> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.surnex.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Add a competitor

> Add competitor domains to a project and remove ones you no longer track.

**Competitors** is a single list of domains, shared by every comparison feature in the project.

## Add a domain

Type the domain into the field at the top — `competitor.com` — and click **Add**. It appears in the list immediately.

Enter the bare domain. There's no name field on this form: the list shows a name only if one came from elsewhere, such as [project creation](/projects/add).

You can also seed competitors when you create the project, where up to **10** are accepted and validated as you type. Adding them there means their first data arrives in the project's initial collection run rather than a day later.

## Remove a domain

Click the trash icon on a row and confirm *"Stop tracking competitor.com?"*.

Removing a competitor drops its column from the [tracking comparison](/tracking/competitors) and excludes it from the other features that read this list. Historical data collected for that domain is no longer shown.

## What the list feeds

| Feature                                      | Uses this list?                                                          |
| -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| [Tracking comparison](/tracking/competitors) | Yes, automatically — one column per competitor                           |
| [GEO competitors](/geo/competitors)          | Yes                                                                      |
| [Citation gap](/ai/citation-gap)             | Only via its **Load saved competitors** button, which pulls the first 10 |
| [Backlink gap](/backlinks/gap)               | **No** — domains are typed in on that page, up to 4 per run              |

<Note>
  [Backlink gap](/backlinks/gap) is the exception. It takes competitor domains as ad-hoc input on its own page and doesn't read this list or pre-fill from it, so a domain added here still has to be typed in there. The upside is you can gap-test a domain without committing it to the project.
</Note>

## When data appears

Competitor positions are read from the same search results as your own during a [rank check](/tracking/overview), so a competitor added today has no comparison data until the next check runs — the next morning on a daily schedule, or up to a week away on a weekly one.

Backlink and AI comparisons follow their own [collection schedules](/projects/data-collection).

## Choosing competitors

Pick domains that compete for the **same keywords**, not the same customers. The two overlap less than expected: your closest commercial rival may target different search terms entirely, while an affiliate site or a publisher you'd never think of as a competitor sits above you on half your keywords.

Check the [tracking comparison](/tracking/competitors) after the first check. A domain that's dashed on most of your keywords isn't a search competitor, however direct a business rival it is — replace it with one that actually appears.

Three to five well-chosen domains give sharper comparisons than a long list. Every added domain widens the comparison table and dilutes the gap analyses.

## Empty state

**No competitors added** — "Add competitor domains to compare across rank tracking, backlink gap, and citation gap". The comparison pages show their own empty states until at least one exists.