How to add competition

Learn how to add competitors in Semly and how to use competition analysis to check your brand’s visibility in AI answers.

Competition in Semly helps you understand which brands your company appears with in AI model answers. This way you can check whether AI recommends your brand more often, your competitors, or other companies in the same category.

In Semly, you add a competitor using the URL of their main website. This way the system can clearly link the competitor to the correct domain.

It’s best to provide the competitor’s main domain, not a link to a single product, category, or article.

Why is it worth adding competitors?

AI models often answer users in the form of recommendations or comparisons. If a user asks about the best store, service, product, or platform, AI can point to several brands at the same time.

Example:

or:

In these kinds of answers, what matters is not only whether your brand appears. It also matters whether it shows up higher than the competition, whether it’s described positively, and whether it appears with prompts that have high purchase intent.

Adding competitors lets you check:

• which brands the AI recommends alongside your brand

• which brands appear instead of your brand

• for which prompts the competition has the upper hand

• how often your brand appears together with competitors

• where your brand has visibility gaps

• whether your actions are improving your position versus the competition

Competitors in Semly aren’t just for comparing brands. They help you find specific prompts and sources where your brand can improve its visibility.

Where to find the Competition section?

To go to the competition analysis:

1. Log in to the Semly panel.

2. Go to the Competition section.

3. Check the list of added competitors.

4. Click a chosen competitor to see a detailed comparison.

In the Competition section you’ll see, among other things:

• competitor’s name

• number of mentions of your brand

• number of mentions of the competitor

• number of shared mentions

• date the competitor was added

• button to go to details

How to add a competitor?

To add a competitor:

1. Go to the Competition

2. Click Add competitor

3. Enter the URL of the competitor’s main page

4. Check if the address leads to the right brand

5. Save the competitor

It’s best to provide the competitor’s main domain, not a link to a single product, category, or article.

Examples:

Good:

Bad:

How to choose competitors to monitor?

You don’t have to add every company in the market. To start, pick a few competitors that matter the most for your analysis.

It’s worth adding:

• direct competitors

• category leaders

• brands often compared to your company

• companies visible in AI answers

• marketplaces or platforms appearing in the same category

• local competitors if you operate locally

• premium brands if you want to compare positioning

• budget brands if you compete on price

Example for a furniture store:

• IKEA

• Agata

• Black Red White

• Abra

• Beliani

Example for an e-commerce platform:

• Shopify

• Shoptet

• RedCart

• WooCommerce

• PrestaShop

Example for a supplements store:

• SFD

• Olimp Store

• SportFuel

• Muscle Power

• GymBeam

A good set of competitors should show the real market environment of your brand, not just the biggest companies in the industry.

How many competitors should you add at the start?

At the beginning it's best to add a few of the most important competitors and expand the list over time.

Recommended start:

• 3 to 5 direct competitors

• 1 to 2 market leaders

• 1 to 2 brands detected in AI answers

• 1 marketplace or platform, if it shows up often in your category

It’s not worth starting with a very long list. Too many competitors can make the analysis harder and scatter your focus.

In every plan you can monitor up to 10 closest competitors.

Direct competitors and AI competitors

In Semly it’s worth telling apart two types of competitors.

Direct competitors

These are companies you know from the market that offer similar products or services.

Example:

Competitors detected in AI

These are brands that often show up in AI model answers, even if they weren’t obvious competitors before.

Example:

Don’t ignore brands detected in AI answers. Sometimes they’re the ones actually capturing the user’s attention, even if they’re not your traditional competition.

What do competitor occurrences mean?

In the competition section you can see a few important values.

Occurrences of only your brand

Shows how many times your brand appeared in AI answers without the analyzed competitor being mentioned at the same time.

Occurrences of only the competitor

Shows how many times the analyzed competitor appeared in AI answers without your brand being mentioned at the same time.

Joint occurrences

They show how many times your brand and the competitor appeared in the same answer.

Example:

Shared occurrences help you check whether AI treats your brand and the competitor as alternatives in the same category.

How to read the competitor comparison?

When you click on a competitor, you’ll see a detailed comparison of their visibility with your brand.

In the details you can check:

• visibility chart of both brands

• the number of occurrences of your brand

• the number of occurrences of the competitor

• prompts where you both appear together

• prompts where only your brand appears

• prompts where only the competitor appears

• the brand’s position in the answers

• visibility for a specific prompt

• sentiment

Shared prompts

Shared prompts show the questions where the AI mentions both your brand and the competitor.

This is an important area because it shows where the AI understands you as alternatives for the same user problem.

