Tracking competitors in AI: see who ChatGPT and Gemini recommend

Tracking competitors in AI (competitor tracking) means regularly asking AI assistants the same customer questions and noting which businesses are mentioned, how often and in which position. That shows you who AI recommends instead of you, whether new players are appearing and which sources explain their visibility. It gives you a benchmark and concrete ideas for improvement.

Why track competitors in AI?

An AI assistant usually does not give a long list of ten results like Google. It often names just a few. If you are not among them, someone else is. So your own score only really means something when you put it next to your competitors' scores.

Your competitors in AI are also not always the ones you know. An online store selling garden furniture may see a large comparison site or a foreign shop in the answers. A municipality may see a regional website or a national organisation. AI decides who takes part, not you.

What exactly do you measure?

With competitor tracking you look at a few fixed points:

• Mentions. How often is a competitor mentioned for your questions?
• Share of voice. What share of all mentions goes to you, and what share to your competitors? Read more about share of voice in AI.
• Position. Is a competitor mentioned first, or somewhere near the bottom?
• Per model. A competitor may be strong in ChatGPT and almost invisible in Perplexity. That difference tells you something about their sources.
• Per question. A competitor often wins mainly on one type of question, such as questions about price or urgency.

How to set up a benchmark

You can do this by hand or with a tool. The steps are the same.

1. Choose five to ten customer questions. Use questions customers really ask. For example: "Which plumber in Zwolle also does emergency jobs at the weekend?".
2. Ask them to several models. For example ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. Always use the same wording.
3. Note every name mentioned. Not just the competitors you already know, but every organisation that comes up.
4. Repeat this every week. AI answers fluctuate. Only after a few measurements will you see a pattern.
5. Work out your share. Count how often everyone is mentioned and calculate your share.

After a month you have a first benchmark. From then on you can see whether you are catching up or losing ground.

Discovering new competitors

One of the most useful things about competitor tracking is that you discover players who were not on your list. Look out for:

• a new business that suddenly appears for several questions;
• a comparison site or directory that is often given as an answer;
• a competitor from another region that AI still recommends in your town.

A new name like that is a signal. Look at what has recently appeared about them online. Often it is a new website, a batch of reviews or a mention in an article.

What can you learn from competitors?

The aim is not to copy, but to understand why AI chooses them. Ask yourself these questions:

• Which sources does AI cite next to their name? Look at which websites appear in the citations. Are they listed in a trade directory, a local news article or a list where you are missing? Read more about mentions on other sites.
• How do they describe themselves? Strong competitors often say very clearly on their website what they do, for whom and where.
• What are their reviews like? Plenty of recent, detailed reviews help AI recommend a business.
• Which questions do they answer? Do they have pages on topics you do not cover? Then there is a content gap.

Our article on why AI mentions your competitor looks at the most common causes in more detail.

From insight to action

A benchmark is only useful if you act on it. Choose one or two concrete actions per month. For example:

• ask for a listing on a site that AI often cites for your competitors;
• write a page that answers a question your competitor is currently winning;
• ask happy customers for a review with details about your service;
• make your business details the same everywhere.

Then measure whether your share changes. This takes patience, because AI does not pick up changes straight away.

Frequently asked questions

How many competitors should I track?
Start with three to five direct competitors. Add new names as soon as AI mentions them more often.

Is it fine to ask AI about my competitors?
Yes. You are simply asking the questions a customer would ask. There is nothing wrong with that.

What if a competitor wins everywhere?
Then look per question and per model. There are usually questions or models where you do have opportunities. Start there.

See who AI recommends in your market

Curious which competitors AI mentions for your customer questions right now? The free AI check shows you for five questions across four models. With GEO tracking you follow your share of voice every week, see the sources AI cites and, on Pro and Agency, get an alert when AI starts mentioning a new competitor.