Guide

AI agent for market and competitor research

Keeping an eye on competitors and your market is the kind of job that slips. An AI agent can do the watching: track a short list of competitors and topics, read what's new and give you a cited summary once a week. The rules are simple. Use public sources, respect sites that ask crawlers to stay out, and check claims before you act on them or repeat them. If you use what you learn in marketing, the FTC encourages naming competitors in comparisons as long as the comparison is truthful, clear and not deceptive (16 CFR 14.15). Time figures here are estimates, not measurements.

What to hand to an agent first

  • Set the watch list

    Five competitors, three topics and the questions you care about: prices, new features, who they're targeting. A short list beats a long one.

  • Feed it alerts

    Google Alerts emails you when new results appear for a topic, with options for frequency, sources, language and region (Google Search Help). The agent reads those emails instead of crawling the web.

  • Weekly cited summary

    Every Monday: what changed, with a link for every claim, and 'not found' rather than a guess. Anything without a source is flagged.

  • Respect site rules

    The Robots Exclusion Protocol is how site owners tell automated crawlers what they may access (RFC 9309). If your agent fetches pages, keep it to public pages the site allows, and never use logins or paywalled content you don't have rights to.

  • Fair comparisons only

    If a finding ends up in your marketing, compare on clearly identified, checkable points. The FTC treats comparative advertising like any other ad: it must not be false or deceptive (16 CFR 14.15).

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Ready-made use cases

  1. 01Weekly competitor watch
    The agent tracks competitors' pricing, launches and posts and tells you what matters.
    ~2h/week · estimate
  2. 02Trend radar to content ideas
    Each morning the agent scans your niche for trends and gives you 5 timely post angles.
    ~3h/week · estimate
  3. 03Personal learning digest
    The agent reads the newsletters you never get to and sends the 5 ideas worth your time.
    ~2h/week · estimate
  4. 04Weekly CEO review & plan
    Every Friday the agent compiles wins, numbers, stuck items and proposes next week's priorities.
    ~2h/week · estimate
  5. 05Metrics digest without opening dashboards
    The agent pulls your key numbers from Stripe, analytics and your store into one daily message.
    ~2h/week · estimate

Example: Grok Bot setup

Grok Bot routine: Weekly competitor watch
Schedule: Mondays 9:00

Every Monday, check [competitors]' websites, pricing, X posts and launches from last week. Tell me what changed and one thing I should respond to.

Rules: draft first, never send or post anything external without my approval. Keep summaries short.

Grok Bot, ChatGPT, Claude and n8n versions: all templates

Setup steps

  1. Write a watch list: five competitors, three topics and the questions you want answered.
  2. Set up Google Alerts for each and route the emails to one label the agent can read.
  3. Give it a fixed Monday format: what changed, a link per claim, 'not found' over guessing.
  4. If it fetches pages, limit it to public pages the site's robots.txt allows.
  5. Check any finding before you use it in marketing, and keep comparisons truthful and clear.

Keep these human

  • Public sources only; no fake accounts, logins or paywall workarounds.
  • Respect robots.txt and site terms if the agent fetches pages.
  • Every claim in a summary needs a link; unsourced items are flagged, not guessed.
  • Verify before you repeat a competitor claim publicly; comparisons must be truthful and clear.
  • Pricing and positioning decisions stay with you.
  • Start in draft mode: the agent prepares, you approve, then you loosen the leash routine by routine.

Get the free AI Team Starter Kit

4 copy-paste agent prompts, a business brief template and a 7-day plan, as a PDF. Plus this guide's templates.

FAQ

What should an AI agent do first for AI agent for market and competitor research?

Set the watch list: Five competitors, three topics and the questions you care about: prices, new features, who they're targeting. A short list beats a long one. Feed it alerts: Google Alerts emails you when new results appear for a topic, with options for frequency, sources, language and region (Google Search Help). The agent reads those emails instead of crawling the web. Weekly cited summary: Every Monday: what changed, with a link for every claim, and 'not found' rather than a guess. Anything without a source is flagged.

What should stay human?

Public sources only; no fake accounts, logins or paywall workarounds. Respect robots.txt and site terms if the agent fetches pages. Every claim in a summary needs a link; unsourced items are flagged, not guessed. Verify before you repeat a competitor claim publicly; comparisons must be truthful and clear. Pricing and positioning decisions stay with you. Start in draft mode: the agent prepares, you approve, then you loosen the leash routine by routine.

Is there a ready-made template?

Yes. Start with "Weekly competitor watch": copy-ready Grok Bot, ChatGPT, Claude and n8n templates are at https://whatshouldmybotdo.com/use-cases/competitor-watch#templates.

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