Competitors Dashboard

The Competitors dashboard allows you to manage the competitors tracked for your property. Competitors are brands that AI platforms mention alongside yours when answering discovery queries.

What You'll Learn

In this guide, you'll learn:

• How competitors are identified
• How to add, edit, and remove competitors
• How competitor data is used in reports
• Best practices for competitor tracking

How Competitors Are Identified

When you run an AI Visibility Report, Spyglasses analyzes which other brands are mentioned in AI responses to your discovery queries. We automatically assemble an initial list of competitors based on these mentions.

For example, if you're a project management tool and AI frequently mentions Asana, Monday.com, and Trello alongside your brand, these become your tracked competitors.

Competitor List

The main table shows all competitors with:

Adding Competitors

To manually add a competitor:

1. Click "Add Competitor"
2. Enter the company name
3. Enter their domain
4. Save

Naming Best Practices

Use the trade name, not the legal name. You want to use the name AI is most likely to identify.

AI assistants use casual brand names in responses. Match that convention.

Domain Importance

The domain is used to:

• Match citation sources: When AI cites a page, we check if it's from a competitor's domain
• Verify rankings: We check competitor domains in grounding search results
• Track authority: Domain-level citations indicate competitor strength

Enter the primary domain (e.g., asana.com not www.asana.com or https://asana.com).

Editing Competitors

Click a competitor or the edit icon to modify:

• Company Name: How the competitor is displayed
• Domain: Domain for citation matching
• Notes: Internal notes about this competitor

Deactivating Competitors

If you don't want a competitor used in future reports but want to keep historical data:

1. Click edit on the competitor
2. Toggle "Active" off or click "Deactivate"
3. Save

Deactivated competitors:

• Won't appear in new reports
• Retain all historical data
• Can be reactivated later
• Still show in historical reports where they appeared

Use deactivation when:

• A competitor is no longer relevant
• The company was acquired or shut down
• You want to simplify your competitor set temporarily

Deleting Competitors

To permanently remove a competitor:

1. Click the delete icon
2. Confirm deletion

Note: Deleted competitors will still appear in historical reports where they were included. Deletion only prevents them from appearing in future analysis.

How Competitor Data Is Used

Share of Voice Calculation

Your Share of Voice (SOV) is calculated relative to tracked competitors:

• SOV = Your mentions / (Your mentions + Competitor mentions)
• More competitors dilutes each brand's SOV
• Accurate competitor tracking gives meaningful SOV

Gap Analysis

The AI Visibility Rankings dashboard shows grounding searches where competitors rank but you don't. This requires accurate competitor domains to identify overlapping rankings.

Citation Analysis

Citation Intelligence shows third-party sources. Competitor domains appearing as citation sources indicate they're building authority in your space.

Historical Trends

Historical metrics track competitor SOV over time, showing whether you're gaining or losing ground.

Best Practices

Start With Top 5 Competitors

Don't add every brand in your space. Focus on:

• Direct competitors (same product, same market)
• Competitors that frequently appear in AI responses
• Competitors you're actively trying to beat

Review Auto-Detected Competitors

After your first report, review the automatically detected competitors:

• Are they actually competitors or just related brands?
• Are any important competitors missing?
• Are any brands incorrectly categorized?

Keep List Current

Markets change. Periodically review your competitor list:

• Add emerging competitors
• Deactivate acquired companies
• Update names if rebranded

Verify Domains

Incorrect domains break citation matching. Verify:

• The domain is the competitor's primary website
• No typos in the domain
• Domain hasn't changed (acquisitions, rebrands)

Consider Different Competitive Sets

You may compete with different brands for different queries:

• Feature-based competition
• Price-based competition
• Market segment competition

Consider what competitors matter most for your key discovery queries.

Troubleshooting

Competitor Not Appearing in Reports

If a competitor should appear but doesn't:

1. Verify they're marked active
2. Check the domain is correct
3. Run a new report (historical reports don't update)

Too Many Competitors Diluting SOV

If your SOV seems artificially low:

1. Review competitor list for relevance
2. Deactivate tangential competitors
3. Focus on direct competition

Missing Competitor Data

If competitor mention counts seem low:

1. Verify company name matches AI usage
2. Check domain for citation matching
3. Review discovery queries for relevance

Related

• AI Visibility Reports - See competitor mentions in reports
• AI Visibility Rankings - Compare rankings against competitors
• Historical Metrics - Track competitive trends
• Discovery Queries - Set queries that surface competitors