competitor-tracking

You set up and run ongoing competitor surveillance — catching metadata changes, keyword shifts, rating drops, and new feature launches before they impact your rankings.

One-Time Analysis vs Ongoing Tracking

	competitor-analysis skill	This skill (competitor-tracking)
Frequency	One-time deep dive	Weekly/monthly recurring
Output	Strategy document	Change log + alerts
Focus	Gap analysis, positioning	What changed and why it matters
Data	Snapshot	Delta (before vs after)

Setup: Define Your Watchlist

1. Check for app-marketing-context.md
2. Ask: Who are your top 3–5 competitors? (get App IDs if possible)
3. Ask: How often do you want to review? (weekly recommended)
4. Ask: What are you most concerned about? (keywords, ratings, creative, pricing)

Use Appeeky to identify competitors if unknown:

GET /v1/keywords/ranks?keyword=meditation&country=us&limit=10
GET /v1/apps/:id/intelligence  # check competitors array

What to Track

Metadata Changes

Check weekly using Appeeky:

GET /v1/apps/:id  # title, subtitle, description

Watch for:

• Title changes — new keyword being targeted, repositioning
• Subtitle changes — testing new hooks or keywords
• Description changes — messaging strategy shift (Google Play especially)
• Screenshot updates — new creative direction or A/B test winner shipped

Keyword Ranking Changes

GET /v1/apps/:id/keywords  # their ranking keywords
GET /v1/keywords/ranks?keyword=[shared keyword]  # who's ranking where

Watch for:

• Keywords they're newly ranking for (they optimized for this — should you?)
• Keywords they dropped (opportunity to capture)
• A competitor jumping above you for a shared keyword

Ratings and Reviews

GET /v1/apps/:id/reviews?sort=recent&limit=20
GET /v1/apps/:id  # current rating

Watch for:

• Rating drop (they shipped a bad update — opportunity to highlight your stability)
• Surge of 1-stars around a specific complaint (user pain point you could solve)
• New positive reviews praising a feature you don't have

Chart Positions

GET /v1/market/movers?genre=[genre_id]&country=us
GET /v1/categories/:id/top?country=us&limit=25

Watch for:

• A competitor entering or exiting top 10 in your category
• New competitor entering your space from a chart rise

Pricing and Paywall

Manually check every 4–6 weeks:

• Trial length changes
• Price changes (lower = aggressive growth; higher = LTV optimization)
• New paywall format or plans

Weekly Competitive Report Template

Run this analysis every Monday:

Competitive Update — Week of [Date]

Apps tracked: [list names]

CHANGES DETECTED:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Competitor Name]
  Metadata: [changed / no change]
    → [specific change if any]
  Top keywords: [gained X / lost Y / stable]
  Rating: [X.X → X.X] ([+/-N] ratings this week)
  Chart position: [#N → #N in category]
  New reviews theme: [if notable]

[Repeat per competitor]

OPPORTUNITIES IDENTIFIED:
1. [Competitor X dropped keyword Y — consider targeting it]
2. [Competitor X has surge of complaints about Z — your strength]
3. [Competitor X raised price — positioning opportunity]

THREATS:
1. [Competitor X now ranks #3 for [keyword] — we're at #8]
2. [New entrant spotted: [name] — check their metadata]

ACTION ITEMS:
1. [Specific response to a change]
2. [Keyword to target based on competitor gap]

Monthly Deep-Dive Triggers

Run a full competitor-analysis when:

• A competitor jumps 10+ positions in the category chart
• A competitor changes their title (signals major repositioning)
• A new competitor enters the top 10 in your category
• Your ranking drops on a keyword a competitor recently targeted

Automation Options

Manual (recommended for small teams)

Set a calendar reminder. Run the Appeeky API calls above. Fill the template.

Semi-automated

Build a script that calls Appeeky weekly and diffs results:

#!/bin/bash
APPS=("6759740679" "987654321" "111222333")
KEY="apk_your_key"

for APP_ID in "${APPS[@]}"; do
  echo "=== $APP_ID ==="
  curl -s "https://api.appeeky.com/v1/apps/$APP_ID" \
    -H "X-API-Key: $KEY" | jq '.data | {title, subtitle, rating, reviewCount}'
done

Store results weekly and diff with the previous week's output.

Appeeky MCP (in Claude/Cursor)

Ask your agent each Monday:

"Run a competitor check on apps [ID1], [ID2], [ID3] and 
compare their metadata and top keywords to last week."

The agent will use get_app, get_app_keywords, get_app_reviews to produce the report.

Competitive Response Playbook

What changed	Response
Competitor targets your #1 keyword in title	Defend: check your metadata is fully optimized; consider increasing ASA bids
Competitor drops a keyword you share	Opportunity: double down, increase bid in ASA
Competitor upgrades screenshots	Audit yours — are they still best in category?
Competitor rating drops below 4.0	Mention your rating in promotional text while gap is visible
Competitor launches a feature you don't have	Note for roadmap; meanwhile highlight your differentiating strengths
New competitor enters top 10	Run full competitor-analysis on them

Related Skills

• competitor-analysis — Deep one-time competitive strategy
• keyword-research — Act on the keyword gaps you find
• market-movers — Catch chart-level competitor movements automatically
• apple-search-ads — Respond to competitor keyword moves with ASA bids
• aso-audit — Run on yourself after finding competitive gaps