Uncover How Rivals Rank in AI Search

Most teams know who their business competitors are. Fewer know who's actually beating them in AI search. The domains showing up when someone asks ChatGPT for recommendations in your space might not be who you expect.

This workflow fixes that blind spot. Over the next 5-7 days, you'll build a complete picture of your competitive landscape: who's winning, where they're winning, and exactly what you need to do to take that visibility back.

Phase 1: Map Your Competitive Landscape

Before you can compete, you need to know who you're competing against. And in AI search, that's often not who you think.

There are two types of competitors to track. Direct competitors are the obvious ones: companies selling similar products to similar people. SERP competitors are trickier. These are domains that keep appearing in AI responses for your target prompts, even if they're not actually competing for your customers. A media site, an industry blog, or a comparison platform might be eating your visibility without you realizing it.

Auto-Discover Your SERP Competitors

Use the Searchable Agent to identify who's actually showing up:

Analyze my current visibility data and identify:
1. The top 10 domains that appear most frequently in AI responses for my tracked prompts
2. Classify each as either a direct business competitor or SERP-only competitor
3. Show me how often each appears vs. how often I appear
4. Identify any surprise competitors I might not have considered

The Agent will query your visibility data and use DataForSEO to identify domains competing for your prompts.

Add Competitors to Your Project

Once you've identified your competitors, add them in Settings → Project Settings → Competitors. Mark each as either a direct competitor (competing for business) or a SERP competitor (competing for visibility only). This distinction matters for how you'll approach each one.

Phase 2: Keyword Gap Analysis

Now that you know who you're competing against, it's time to understand where they're beating you.

Run Comprehensive Keyword Analysis

Use the Agent to map out the gaps:

Run a detailed keyword gap analysis comparing my domain against my top 3 
competitors. I want to see:

1. Keywords they rank for that I don't rank for at all
2. Keywords where they significantly outrank me (10+ positions better)
3. Keywords where I'm in striking distance (positions 11-20)
4. High-volume keywords with low difficulty I could target

For each keyword, include: search volume, difficulty score, my current rank, 
competitor rank, and estimated traffic potential.

Understand the Gap Matrix

The analysis produces four quadrants you need to think about differently:

Prioritize What to Steal

Not all competitor keywords are worth pursuing. Ask the Agent to help prioritize:

From the keyword gap analysis, identify the top 10 keywords I should 
prioritize stealing from competitors. Consider:

1. Search volume (higher is better)
2. Keyword difficulty (lower is better for quick wins)
3. Commercial intent (buying keywords > informational)
4. Relevance to my business
5. Competitor position weakness (positions 5-20 are steal-able)

Rank them by opportunity score and explain why each is worth pursuing.

Phase 3: AI Platform Visibility Comparison

Different AI platforms have different preferences. A competitor might dominate you on ChatGPT but lose to you on Perplexity. Understanding these platform-level differences tells you where to focus.

Compare Platform-by-Platform Performance

Check Dashboard → Visibility → Platform Breakdown to see how you stack up:

Analyze Why Competitors Win on Specific Platforms

When a competitor beats you on a specific platform, you need to understand why:

Compare my visibility on ChatGPT vs [Competitor A] who scores higher. 
Analyze:

1. What prompts do they get mentioned on that I don't?
2. What content do they have that AI cites?
3. Are there specific content formats they use that perform better?
4. What citations/sources does ChatGPT use when mentioning them?
5. What specific changes would help me compete on this platform?

Platform-Specific Strategies

Each AI platform has its own preferences:

ChatGPT favors well-structured content with clear definitions and comprehensive coverage. Create definitive guides and answer questions directly in the first paragraph.

Claude favors nuanced, accurate content with citations. Include source references and balanced perspectives.

Gemini leans heavily on content that ranks well in traditional Google Search. Standard SEO best practices still apply here.

Perplexity favors current, up-to-date information with citations. Keep content fresh and include clear source links.

Phase 4: Content Strategy Analysis

You've identified the keyword gaps. Now you need to understand why competitors are winning those keywords.

Analyze Competitor Content

Use the Agent to reverse-engineer what's working for them:

Analyze the content strategy of [Competitor A]. I want to understand:

1. What types of content do they publish most? (guides, comparisons, tutorials, etc.)
2. What topics do they cover that I don't?
3. What's their average content depth/length?
4. Do they use structured data/schema?
5. What internal linking patterns do they use?
6. Where do they get cited by AI?

Use web crawling to analyze their top pages.

Identify Differentiation Opportunities

You don't want to just copy competitors. You want to beat them:

Based on the competitor content analysis, identify 5 content differentiation 
opportunities where I can create something better than competitors:

1. Outdated competitor content I can update
2. Topics they cover superficially that I can go deeper on
3. Perspectives or angles they're missing
4. Formats they don't use that could perform well
5. Questions their content doesn't answer well

For each opportunity, give me a specific content title and angle.

