Methodology

Understanding Competitive Analytics

Your competitive report analyzes real customer reviews across three time horizons. Here's exactly how we measure your market position, track momentum, and identify opportunities.

Three Time Horizons

Each section of your report focuses on a specific time window. Pulse reviews are a subset of trend reviews, which are a subset of all reviews analyzed for market position.

Pulse14 days

What's happening right now. Recent competitive activity, notable shifts, and immediate tactical opportunities.

Trends90 days

What patterns are forming. Momentum shifts, emerging themes, and gap movements that separate signal from noise.

Market Position6 months

Where you stand structurally. Enduring strengths, deep-rooted weaknesses, and the full competitive narrative.

Each horizon nests inside the next

Fully Automated, Every Two Weeks

You add a competitor once. From that point on, we handle everything: syncing their latest reviews from Google, analyzing them alongside yours across all three time horizons, and generating a fresh competitive report. No buttons to click, no reports to request. It just happens.

1

We sync reviews

Every two weeks, we automatically pull the latest reviews from Google for your business and every competitor you track.

2

We compute stats

Ratings, volumes, response rates, and sentiment are calculated per business across each time horizon (14 days, 90 days, 6 months).

3

We analyze and compare

Our analysis engine reads the reviews side-by-side, identifies competitive patterns, and scores your market position.

4

Your report is ready

A fresh competitive report appears in your dashboard with pulse, trends, and market position sections. Previous reports are saved for comparison.

Delta tracking built in

Each new report is automatically compared against the previous one. You will see what changed: score shifts, new threats, resolved issues, and themes that improved or declined. This means you can track competitive progress over time without manually comparing reports.

01

Scoring

Competitive Position Score

What it measures

Where you stand vs competitors in your local market.

How it's calculated

We evaluate both rating quality AND review volume. A 5.0 from 5 reviews scores lower than a 4.6 from 200 reviews because volume signals reliability. The score synthesizes your overall rating, review count, sentiment, and response patterns relative to every competitor in your report.

Scale
050 = on par · 75+ = market leader · <30 = significantly behind100
Why it matters

Your single number for competitive standing. Track it over time to see if you're gaining or losing ground.

Market Momentum

What it measures

Whether you're gaining or losing ground relative to competitors.

How it's calculated

Compares your recent performance trajectory against competitors' recent trajectories, weighted against historical baselines. A business that went from 3.8 to 4.2 while competitors held steady shows strong positive momentum.

Scale
-10Negative = losing ground · 0 = holding · Positive = gaining+10
Why it matters

Position tells you where you are. Momentum tells you where you're headed.

Rating Gap

What it measures

The numeric difference between your average rating and the competitor average.

How it's calculated

Your average star rating minus the mean of all competitors' averages. Positive means you're ahead; negative means you're behind.

Scale
-2Your avg minus competitor avg+2
Why it matters

A simple, trackable number for competitive standing that anyone on your team can understand.

02

Competitive Pulse

Time horizon: 14 days

Pulse Headline

What it measures

A one-sentence summary of the last 2 weeks of competitive activity.

How it's calculated

We read all reviews from the 14-day pulse window for every business in your report and identify the single most notable development — a surge in complaints about a competitor, a spike in your praise, or a shift in customer sentiment.

Why it matters

The "TL;DR" of recent competitive activity. Read this first to know if anything needs your attention right now.

Your Highlights / Competitor Highlights

What it measures

Notable observations from recent reviews on each side.

How it's calculated

We extract 2–4 standout observations per business from the last 14 days. These aren't summaries of every review — they're the most meaningful signals, like a new recurring complaint or an unusually effusive round of praise.

Why it matters

Know what customers are saying about you and your competitors right now, without reading dozens of reviews.

Immediate Action

What it measures

One specific thing you can do this week based on the pulse data.

How it's calculated

We identify the highest-leverage tactical move by cross-referencing your recent weaknesses with competitor strengths (or vice versa) within the 14-day window.

Why it matters

Turns pulse data into a concrete next step.

04

Market Position

Time horizon: 6 months

Position Narrative

What it measures

The full competitive story based on 6 months of review data.

How it's calculated

We synthesize the entire 6-month review corpus into a structural analysis: who dominates, who's rising, who's falling, and what dynamics are shaping the local market.

Why it matters

The boardroom view of your competitive landscape. Context for every other metric in the report.

