Scheduled Competitor Intelligence Tracker using Google Sheets and Airtable - n8n Workflow

• Market researchers and analysts who require daily updates on their competitive landscape.


• Users looking for robust n8n templates that combine external API calls (SerpAPI) with custom data parsing.


• Teams that need to automatically centralize web-scraped data into Airtable and Google Sheets using a reliable n8n workflow.


• Anyone seeking a powerful n8n trigger mechanism for recurring business intelligence tasks.

Managing competitive intelligence manually is time-consuming and often inconsistent. This advanced n8n workflow automates the entire process. Starting with a reliable n8n trigger, it retrieves a list of target companies from Google Sheets. For each company, the n8n workflow executes a highly targeted search query via SerpAPI. Crucially, a custom Code n8n node then applies sophisticated logic to parse the messy search result JSON, extracting specific competitor names and the primary source URL.

This particular n8n template demonstrates effective flow control using an IF n8n node to ensure both successful and unsuccessful searches are logged cleanly. The final step of this seamless n8n workflow is logging the results into Google Sheets for quick reporting and then synchronizing all structured data into Airtable, providing a unified view of your competitive landscape.

This n8n workflow executes on a defined schedule using the scheduled n8n trigger:

1. Start and Fetch List: The n8n trigger initiates the flow (daily at 9 AM). The Google Sheets n8n node reads the list of companies needing analysis.


2. Clean Data: A Code n8n node filters out empty list entries and prepares the company names for processing.


3. Loop and Search: The Split In Batches n8n node ensures that each company name is processed individually. For every item, an HTTP Request n8n node calls the SerpAPI endpoint with the query {{ company }} competitors.


4. Extract Intelligence: A second, critical Code n8n node analyzes the complex JSON response from SerpAPI. It employs helper functions to identify the parent company, extract a list of up to 10 identified competitors, and find the top search result link, structuring this information neatly for downstream nodes.


5. Conditional Logging: An IF n8n node checks the output. If the competitors field is not 'No competitors found', the flow proceeds down the True path.


6. Log Results (Success/Failure): The two Google Sheets n8n nodes log the success data (True branch) or the failure data (False branch) into the designated results sheet.


7. Final Synchronization: Both logging paths converge, and the final combined dataset is upserted into an Airtable n8n node, ensuring the competitive database is always current, completing this powerful n8n workflow.

To deploy this n8n template successfully, follow these setup steps:

1. Import: Copy the JSON data and import it into your n8n instance as a new n8n workflow.


2. Credentials: Set up the required credentials for the following services:

1. Google Sheets Configuration: Update the Document IDs and Sheet Names in both Google Sheets n8n nodes (one for the input list and one for the results) to match your setup.


2. Airtable Configuration: Specify the correct Base ID and Table ID in the Airtable n8n node.


3. Activation: Ensure the n8n workflow is set to Active to enable the scheduled n8n trigger.

This n8n workflow utilizes several key n8n nodes to achieve its goal:

🕒 Auto Run (Scheduled) - n8n trigger:
Function: Starts the n8n workflow automatically at a fixed time daily (9:00 AM).
Key Configuration: Schedule Rule set to Interval: 1 day, Trigger At Hour: 9.
📄 Read Companies Sheet (Google Sheets n8n node):
Function: Fetches the initial list of companies from your specified input spreadsheet.
Key Configuration: Operation Read, reads all rows from 'Sheet1'.
🧹 Clean & Format Company List (Code n8n node):
Function: Custom JavaScript logic to iterate through the sheet data, extract the company name from the 'List' column, and standardize the input for the search loop.
🌍 Search Company Competitors (SerpAPI) (HTTP Request n8n node):
Function: Performs the core search operation by querying ={{ $json.company }} competitors against the SerpAPI endpoint.
Key Configuration: Query Parameters q uses expression referencing the company name. Requires a SerpAPI key.
🧠 Extract Competitor Data from Search (Code n8n node):
Function: Contains complex parsing logic to analyze the organic results, related questions, and AI overview fields within the SerpAPI JSON to identify and structure competitor names and source URLs.
🧐 Has Competitors? (IF n8n node):
Function: Flow control mechanism. Checks if the output from the previous n8n node has a competitors list that is not empty.
Key Configuration: Condition ={{ $json.competitors }} is notEquals to 'No competitors found'.
📊 Log to Result Sheet / ❌ Log Companies Without Results (Google Sheets n8n node):
Function: Logs all extracted or failed search results into the output Google Sheet, performing an appendOrUpdate operation.
🗃️ Sync to Airtable (Airtable n8n node):
Function: Centralizes the final, structured competitive data by performing an Upsert operation into the designated Airtable base, matching records by the 'Company' name.