How the Competition pressure and head to head is calculated

In short

Competition pressure shows how crowded Google's top 3, top 10 and top 20 are with the competitors you track. For every keyword where at least one tracked brand ranks in that range, Actavero counts how many of your competitors rank there too (0, 1, 2, or 3 and more), the average, and on how many of those keywords you rank yourself. Head to head compares you with each competitor on the keywords you both rank for.

Formula

Contested keywords (range R) = keywords where at least one tracked brand ranks at position ≤ R, R ∈ {3, 10, 20}
Competitors on a keyword = number of tracked competitors (not you) at position ≤ R
Average competitors = Σ competitors on each contested keyword ÷ number of contested keywords
Head to head: shared = keywords where you and the competitor both rank in the top 20; you ahead = your position < theirs

How it is calculated, step by step

1. Take the keywords of the latest measurement, filtered as selected (all, non-branded or branded).
2. For each range (top 3, top 10, top 20), keep the keywords where any tracked brand ranks within it.
3. Count per keyword how many competitors rank within the range and group the keywords into 0, 1, 2 and 3 or more competitors.
4. Count on how many of these keywords you rank within the range yourself.
5. Per competitor, count the keywords you both rank for, who ranks higher on each, and the keywords where only one of the two is in the top 10.

What goes into it

Google positions

Each tracked brand's organic Google position (1–20) per keyword in the market and languages of the workspace.

Tracked competitors

The competitors in the workspace; other sites are not counted.

Data sources

• DataForSEO Labs (ranked keywords) for Google in the workspace's market, top 20 organic positions.

How often it is updated

Monthly, and on demand at most once a week.

How to read it

• A top 3 where most keywords have two or more competitors is a crowded market: gaining positions there takes more effort than in a range with mostly zero or one competitor.
• Keywords where a competitor is in the top 10 and you are not are your clearest gaps, especially with a low keyword difficulty.
• A competitor that is ahead on most shared keywords is your main search rival, even if its total share of voice is lower.

Example

In the top 10, 300 keywords are contested. 90 have no competitor, 110 have one, 70 have two and 30 three or more: 33% of the contested top-10 keywords have two or more competitors, 1.2 on average. You rank in the top 10 on 140 of them (47%).

Limitations

• Only tracked competitors count; comparison sites, media and other providers in the top results are not included (see Rest of the market).
• Positions come from a monthly keyword database, not from a live check of every result page, so single positions can differ from what you see in Google today.
• Each brand's measurement covers its 200 highest-volume ranking keywords per language; smaller keywords can be missing.

Frequently asked questions

Related

• SEO share of voice — Your share of the estimated search clicks of all tracked brands: monthly search volume × expected click-through rate of each brand's Google position, per keyword.
• Ranking changes since the last measurement — Keywords each brand gained or lost in Google's top 3 and top 10 since the previous measurement, and your biggest position changes with their effect on estimated visits.
• Keyword difficulty (KD) — How hard it is to reach Google's top 10 for a keyword, from 0 to 100: easy below 30, medium 30–59, hard 60 and above.
• Rest of the market — The part of the clicks or AI mentions that goes to sites and brands you don't track: comparison sites, media, forums and other providers.