# Competitors

> The Direct, Suggestions and Ignored tabs, aliases and domains, merging duplicates, and what gets recalculated.

The **Competitors** page lists every business named in answers. Each one's **Relation** decides where it counts.

## Relations and tabs

| Tab | Relation | Counts in the numbers |
|---|---|---|
| **Direct Competitors** | Direct Competitor | yes — tracked on the dashboard, in rankings, Where you're missing, Missing sources |
| **Suggestions** | No relation | in share of voice and positions, as "others" |
| **Ignored** | Ignored | no — left out of every number |

**No relation** is where every new business starts, until you decide; **Suggestions** lists them most mentioned first.
Use **Ignored** for what is not a competitor at all —
directories, marketplaces, businesses from another field: an ignored business is taken out of share of voice and out
of everyone's position, as if the answer had not named it.

Nothing is deleted from this page: a deleted row would come back with the next answer naming it, without its history.
To get rid of a business, ignore it.

## Where they come from

- **Automatically**: every answer is read for the businesses it names — with or without a website. The website is
  kept only when it is the business's own (not a directory or a list it appears in). See
  [How we read an answer](https://survelium.com/docs/data/answer-analysis.md).
- **Automatically, as direct**: on ChatGPT, a business in the same local list (with a map) as you is marked direct,
  while the plan has room (see below). The businesses higher up the list are marked first.
- **Manually**: **Add competitor** — name, website (optional), other domains, aliases and relation.

Automatic rules never change a relation you set yourself.

The columns: Mentions (how many answers named it in the last 90 days), Citations (how many times its sites were cited
in the last 90 days). **+N** next to the domain means it has N more domains. The **Site offline** badge appears when
the website no longer responds.

## Aliases and domains

Edit a competitor (the pencil) to add:

- **Aliases** — other names answers use for it ("Axiotime" for "Axiotime Traduceri"), one per line. They are searched
  for in answers and shown to the detector, so mentions under an alias count for the competitor.
- **Other domains** — other sites the business owns, one per line. A domain belongs to one competitor only.

Renaming a competitor renames its past mentions too, so its history stays in one place.

## Merging duplicates

The same business can end up on several rows — "Global Translations" on two domains, "Axiotime" and "Axiotime
Traduceri". **Possible duplicates**, above the table, groups rows whose names match once generic words (Traduceri,
SRL, Birou, the city…) are left out. Nothing is merged automatically.

To merge, press **Merge** on a group, or check two or more rows and choose **Merge**, then pick the row to keep. The
others are folded into it:

- their mentions, citations and attributes move over, history included — an answer that named two of the rows
  counts once, with the better position;
- their names become aliases and their sites its domains;
- the kept row's relation stays, now as your decision.

A merge cannot be undone. If a suggestion is wrong, press **×** on the row that does not belong, or **Dismiss** for
the whole group; it is not suggested again.

## What happens when you mark one as direct

1. From the next check on, its name and aliases are searched for in every answer.
2. **Answers from the last 30 days are re-read**: its mentions in them are added right away, so you don't wait
   a month for comparable numbers. We don't have the position for these recovered mentions, so they count toward share
   of voice, but not toward average position.
3. Its name no longer appears in suggested prompts, so the questions stay neutral.

## How many brands to mark as direct

Mark the ones you really compare yourself with — the ones a customer would consider instead of you. Between 3 and 10
is a good range for most brands.

Bulk actions: check the rows and choose **Mark Direct**, **Mark Ignored**, **Mark No relation** or **Merge**.

## Direct competitor limit

The plan can limit how many direct competitors **each brand** has (the **Competitors per brand** row on the
[Billing](https://survelium.com/docs/account/billing.md#what-a-plan-limits) page). Only the ones marked "Direct Competitor" count; ignored and
unrelated brands take no slot, however many there are.

At the limit:

- adding, editing, the relation menu on a row and **Mark Direct** on a selection are refused with the message "Your
  plan allows N direct competitors per brand."; a competitor that is already direct takes no new slot;
- the automatic rule from local lists stops marking anyone;
- moving to a smaller plan waits until every brand fits its limit.

To make room, move a competitor to **Ignored** or **No relation**, or merge duplicates. The trial has no limit.