Competitor Analysis

The SERP data primitive for competitor analysis

A typical CI suite bundles SERP data with backlinks and traffic estimates, then hides the raw signals behind a UI. cloro returns just the SERP slice, as JSON: any competitor's organic positions, ads, AI Overview citations, and PAA appearances for any query, country, and device. Whatever scoring methodology your team has, you can run it on the response yourself.

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Competitor Analysis API example

Live

Example Request

POST

curl -X POST https://api.cloro.dev/v1/monitor/google \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_api_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "best project management software",
    "country": "US",
    "device": "desktop",
    "include": {
      "aioverview": { "markdown": true }
    }
  }'

Response

~30 s

{
  "success": true,
  "result": {
    "organicResults": [],
    "peopleAlsoAsk": [],
    "relatedSearches": [],
    "ads": [],
    "aioverview": {}
  }
}

Competitive-intel teams running SERP-based competitor analysis on cloro every day

99.99% uptime

500M+ monthly API calls

The SERP signals competitor analysis actually depends on

Where do competitors rank? Which ads are they running? Are they cited in the AI Overview for the queries that matter? Are they showing in PAA, related searches, or sponsored slots? cloro returns every SERP element that informs competitor positioning, parsed and position-tagged, in one JSON response.

Why competitive-intel teams build on cloro, not on bundled CI suites

Competitor analysis comes in two product shapes: full CI suites (all-in-one dashboards with their methodology baked in) and SERP data primitives (cloro — raw structured response, your methodology applied in your code). Teams that need their CI methodology consistent across vendor changes pick the primitive. Here's why.

Three CI suites scoring the same competitor differently due to methodology baked into each tool

CI suites bake their methodology into your reports

Pull the same competitor through three CI suites in the same week and you get three different "strength" numbers: 67 on one (organic-weighted), 71 on another (backlink-weighted), 4,210 on a third (traffic-modeled). None of those numbers map cleanly to whatever your team actually reports. cloro returns the SERP fields directly, including rank_group, rank_absolute, and the full envelope, so you can run your own share-of-voice math against the same data each time.

Sponsored-ad rotation timeline showing competitor entry, bid changes, and exit patterns

Competitor ad monitoring needs the live SERP

SERP ads rotate hourly with competitor bids and budget pacing. CI suites refresh ad data weekly. cloro returns parsed `ads[]` on every call — sample hourly across your top 100 commercial queries and you see exactly when a competitor enters the auction, raises bids, or pauses.

AI Overview source list showing competitor URLs with citation positions

AI Overview is the competitor signal of 2026

AI Overview renders on ~40% of commercial queries — competitors cited in the source list capture the answer-traffic that organic position 1 used to win. CI suites are still building this; cloro returns `aioverview.sources[]` (position, URL, citation context) per call alongside the standard SERP.

Competitor-by-keyword SERP coverage matrix showing parsed organic, ads, and AI Overview presence per cell

Cross-keyword competitor coverage needs the API

Tracking 50 competitors × 500 keywords is 25,000 cells of SERP data. CI suites cap this with per-competitor and per-keyword bundles. cloro is flat per-call: 500 keywords × 50 competitor-presence checks happens in one batch of 500 calls. Your detection is a warehouse query, not a per-row upcharge.

Detect competitor SERP presence across your keyword set

One call per query × country × device. Filter the response for any competitor domain across organic, ads, AI Overview, and PAA. Roll up to your warehouse for share-of-voice math, ad-rotation tracking, or AI Overview citation auditing.

Detect a competitor's SERP presence across a keyword set

python

import requests

# Your keyword set + the competitor you're auditing.
keywords = ["best project management software", "asana alternatives", "trello alternatives"]
competitor_domain = "monday.com"

results = []
for query in keywords:
    response = requests.post(
        "https://api.cloro.dev/v1/monitor/google",
        headers={
            "Authorization": "Bearer sk_live_your_api_key_here",
            "Content-Type": "application/json",
        },
        json={
            "query": query,
            "country": "US",
            "device": "desktop",
            "include": {"aioverview": {"markdown": True}},
        },
    )
    data = response.json()["result"]

    # Detect competitor across every SERP surface
    organic_pos = next((r["position"] for r in data["organicResults"]
                        if competitor_domain in r["link"]), None)
    in_ads = any(competitor_domain in a["domain"] for a in data.get("ads", []))
    aio_sources = data.get("aioverview", {}).get("sources", []) or []
    in_aio = any(competitor_domain in s["url"] for s in aio_sources)
    aio_position = next((s["position"] for s in aio_sources
                         if competitor_domain in s["url"]), None)

    results.append({
        "query": query,
        "competitor": competitor_domain,
        "organic_position": organic_pos,
        "in_ads": in_ads,
        "in_aioverview": in_aio,
        "aioverview_position": aio_position,
    })

