Google Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio) and Google Sheets.
- A List of Competitors: Identify 3–5 direct competitors you want to track.
- A Monitoring Tool: We recommend a free or paid trial of a tool like Semrush, Ahrefs, or a simple web scraper like Browse.ai.
- Keywords: A list of 10–20 search terms you want to win in the Australian market.
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Step 1: Define Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Don’t track everything; track what moves the needle. For most Australian SMEs, your dashboard should focus on four pillars:- Search Visibility: Where do they rank for your target keywords?
- Pricing/Offers: Are they running seasonal sales or EOFY specials?
- Ad Spend: Are they outbidding you on Google Ads?
- Social Engagement: Which of their content pillars is resonating with your shared audience?
Step 2: Set Up Your Central Data Warehouse (Google Sheets)
While Looker Studio is the 'face' of your dashboard, Google Sheets will be the 'brain'. Create a new Google Sheet and create the following tabs:- Tab 1: SEO Rankings (Columns: Date, Competitor Name, Keyword, Position)
- Tab 2: Social Stats (Columns: Date, Competitor Name, Platform, Follower Count, Engagement Rate)
- Tab 3: Website Changes (Columns: Date, Competitor Name, Change Detected)
Step 3: Automate SEO Data Collection
You don't want to manually check rankings. Use a tool like Semrush or Zapier to pull data.- Action: Set up a 'Position Tracking' project in your SEO tool.
- Automation: Use Zapier to connect your SEO tool to your Google Sheet. Set a trigger for 'Daily Rank Change' and an action to 'Create Spreadsheet Row' in your SEO Rankings tab.
Screenshot Description: You should see a Zapier workflow showing a Semrush icon connected by a blue line to a Google Sheets icon, with the text "New Ranking Change -> Create Row" below it.
Step 4: Automate Social Media Monitoring
Tracking competitor growth helps you spot emerging threats. Use a tool like Supermetrics or a simple free alternative like PhantomBuster.- Action: Set up a 'scraper' that visits your competitors' Facebook and Instagram pages once a week.
- Automation: Direct this data to your 'Social Stats' tab in Google Sheets.
Step 5: Monitor Website and Price Changes
For Australian retailers, price matching is vital. Use Visualping or Browse.ai to monitor competitor 'Sale' pages or specific product URLs.- Action: Select the area of the competitor's site where the price is listed.
- Automation: Set the tool to send a notification to a Slack channel or, better yet, add a row to your 'Website Changes' Google Sheet tab whenever a change is detected.
Step 6: Connect Google Sheets to Looker Studio
Now, let's make the data pretty.- Go to Looker Studio.
- Click Create > Report.
- Select Google Sheets as your data source.
- Select your 'Competitive Intelligence' sheet and the specific tab you want to visualise first.
Step 7: Visualise Search Dominance
Add a Time Series Chart to your report.- Dimension: Date
- Metric: Average Position
- Breakdown Dimension: Competitor Name
Step 8: Create a 'Share of Voice' Pie Chart
This helps you understand who owns the most real estate on Page 1 of Google.- Chart Type: Pie Chart
- Metric: Number of Keywords in Top 3
- Category: Competitor Name
Screenshot Description: A colourful pie chart where each slice represents a competitor. The largest slice indicates the market leader for your specific keyword set.
Step 9: Set Up Automated Alerts
A dashboard is only useful if you look at it. Set up an 'Alerting' system.- In Looker Studio, click on Schedule Email Delivery.
- Set it to send a PDF summary of the dashboard to your inbox every Monday at 8:00 AM.
- This ensures you start your week with a clear view of the competitive landscape.
Step 10: Review and Optimise
Every quarter, review your dashboard. Are the competitors still relevant? Are there new 'disruptors' in the Brisbane or national market you need to add? Update your Google Sheet sources accordingly to keep the data fresh.---
Pro Tips for Success
- Don't over-complicate: Start with tracking 3 competitors. Tracking 20 will lead to 'data fatigue' where you have so much information you don't take any action.
- Use 'Incognito' for manual checks: If you ever want to verify the dashboard data manually, always use an Incognito window to ensure your own search history doesn't bias the Australian search results.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Ignoring Local Intent: If you are a Brisbane-based business, ensure your SEO tracking tools are set to 'Brisbane, Queensland' rather than just 'Australia'. Rankings can vary significantly between states.
- Manual Data Entry: If you find yourself typing numbers into a spreadsheet, you've failed the automation goal. Always look for a Zapier or API connection first.
- Forgetting the ABN: When setting up paid tools for competitor research, ensure you use your business details for tax purposes, as most of these tools are international SaaS companies.
Troubleshooting
- Data not refreshing? Check the 'Data Refresh Rate' in Looker Studio. By default, it might only refresh every 15 minutes or hour. Also, ensure your Google Sheet hasn't hit the 10-million cell limit.
- Broken Connections: If Zapier stops working, it’s usually because a competitor changed their website structure (for scrapers) or an API token expired. Re-authenticate your accounts in the Zapier 'Apps' tab.
- Incorrect Rankings: Ensure your SEO tool is set to track 'Desktop' vs 'Mobile' consistently, as competitors may rank differently across devices.
Next Steps
Now that you have a bird's-eye view of your competition, it's time to use that data to win.- Identify the keywords where your competitors are weak and double down on content for those terms.
- Monitor their ad copy to write more compelling headlines for your own Google Ads.
- If this feels a bit too technical, or you'd like a professional team to build a custom, high-level intelligence suite for your business, we can help.