How to get 1-2 spot in Google if you build alternative to existing BIG COMPANY

Hi guys, I am Iuliia, and I am building tools in public last 10 months.

90% of the time I am trying to figure out how to nail the distribution

So, here I wanna share the way how you can hack Google if you building alternative to "BIG COMPANY"

So one of the project I work, Papermark.io is an open-source alternative to DocSend.

As an early stage startup, we decide the main thing we need to get is to rank for the keywords alternative.

But competition was high.

We wrote articles and create pages but did not rank not so well, and got 7-8 position.

So, ok, do we need to improve content? or what else we can do?

Because difference of being on the 6 position and 1-2 is huge, especially because when users get into reading articles in first spots they never reach us.

So what did we do?

We put the words " Alternative to Docsend" in our main header on the landing page.
Check it on our page.

So, in couple of months we started ranking on 2.5 and on today on 1.5.
It is a bit fluctuating still.

Downsides:

1. Only for early stage
2. Temporary solution
3. If people don't know about big product can be confusing
4. Promoting competitor

Despite all the downsides it is a solid way for early stage companies got in front of users with string buying intent