Read ranking depth and organic competitors on their real evidence basis
Exact denominators
Bounded search rivals
Modelled scale
Start with two modules and two evidence dates
The ranking distribution reads the rank-overview source. The competitor ledger, map, overlap summaries, and detailed table read the competitors source. A Domain profile can select those modules from different successful runs, so their provider dates and source-run notices can differ even when they appear in the same screen band.
Keep the normalized domain, country, language, module date, loaded coverage, and active filters with every interpretation. A fresh competitor source does not refresh the ranking buckets, and a fresh rank overview does not prove that the competitor field was collected at the same time.
Ranking distribution uses eight exact provider buckets
Crawl Foundry displays the current organic counts for position 1, positions 2 to 3, 4 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50, and 51 to 100. The distribution total is the sum of these eight values. It can differ from the larger organic keyword headline because that headline is a provider aggregate while the distribution only covers the displayed position bands.
Every bucket remains visible in the row list, including measured zeros. If the rank-overview module failed, was not requested, or returned no usable distribution, the interface gives the corresponding empty state instead of turning missing evidence into zero rankings.
- Position 1 is separated from positions 2 to 3 because ownership of the first result is materially different from general Top 3 visibility.
- Positions 4 to 10 complete the page-one numerator, while positions 11 to 20 expose near-page-one candidates.
- Positions 21 to 100 describe observed breadth, not current click visibility or an approved optimization queue.
- Compare bucket counts only within the same market, source definition, and evidence date.
Page-one share has a specific denominator
Page-one count is position 1 plus positions 2 to 3 plus positions 4 to 10. Crawl Foundry divides that result by the sum of all eight displayed buckets and rounds the percentage to a whole number. It does not divide by the separate organic keyword headline or by the number of loaded keyword rows.
The stacked overview bar gives orientation. A nonzero segment receives a minimum visual width of 1.5 percent so a tiny bucket remains selectable. For exact comparison, read the count and calculated share in the bucket rows rather than estimating proportions from pixel width.
| Pattern | What to inspect next |
|---|---|
| High total, low page-one share | Open the 11 to 20 and deeper buckets and inspect the actual queries, URLs, and intent. |
| Share rises while total is stable | Check provider movement counters and the ranking rows before attributing the change to a specific page or intervention. |
| Share falls while breadth grows | Test whether new lower positions changed the denominator while page-one count held steady. |
| Count and share both fall | Separate lost terms, downward moves, affected URLs, market changes, and collection differences. |
A bucket selection filters the available keyword evidence
Selecting a bucket writes that position range into the Domain Overview analysis state. The keyword view then filters its available detail rows to ranks inside that range. Selecting the active bucket again clears the filter. The state is represented in the URL, so a shared or reopened view can preserve the selected range.
This filter does not fetch a new provider dataset, expand stored keyword coverage, or create a recommendation. If the headline says that the domain ranks for more terms than the retained top-row set contains, the filtered table is still a bounded sample. State the loaded basis whenever an audit conclusion depends on individual keywords.
Organic competitors are domains that overlap in observed search results
The competitors module identifies domains that share ranking keywords with the analyzed domain in the selected country and language. Intersections count that shared set. Estimated competitor traffic and organic keyword count describe the provider's modelled full footprint for that domain when those fields are available. The analyzed domain can appear as a marked reference row if the provider returned it.
This is a search landscape, not a directory of companies in the same category. A publisher, marketplace, forum, government site, or software directory can compete strongly for the same queries. A direct commercial rival may look weak or be absent when it targets another market, language, topic set, or search intent.
- Use shared keywords to establish search proximity, then inspect the terms before naming a strategic competitor.
- Use estimated traffic to understand modelled scale, not to infer revenue, conversions, or market share.
- Search, sorting, hover, and selection change the working view; they do not alter the stored competitor evidence.
- A failed, not-requested, or empty competitor module has a distinct state and should not be reported as no competitors exist.
Loaded rows and stored totals answer different questions
The overview ledger is paginated and its visible count follows the rows currently loaded and accepted by the active filter. The full competitors dialog can load additional stored rows and sort them by domain, shared keywords, organic keywords, average position, or estimated traffic. A caption identifies the loaded basis instead of implying that the first screen is the complete market.
The detailed Competitors tab has its own paginated table. Its KPI for total competitors can use the stored row count, while shared-keyword sums and the largest loaded rival are calculated from rows already loaded in the browser. Read the attached basis labels before comparing those figures.
The positioning map is a bounded logarithmic view
In the overview map, horizontal position represents the competitor's full organic keyword count and vertical position represents estimated organic traffic. Both axes transform values with log base 10 after adding one, which keeps domains separated when their footprints differ by orders of magnitude. The bubble diameter grows with the square root of shared keywords relative to the largest visible overlap. Read the tooltip for exact values.
The map shows at most the configured display limit, with a default of twelve rows. Labels are limited by policy, with a default of eight visible points, to reduce collisions. Filtering can change the mapped set, but the analyzed domain is retained as a reference when it exists in the loaded rows. Hover and selection stay synchronized with the ledger.
- Position on a logarithmic axis cannot be read as a linear multiple of another point.
- Bubble size describes shared-keyword signal within the displayed set, not company size or market share.
- The first mapped rows are not evidence that unshown stored competitors are less relevant under every criterion.
Traffic comparison uses an explicit log base 10 axis
The traffic view takes a configured number of the currently supplied rows, with a default limit of eight, and plots estimated monthly organic visits on whole-decade ticks. It needs at least two rows and at least one traffic value of one visit or more. Unknown values and values below one do not receive a bar position.
Each exact formatted ETV value remains above its bar. A visible bar receives a two percent height floor so the smallest positive value can still be seen. The height is therefore an interface aid, while the label is the value to cite. When more rows are available than the chart shows, the interface says that only the first loaded domains are displayed.
- ETV is provider-modelled search traffic, not Analytics traffic and not audited market share.
- Brand and non-brand demand, SERP features, coverage, and model updates can affect the estimate.
- Keep market and evidence date constant before comparing values or exporting a conclusion.
The detailed table separates full footprint from shared footprint
The detailed Competitors tab can show shared-keyword intersections, full organic keyword count, full Top 10 count, estimated full organic traffic, paid keyword count, paid traffic, average position, and organic traffic attributed to the shared set. A dash means that the corresponding provider field is absent; it is not a measured zero.
Two compact rank profiles can appear for a domain. The first represents its full organic footprint and the second its shared organic set. Both group positions into Top 3, 4 to 10, 11 to 20, and 21 to 100. They use different denominators, so compare composition within each bar before comparing bar shapes across domains.
Overlap and momentum summaries use the stored competitor set
The overlap summary ranks up to ten stored competitors by shared-keyword intersections. Its secondary value is the competitor's estimated full organic traffic. The momentum summary ranks up to eight domains by net movement from the provider's full-footprint counters.
For momentum, gains equal new plus up, losses equal down plus lost, and net equals gains minus losses. This is not a calculation between two Crawl Foundry snapshots and it does not identify the page, keyword, cause, or business effect behind the movement. Treat it as a shortlist for investigation.