Example:

If your brand and a competitor show up in the answer to a question like this, it’s worth checking:

• who appears higher

• who has a better sentiment

• who is described more specifically

• what advantages does the AI point out

• what sources the model uses

Shared prompts show you where you can realistically fight for a higher position in AI recommendations.

Prompts only for your brand

Prompts only for your brand show questions where your brand appears in AI answers, and the chosen competitor doesn’t show up.

This can mean an advantage in that area.

It’s worth checking:

• why does AI point to your brand

• does the answer have a positive sentiment

• is your position high

• what sources support this visibility

• does this area have sales potential

Example:

Prompts only for the competitor

Prompts only for the competitor show questions where the competitor appears in AI answers and your brand doesn’t show up.

This is one of the most important sections of competitor analysis because it shows visibility gaps.

It’s worth checking:

• what questions give the competitor an advantage

• are these purchase prompts

• does the competitor have better sources

• does your site answer that question

• is it worth preparing new content

• is there missing information in the brand profile

• are the product data detailed enough

Competitor-only prompts are often the best starting point for planning new content and recommendations.

How to find visibility gaps compared to the competition?

A visibility gap appears when a competitor shows up in AI answers for an important question and your brand isn’t mentioned.

To find such gaps:

1. Dig into the competitor’s details

2. Check the prompts where only the competitor appears

3. Choose prompts with high purchase intent

4. Check the sources used by the AI

5. Analyze the content of the model’s answer

6. Check if Semly generated recommendations for this area, and if not, generate 2–3 pieces of content for this topic

Actions can include:

• improving brand data

• completing product descriptions

• creating a new article

• expanding the knowledge base

• improving the site structure

• gaining presence in key sources

• updating the product feed

• adding new prompts

The best opportunities to improve visibility are prompts where competitors show up a lot, but your brand doesn’t appear at all.

How to analyze your position vs. competitors?

Just showing up in the answer isn’t enough. It also matters in which position the brand is mentioned.

Example of an AI answer:

1. Competitor A

2. Your brand

3. Competitor B

In this case your brand is visible, but it’s not the first recommendation.

It’s worth analyzing:

• whether your brand appears before the competitor

• whether the competitor appears before your brand

• how often you’re in position #1

• for which prompts the competitor wins the position

• whether a high position is tied to positive sentiment

The best result is not just a mention. The biggest value comes from a high position on prompts that are close to the purchase decision.

How to analyze sentiment versus the competition?

Sentiment shows what tone AI uses to describe the brand.

It can be:

• positive

• neutral

• negative

When comparing sentiment with the competition, check:

• whether AI describes your brand in a positive way

• whether the competitor has better sentiment

• what advantages AI points out for the competitor

• whether your brand is described too vaguely

• whether any limitations or gaps are mentioned

• whether AI has enough data about your brand

Example:

What to do if the competition shows up more often?

If the competition has greater visibility, start by analyzing the reasons.

Check:

• for which prompts the competition wins

• whether these are purchase prompts

• what sources support the competition

• whether your brand has complete data

• whether the products are well described

• whether the website answers these questions

• whether you have content for the most important customer intents

• whether Semly indicates recommendations to implement

Then take action:

• improve your brand profile

• fill in product data (online stores only)

• generate content for prompts with a visibility gap using Content Generator in Semly

• check competitor sources

• expand your knowledge base

• monitor position changes over time

Higher competitor visibility doesn’t always mean that the competitor has a better offer. It often means that AI has more structured information about them or uses sources where the competitor is described in more detail.

When should you update your list of competitors?

It’s worth updating your competitors list regularly, especially when the market changes or when report results change.

Update competitors when:

• a new competitor appears

• you enter a new market

• you add a new product category

• you change your target group

• AI often shows a brand you’re not monitoring

• a competitor stops being relevant

• you want to analyze a separate market segment

• you see new brands in AI answers

It’s worth adding competitors that actually show up in AI answers, even if they weren’t on your classic competition list before.

What to do after adding competition?

After adding competitors, go to comparative analysis.

Check:

• do competitors appear in AI answers

• for which prompts do you appear together

• where does only your brand show up

• where does only the competitor show up

• who has a better position

• who has better sentiment

• what sources support the competition

• what recommendations does Semly suggest for visibility gaps

Related articles

Summary

Adding competitors lets you check how your brand compares to other companies in AI answers.

Key rules:

• add competitor URLs to their main pages e.g. https://ikea.com

• start with a few most important competitors

• analyze common prompts and prompts used only by the competitor

• pay attention to position and sentiment

• check the sources that support the competition

• use visibility gaps to create content and implement recommendations

Competition analysis in Semly helps you understand not only who is visible in AI, but also why a given brand appears more often and what you can do to improve your own position.