# Each row is now competitor-presence per query across all SERP surfaces.
# Aggregate to share-of-voice; alert on entry/exit; diff over time.
print(results)

javascript

// Your keyword set + the competitor you're auditing.
const keywords = ["best project management software", "asana alternatives", "trello alternatives"];
const competitorDomain = "monday.com";

const results = [];
for (const query of keywords) {
  const res = await fetch("https://api.cloro.dev/v1/monitor/google", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: "Bearer sk_live_your_api_key_here",
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      query, country: "US", device: "desktop",
      include: { aioverview: { markdown: true } },
    }),
  });
  const data = (await res.json()).result;

  const organicPos = data.organicResults.find((r) => r.link.includes(competitorDomain))?.position ?? null;
  const inAds = (data.ads || []).some((a) => a.domain.includes(competitorDomain));
  const aioSources = data.aioverview?.sources || [];
  const aioMatch = aioSources.find((s) => s.url.includes(competitorDomain));

  results.push({
    query,
    competitor: competitorDomain,
    organicPosition: organicPos,
    inAds,
    inAioverview: !!aioMatch,
    aioverviewPosition: aioMatch?.position ?? null,
  });
}
console.log(results);

curl

# Single query — repeat per (query, competitor) in your batch runner.
curl -X POST https://api.cloro.dev/v1/monitor/google \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_api_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "best project management software",
    "country": "US",
    "device": "desktop",
    "include": {"aioverview": {"markdown": true}}
  }' | jq '{
    organic_competitors: [.result.organicResults[] | {pos: .position, domain: (.link | capture("//(?<d>[^/]+)").d)}],
    ad_advertisers: [.result.ads[]?.domain],
    aio_sources: [.result.aioverview.sources[]?.url]
  }'

Response example

200 OK application/json

{
  "success": true,
  "result": {
    "organicResults": [],
    "ads": [],
    "peopleAlsoAsk": [],
    "relatedSearches": [],
    "aioverview": {}
  }
}

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Competitor Analysis, answered

Is cloro a full competitor-analysis suite?+

No. cloro is the SERP data primitive that CI tools build on. Full suites bundle SERP, backlinks, traffic, and site-audit into one dashboard. cloro provides the SERP slice as raw JSON so your methodology stays in your code. Most enterprise CI programs use both: a suite for breadth, cloro for SERP-data depth.

What competitor signals does the SERP expose?+

Five per call: organic position, sponsored-ad presence (with bid position and creative), AI Overview citation (URL + position), PAA appearance, and named-in-related-searches. Every signal in one structured JSON response.

How do I track competitor ad rotation hour-over-hour?+

Sample `/v1/monitor/google` hourly, persist `ads[]` per call, diff adjacent hours in your warehouse. Detect: new advertiser entry, bid changes (position shift), advertiser pause, block-position shifts (top-of-page → bottom = quality-score signal). 100 keywords × hourly = 72k calls/month — fits in the Hobby plan with headroom.

How is this different from rank tracking or SERP monitoring?+

Three framings of the same endpoint. Rank tracking watches your own positions. SERP monitoring watches every SERP element for changes. Competitor analysis is the inverse — fix a competitor domain, watch where they appear across your keyword set.

Can I compute share of voice from this?+

Yes. For a fixed keyword set, count where each competitor (including you) appears across organic top-10, ads, and AI Overview citations, weight by position, divide by total. The math runs against the SERP rows in your warehouse — methodology stays yours.

How do I do PPC competitor research with cloro?+

PPC competitor research is a specific application of the ad-monitoring loop. Inspect `ads[]` for a target competitor's domain across your tracked queries to track: which queries they bid on, where they rank in the auction, when they enter and exit, and what creative they run. No separate product — same SERP call, different aggregation.

What about backlinks, traffic estimates, and site audit?+

Out of scope. cloro is the SERP data layer (organic, ads, AI Overview, PAA, related). For backlink graphs, traffic-estimate tools, and crawler-based site audit, use the dedicated tools your team already has. Most CI programs pay for adjacent tools anyway; cloro fills the SERP-data gap at a fraction of the per-call cost of bundled suites.

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