{
  "slug": "best-competitor-rank",
  "name": "Best competitor rank",
  "aliases": [
    "Leader rank on a keyword",
    "Top rival position"
  ],
  "definition": "The best position any tracked competitor holds on a keyword, together with which domain holds it.",
  "category": "Competitive keywords",
  "type": "rank",
  "unit": "results-page position (1 = top)",
  "direction": "lower-better",
  "verification": "verified",
  "calculation": "For each keyword, the lowest average rank among all tracked domains other than yours, rounded to one decimal, with the winning domain returned beside it. Keywords where no tracked competitor ranks are skipped from the comparison entirely.",
  "aggregation": "A per-keyword minimum over the competitor rows; it is not an average of competitors and does not describe the field as a whole.",
  "grain": "One keyword × the date range, inside one tracked segment.",
  "dimensions": [
    "query",
    "competitor domain",
    "segment"
  ],
  "requiredFilters": [
    "segment_id",
    "date range"
  ],
  "sources": [
    "rank-tracking"
  ],
  "reports": [
    "competitor-search-report"
  ],
  "skills": [
    "keyword-gap-audit",
    "competitor-deep-dive"
  ],
  "verbs": [
    "seo_keyword_gap_analysis",
    "competitive_keyword_ranking"
  ],
  "rungs": [
    "R2"
  ],
  "levers": [
    "L2"
  ],
  "questions": [
    "Who outranks us on this keyword?",
    "Which competitor wins the most of our target keywords?"
  ],
  "interpretation": "The bar to clear on each keyword, and the name attached to it. Because it is a minimum, one strong rival sets the bar for the whole keyword, which is what makes it a useful target and a poor description of the competitive field.",
  "caveats": [
    "Best means best among tracked domains. A rival the segment does not track cannot appear, so absence from the standings means untracked, not absent.",
    "Search competitors are whoever occupies the results-page slots, which is often an aggregator rather than a business rival.",
    "Both reads are capped, the client's own ranks at 5,000 rows, sized to be non-binding on a busy segment, and the competitors' at 10,000 for warehouse cost, so a very long-tail keyword can carry your rank with no competitor row and be skipped from the comparison.",
    "The underlying rank measure floors to zero rather than null when its impression denominator is empty, so a competitor row with no impressions comes back as rank 0 and wins the minimum. A best-competitor rank of 0 is that artifact, not a result above position 1."
  ],
  "freshness": "~1 day behind, daily observation, available the following day.",
  "failureModes": [
    "Reading a missing competitor row as no competition rather than as outside the fetched window.",
    "Treating the best-rank domain as the market leader across the segment.",
    "Taking a zero best-competitor rank at face value."
  ],
  "notSameAs": [],
  "related": [
    "our-rank",
    "keyword-rank-gap",
    "losing-keywords"
  ],
  "workflows": [],
  "lastVerified": "2026-08-04"
}