Competitor intelligence agent: SERP monitoring + summary with Thordata + OpenAI

Who this is for? This workflow is designed for: Marketing analysts, SEO specialists, and content strategists who want automated intelligence on their online competitors. Growth teams that need quick insights from SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) without manual data scraping. Agencies managing multiple clients’ SEO presence and tracking competitive positioning in real-time. What problem is this workflow solving? Manual competitor research is time-consuming, fragmented, and often lacks actionable insights. This workflow automates the entire process by: Fetching SERP results from multiple search engines (Google, Bing, Yandex, DuckDuckGo) using Thordata’s Scraper API. Using OpenAI GPT-4.1-mini to analyze, summarize, and extract keyword opportunities, topic clusters, and competitor weaknesses. Producing structured, JSON-based insights ready for dashboards or reports. Essentially, it transforms raw SERP data into strategic marketing intelligence — saving hours of research time. What this workflow does Here’s a step-by-step overview of how the workflow operates: Step 1: Manual Trigger Initiates the process on demand when you click “Execute Workflow.” Step 2: Set the Input Query The “Set Input Fields” node defines your search query, such as: > “Top SEO strategies for e-commerce in 2025” Step 3: Multi-Engine SERP Fetching Four HTTP request tools send the query to Thordata Scraper API to retrieve results from: Google Bing Yandex DuckDuckGo Each uses Bearer Authentication configured via “Thordata SERP Bearer Auth Account.” Step 4: AI Agent Processing The LangChain AI Agent orchestrates the data flow, combining inputs and preparing them for structured analysis. Step 5: SEO Analysis The SEO Analyst node (powered by GPT-4.1-mini) parses SERP results into a structured schema, extracting: Competitor domains Page titles & content types Ranking positions Keyword overlaps Traffic share estimations Strengths and weaknesses Step 6: Summarization The Summarize the content node distills complex data into a concise executive summary using GPT-4.1-mini. Step 7: Keyword & Topic Extraction The Keyword and Topic Analysis node extracts: Primary and secondary keywords Topic clusters and content gaps SEO strength scores Competitor insights Step 8: Output Formatting The Structured Output Parser ensures results are clean, validated JSON objects for further integration (e.g., Google Sheets, Notion, or dashboards). 4. Setup Prerequisites n8n Cloud or Self-Hosted instance Thordata Scraper API Key (for SERP data retrieval) OpenAI API Key (for GPT-based reasoning) Setup Steps 1. Add Credentials Go to Credentials → Add New → HTTP Bearer Auth → Paste your Thordata API token. Add OpenAI API Credentials for the GPT model. 2. Import the Workflow Copy the provided JSON or upload it into your n8n instance. 3. Set Input In the “Set the Input Fields” node, replace the example query with your desired topic, e.g.: “Google Search for Top SEO strategies for e-commerce in 2025” 4. Execute Click “Execute Workflow” to run the analysis. How to customize this workflow to your needs Modify Search Query Change the searchquery variable in the Set Node to any target keyword or topic. Change AI Model In the OpenAI Chat Model nodes, you can switch from gpt-4.1-mini to another model for better quality or lower cost. Extend Analysis Edit the JSON schema in the “Information Extractor” nodes to include: Sentiment analysis of top pages SERP volatility metrics Content freshness indicators Export Results Connect the output to: Google Sheets / Airtable for analytics Notion / Slack for team reporting Webhook / Database for automated storage Summary This workflow creates an AI-powered Competitor Intelligence System inside n8n by blending: Real-time SERP scraping (Thordata) Automated AI reasoning (OpenAI GPT-4.1-mini) Structured data extraction (LangChain Information Extractors)