Enduring Strengths / Weaknesses

What it measures

Themes where you consistently outperform (or underperform) competitors over 6 months.

How it's calculated

We identify themes with persistent positive or negative sentiment gaps between you and competitors. A strength must show consistent advantage across months, not just a one-time spike.

Why it matters

These are your structural advantages and liabilities — the things that define your competitive identity in the market.

Structural Advantages / Disadvantages

What it measures

Competitive edges that are hard to replicate, or weaknesses that are hard to overcome.

How it's calculated

We identify moat-like strengths (e.g., location, long-tenured staff, unique offerings) and deep-rooted weaknesses (e.g., infrastructure, fundamental service model issues) from 6 months of review patterns.

Why it matters

Guides long-term strategy. A structural advantage is worth protecting; a structural disadvantage may require fundamental changes, not just tactical fixes.

05

Head-to-Head

Head-to-Head Comparison

What it measures

A per-competitor breakdown of how you stack up individually.

How it's calculated

Compares your rating, review volume, and thematic strengths/weaknesses against each competitor individually rather than against the group average.

Why it matters

Aggregate data hides per-competitor dynamics. You might lead the pack overall but trail one specific rival in a critical area.

Thematic Gaps

What it measures

Where customer sentiment differs most between you and each competitor.

How it's calculated

We compare customer sentiment per theme across your reviews and each competitor's reviews. Each theme is classified by its competitive implications.

Scale
advantagedisadvantageopportunitythreat
Why it matters

Know exactly where you win and where you lose against each specific competitor.

06

Intelligence

Threat Alerts

What it measures

Genuine competitive threats requiring your attention.

How it's calculated

We flag competitors who are improving in your weak areas, gaining review velocity, or showing momentum in themes where you're stagnant. Maximum 3 alerts per report — we never fabricate threats to fill space.

Scale
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
Why it matters

Your early warning system. Know about competitive threats before they become competitive losses.

Steal-Worthy

What it measures

Things competitors' customers love that you can learn from.

How it's calculated

We surface actual quotes from competitor reviews that highlight things they do exceptionally well. These aren't generic observations — they're specific, actionable practices backed by real customer praise.

Why it matters

Learn from the best in your market. Every great idea doesn't have to be your own.

Opportunities

What it measures

Gaps no one is filling, or competitor weaknesses you can exploit.

How it's calculated

We identify themes where all competitors get criticized, or where no business in the market excels. Each opportunity is rated by potential impact and estimated implementation effort.

Scale
high impactlow efforthigh effort
Why it matters

Low-hanging competitive fruit. These are the moves with the best return on effort.

07

Comparison Stats

Response Rate Comparison

What it measures

How actively each business responds to its reviews.

How it's calculated

Calculates the percentage of reviews that have an owner response for each business in the report. Compared side-by-side so you can see where you stand.

Scale
0Response %100
Why it matters

Response rate signals customer engagement and directly affects local SEO ranking.

Sentiment Comparison

What it measures

Overall customer mood for each business, beyond star ratings.

How it's calculated

We assign a 0–100 sentiment score based on review language, tone, and context. A 4-star review saying "it was fine I guess" scores differently from one saying "absolutely loved it." Compared across all businesses in the report.

Scale
0Sentiment100
Why it matters

Ratings tell you the score. Sentiment tells you the mood. Two businesses with identical ratings can have very different customer sentiment.

08

Report Continuity

Delta Comparison

What it measures

What changed since the last time you ran a competitive report.

How it's calculated

Compares current scores, themes, and alerts against the previous report's data. Tracks new threats vs resolved threats, improved themes vs declined themes, and score movements. If this is your first report, this section is skipped.

Why it matters

Often the most useful data in the entire report: "what's different this time?" Progress becomes visible when you can compare reports over time.

Volume & Confidence

We treat review volume as a trust multiplier. More data means higher confidence in every score and comparison.

Low Volume

Fewer than 10 reviews triggers low-confidence flagging. Scores are still calculated but clearly marked as preliminary.

Standard Volume

Sufficient reviews for reliable comparisons. Full analysis is generated with appropriate confidence levels.

High Volume

Rich data enables granular competitive intelligence with high-confidence scoring and detailed thematic analysis.

We'd rather tell you we don't have enough data than make a confident claim from 3 reviews.

See how you stack up

Run a competitive analysis against your local rivals. Real reviews, real data, no black boxes.

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