How do I know when a competitor starts winning AI answers?
Re-run the same fixed set of buyer prompts on a schedule, record who appears in each engine and compare against the last run. A rival gaining share shows up as a steady shift across several prompts, not a single answer. No engine publishes an alert for this, so the check is a repeatable routine.
Free to read, no signup. Nova runs your prompts on a schedule and flags rivals that gain.
What is and isn't documented
No engine alerts publishers when a competitor gains. Google notes that meeting its requirements does not guarantee a page is shown, so results can move for reasons outside your control.
Results can move without warning
Google says meeting its requirements does not guarantee crawling, indexing or serving, and that AI features may run several related searches. Expect answers to shift, and judge trends over single results.
AI features and your websiteFive steps to do it yourself
Do it by hand with these steps, or hand the whole thing to Nova.
Fix a prompt set and competitor list
Use the buyer prompts you track and name the three to five rivals that matter.
Nova: keeps your set and rival list fixed.
Run it on a schedule
Ask every prompt in each engine in fresh sessions, weekly or monthly, on the same day.
Nova: runs the set across engines on a schedule.
Record who appears
Log whether you and each rival appear, and the sources cited.
Nova: logs appearances and sources per run.
Compare with the last run
Look for rivals gaining on several prompts, not one. Note the sources behind the gain.
Nova: flags rivals that gain across prompts.
Respond
For each gain, find the source behind it and decide a move.
Nova: drafts a move per gain for approval.
Short on time? Nova, your AI brand visibility expert, runs this Maneuver on your brand and tracks the result.
Take it to NovaRival movement, run on run
| Rival | Last run | This run | Change | Source behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Rival A] | [N]% of prompts | [N]% of prompts | [+/- N] | [Cited page] |
| [Rival B] | [N]% of prompts | [N]% of prompts | [+/- N] | [Cited page] |
| You | [N]% of prompts | [N]% of prompts | [+/- N] | [Cited page] |
Nova then keeps each run, so shifts are visible over time.
Take this Maneuver into your own AI agent
Get competitor-watch.md, a ready-to-use skill file with a fixed-set run log, a rival comparison table and a response routine. Drop it into Claude, Cursor or any agent that reads SKILL.md files.
Skill file for Claude, Cursor and other agents
- A fixed-set run log
- A rival comparison table
- A response routine for each gain
Questions, answered.
Relevant reads
All articlesLet Nova watch your competitors
Nova opens with this Maneuver loaded. Nothing ships without your approval.