Competitor Tracking

Know who you're competing against. Keep it consistent across reports.

Maintain a curated list of competitor domains for each client. Use that list to power competitor insights inside SEO reports—so benchmarking stays consistent, focused, and client-ready.

What you get

Store and manage competitor domains per client (agency-friendly)
Use competitor insights inside shareable SEO reports
Keep competitor benchmarking consistent across reporting periods

Add My Competitors View competitor insights in reports

5-8

Recommended Competitors

<1 min

Setup Time

Per-client

Competitor Lists

“Having consistent competitor lists across reports makes period-over-period comparisons actually meaningful. No more scrambling to remember who we tracked last month.”

— Michael S., SEO Director

What Competitor Tracking Does (and What It Does Not)

Competitor Tracking lets you maintain a structured list of competitor domains for each client. That list powers the competitor sections in your reports.

What It Does

Stores competitor domains per client
Each client has their own competitor set, scoped to their account.
Powers competitor reporting
When you generate reports, the competitor section draws from this list.
Keeps benchmarking consistent
The same competitor set carries across reporting periods, so comparisons stay meaningful.

What It Does Not Do

This is not a standalone ad spy tool or a guarantee of ranking positions. It's a structured competitor set used for consistent reporting and benchmarking. If you need real-time ad monitoring or daily rank tracking against competitors, that's a different category of tool.

Competitor Tracking is designed to answer "how do we compare to these specific competitors?" rather than "who's bidding on what keywords right now?"

Competitors Are Stored Per Client

Competitors are first-class records in SearchSignal, scoped to individual clients. Here's how they're structured.

What You Store

Field	Description
Competitor domain	The website URL you're tracking (required)
Competitor name	A readable label for reporting (optional)
Notes	Why this competitor matters, what they compete on (optional)
Category tag	Direct, aspirational, service-line specific (optional)

Client-Scoped Storage

Every competitor belongs to a specific client. When you add competitors, they're stored against that client's record. Competitors from Client A never appear in Client B's reports.

This structure supports agencies managing many clients without competitor lists mixing across accounts.

How to Choose Competitors (and How Many to Add)

Not all competitors belong on the list. Here's how to build a useful set.

Recommended Competitor Types

Direct organic competitors

Sites that consistently appear for the same queries your client targets. These are the competitors that matter most for SEO reporting.

Service-line competitors

Sites that compete on a specific service or product category, even if they don't overlap across the entire business.

Aspirational competitors

Bigger players you want to benchmark against—industry leaders or sites with strong organic presence. Keep these labeled separately so they don't skew comparisons.

Recommended Counts

5Start with 5-8 direct competitors. This keeps reporting focused and comparisons meaningful.
+Add 2-5 aspirational competitors only if you label them clearly. Don't mix them with direct competitors.
QRevisit quarterly. Or after major positioning changes, site redesigns, or market shifts.

How to Find the Right Set

Use Search Console data. Look at your client's top queries and landing pages. Search those themes and see who consistently appears. Those are organic competitors.
Use sales-team input as a secondary source. The competitors sales teams mention are often business competitors (same market, different positioning) rather than organic competitors (same queries, same SERPs). Include them if relevant, but don't make them the whole list.
Avoid vanity competitors. Adding Amazon or Wikipedia to a local service business's competitor list doesn't produce useful benchmarks.

Competitor Insights Inside SEO Reports

Competitors power a dedicated section in your reports. Here's how it works.

When Insights Update

Competitor insights update when you generate or refresh reports. The system pulls current data for the competitors in your list and populates the report's competitor section.

This is not real-time always-on monitoring. Insights reflect the state at the time of report generation.

What the Report Section Includes

Competitor list and snapshot

Which competitors are included and basic context. Useful for clients who need to see who they're being compared against.

Competitor comparisons

High-level benchmarks where data is available. Helps answer "are we gaining or losing ground?"

Notes and takeaways

What changed since the last reporting period. Trends, shifts, or notable movements.

Suggested actions

What to do next based on competitor gaps. Connects insights to optimization priorities.

Client-Facing Reports

Clients see competitor insights in shared report links. They get the same section you do—competitor list, comparisons, and takeaways—without needing a login.

Set Up Competitor Tracking in Minutes

Getting started is straightforward.

Create or Open a Client

Navigate to the client you want to add competitors for. If the client doesn't exist yet, create them first.

Add Competitor Domains

Go to the Competitors section and add domains. Start with 5-8 direct competitors. You can add more later.

Label Competitors by Type

Tag competitors as direct, aspirational, or service-line specific. This helps when reviewing reports—you'll know which comparisons matter most.

Generate or Refresh a Report

Generate a report for the client. The competitor section will populate with insights based on your competitor list.

Competitors are client-scoped. Once added, they're available for every report you generate for that client.

Troubleshooting Competitor Insights

When competitor data doesn't look right, here's where to check.

Competitors Don't Show Up in the Report

Likely cause: No competitors added to the client's list.

Fix: Go to the client's Competitors section, add domains, then refresh the report.

Competitor Section Looks Outdated

Likely cause: Report snapshot hasn't been refreshed.

Fix: Refresh the report to pull current data. Competitor insights update when reports are regenerated.

Wrong Competitors in the Report

Likely cause: Business competitors were added instead of organic competitors.

Fix: Replace domains with sites that actually appear for the client's target queries. Business competitors and organic competitors are often different.

Client Cannot See Competitor Section in Shared Report

Likely cause: The report link is valid, but the competitor section depends on the report's snapshot.

Fix: Refresh the report to ensure competitor data is current, then confirm the shared link reflects the update.

Competitor Results Look Inconsistent Across Periods

Likely cause: Competitor list changed between reports, or comparisons span different date ranges.

Fix: Keep the competitor list stable across reporting periods for meaningful comparisons. Only add or remove competitors when there's a real strategic reason.