Step 1. Start from who the engines name
Read the rival line of your free audit result, and the candidates the Competitors page suggests. They come from the answers, not from a list you guessed: as the audit itself puts it, “the rivals come from what the engines name”. A brand that keeps being named instead of you is a rival in the answers, whether or not you think of it as one.
Step 2. Approve the rivals your buyers weigh you against
Approve the rivals your buyers really compare you with, and dismiss the rest. A rival your buyers never consider only adds noise to every comparison, and a missing one hides who is chosen instead of you.
Step 3. Give each rival its website and every name
In Brand Settings›Competitors, open each rival and add its website and its names under Also known as: other spellings and short forms, pressing Enter after each one, up to 10 for each rival. A name you leave out is a mention aSERP cannot count for that rival.
Step 4. Keep the set focused
Track the rivals that matter to the decision, within your plan (see Plans). Every rival you add is compared with you on the same answers, so a focused set gives a cleaner comparison than a long one.
Step 5. Know why it matters
Share of answer and the Competitive Visibility recommendation need approved rivals: without them, there is no one to compare you with. Until you approve some, aSERP's readiness checklist shows Approve competitors to compare against.
Check it worked
Right away
Each rival appears in Brand Settings›Competitors with its website and its names, marked Measured or Not measured yet.
In aSERP
From the next scan, each rival's figures fill in as answers mention it; as aSERP puts it, “Measurements appear once AI answers start mentioning it.” Then read your figures beside theirs in the competitor table on the Overview, one engine at a time with the Platform filter.
With the free audit
The audit's rival line shows who was named instead of you in its one capture. It cannot follow a rival over time.
If nothing moved
If a rival still shows Not measured yet, no measured answer has named it yet under the names you gave. Read the answers on the Topics page to see how engines actually write its name, and add those spellings to its Also known as.
What not to do
- Don't track rivals your buyers never consider.
- Don't leave out the names engines actually use for a rival.
- Don't judge a rival on one day of answers.