Create Competitive Content Briefs

Once you've identified opportunities, get detailed briefs:

Create a detailed content brief for the top opportunity identified: 
"[Topic from previous analysis]"

Include:
- Target keyword and secondary keywords
- Content structure with H2/H3 headings
- Key questions to answer
- Points to differentiate from [Competitor A]'s coverage
- Specific facts/stats to include
- Schema markup recommendations
- Internal linking opportunities
- Word count target
- AEO optimization checklist

Phase 5: Backlink & Authority Gap Analysis

Content quality matters, but so does authority. If competitors have significantly more backlinks from authoritative sources, you'll need to close that gap.

Compare Domain Authority

Compare the domain authority and backlink profiles between my domain and 
my top 3 competitors. Show me:

1. Domain Authority/Rating comparison
2. Total backlink count comparison
3. Referring domains count
4. Top linking domains for each competitor
5. Link velocity (are they building links faster than me?)

Identify Link Opportunities

The best link opportunities are often hiding in plain sight: sites that link to your competitors but not to you.

Find backlink opportunities by analyzing where competitors get links that 
I don't have. Identify:

1. High-authority sites linking to competitors but not me
2. Resource pages in my industry
3. Guest posting opportunities
4. Unlinked brand mentions I could convert
5. Broken links on competitor pages I could reclaim

Prioritize by domain authority and relevance.

Create Your Outreach List

Turn opportunities into actionable outreach:

Create an outreach target list for link building based on the opportunities 
found. For each target, provide:

1. Domain name and URL
2. Domain authority
3. Why they'd link to me (what value can I offer?)
4. Suggested outreach angle
5. Priority (high/medium/low)

Export this as a structured list I can use for outreach.

Phase 6: Strategic Positioning

You've gathered the data. Now it's time to decide how you're going to compete.

Determine Your Market Position

Based on your keyword share analysis, figure out where you stand:

Market Leader (40%+ keyword share): Focus on defending your position and owning category keywords. Maintain comprehensive coverage and stay current.

Strong Challenger (20-40% share): Match competitor coverage but execute better. Outdo them on quality and depth.

Niche Player (10-20% share): Own specific segments and expand into adjacent areas. Build deep expertise in chosen niches.

Emerging (under 10% share): Be a fast follower and learn from leaders. Focus on quick wins and underserved topics.

Define Your Differentiation Strategy

Based on all the competitive analysis we've done, recommend a differentiation 
strategy for my brand. Consider:

1. What unique strengths do I have that competitors don't?
2. What market gaps exist that I could fill?
3. What positioning statement would differentiate me?
4. What 3 key messages should I emphasize?
5. What content pillars should I build around?

Be specific and actionable.

Create Competitive Battle Cards

For each major competitor, create a reference document you can use:

Create a competitive battle card for [Competitor A] that I can reference 
when creating content or talking to customers. Include:

1. Their core offering and positioning
2. Their main strengths (what they do well)
3. Their weaknesses (where they fall short)
4. My advantages over them
5. Specific talking points/differentiators
6. Keywords to target against them
7. Content angles that position me favorably

Phase 7: Implement & Monitor

Competitive analysis isn't a one-time exercise. You need systems to turn insights into action and keep tracking changes over time.

Turn Insights into Tasks

Use the Agent to create actionable work:

Based on our competitive analysis, create 10 actionable tasks for the next 
30 days. Prioritize by:
- Expected visibility impact
- Effort required
- Competitive urgency

Add these to my task list.

Set Up Ongoing Monitoring

Searchable automatically tracks your visibility vs. competitors on each prompt, share of voice changes over time, and new prompts where competitors appear.

Build a weekly review habit. Every week, check:

• Share of voice trends
• New competitor content
• Ranking position changes
• Citation changes in AI responses

Monthly Competitive Review

Once a month, run a comprehensive check:

Provide a monthly competitive review. Compare:

1. My visibility changes vs. competitors this month
2. Keywords I gained or lost vs. competitors
3. New content they published that performed well
4. Opportunities I should pursue next month
5. Threats I should address

Recommend strategy adjustments based on the data.

Success Metrics

Track these metrics to measure your competitive improvement:

Where to Go Next

Once you've completed this competitive analysis, there are several paths forward:

AEO Strategy if you need to build out your complete AI visibility roadmap.

Content Gap & Planning if you're ready to create content based on the opportunities you've identified.

Create Task List if you need to break this down into specific, assignable tasks for your team.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I run competitive analysis?

Do a deep dive like this every quarter. But set up weekly monitoring so you catch major changes quickly. If a competitor launches a major content push or your share of voice drops suddenly, you want to know immediately.

What if I have too many competitors to track?

Focus on 3-5 direct competitors and 3-5 SERP competitors. More than that and you'll spread yourself too thin. Prioritize by who shows up most often in AI responses for your highest-value prompts.

Should I analyze business competitors or SERP competitors first?

Start with whoever is actually showing up in AI responses for your target prompts. Sometimes your biggest visibility threat isn't a direct business competitor at all.

How do I know if my competitive strategy is working?

Track share of voice over time. If you're gaining ground on competitors for your priority keywords and showing up more often in AI responses, you're on the right track. If not, revisit your strategy.