> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.trymeridian.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Competitors
> Compare performance over time and identify where competitors are consistently outranking you.
Competitors helps you understand performance in context. AI answers are often list-based, and you rarely “win” in isolation; you win relative to the brands that appear in the same responses.
## Why Competitors matters
Competitor insights are most useful when you’re trying to answer questions like:
* “Who is taking the top slots for our most important prompts?”
* “Are we losing visibility overall, or are we losing to one specific competitor?”
* “Which competitor spikes correlate with our declines?”
* “Which topics should we invest in next (content, off-page, website fixes)?”
Competitors is best used as a prioritization surface. Once you identify who is winning and where, you typically jump to:
* **Analytics → Prompts** (to inspect the exact runs),
* **Analytics → Citations** (to see which sources support the winners),
* and **Off-page / Website / Content** to execute.
## What you see on the Competitors tab
### 1) Competitor Visibility chart
The chart shows competitor visibility over time for the selected date range. It is designed to help you spot trends and spikes.
#### How to interpret the chart
* If one competitor steadily rises while you drop, they are likely capturing more “recommendation space” for your prompt set.
* If a competitor spikes on specific days, it’s worth checking what changed (new citations, new content, platform changes).
* If all lines move together, that often indicates platform behavior or sourcing changes rather than a single competitor action.
### 2) Competitor table
The table summarizes each competitor’s performance and where they tend to appear.
You’ll typically see:
* **Competitor** (brand)
* **Top prompt** (the prompt where they show up most)
* **Top topic** (the topic where they show up most)
* **Visibility** (how often they appear)
* **Prominence** (their average rank; lower is better)
## Filters (focus your competitive comparison)
Everything in Competitors respects your filters. Use the controls at the top of the page to focus the comparison. For example:
* specific **topics** or **prompt groups**,
* a specific **AI platform/model**,
* a specific **date range** (and Prev. Period),
* or other segments you’ve set up.
Filtering is the fastest way to answer questions like “Which competitors beat us on ChatGPT?” or “Who is winning in this one topic?”
## Adding competitors
Click **Add competitor** to add brands you want to track against.
### Best practices for competitor selection
* Add **3–8 true substitutes** (brands customers would realistically choose instead of you).
* Avoid adding non-competitors “just to monitor them.” Too many competitors can make trends noisy.
* If you manage multiple categories, include competitors relevant to each category.
Your competitor list affects other parts of Meridian. For example, Off-page Outreach filters out competitor domains based on this list. If a competitor shows up in Outreach, adding them here will filter them out going forward.
## Removing competitors
If you want to remove a competitor, use the delete action in the table (or the competitor row actions, depending on your UI). You’ll see a confirmation modal.
Removing a competitor:
* stops tracking them in competitor charts and tables,
* and updates downstream filters that depend on competitor set (for example, Outreach filtering).
## How to turn competitor insights into actions
Competitor wins usually come from one (or more) of these drivers:
### 1) Source advantage (they are cited more often)
If competitors are supported by strong editorial or social sources, they will often outrank you even if your owned content is good.
**What to do:**
* Go to **Analytics → Citations** and see which domains/URLs are driving answers for your prompts.
* Use **Off-page → Outreach** to pursue inclusion in the same high-impact editorial sources.
* Use **Off-page → Engage** if social sources are a meaningful driver in your category.
### 2) Format advantage (their content matches the prompt better)
If your prompts are “best X” or “X vs Y” and competitors have better comparison structure, they often win.
**What to do:**
* Use **Opportunities** to generate the right content format (listicle, comparison, guide).
* Use **Content** to produce and publish a piece that matches the prompt intent (criteria, “best for,” trade-offs).
### 3) Positioning advantage (their narrative matches criteria)
If AI answers emphasize criteria like fees, trust, reliability, or customer support, competitors win when they have clearer proof and better narrative coverage.
**What to do:**
* Use **Analytics → Sentiment** to see which dimensions are driving narrative.
* Improve “source pages” on your site (Website → Pages) so your differentiators are easy to cite.
Competitors tells you “who is winning and where.” The fastest path to action is to jump from a competitor’s top prompt into run-level evidence in Prompts.