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Competitive Retrieval Mapping

Competitive Retrieval Mapping is the practice of running a standardized set of category-relevant queries through ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, measuring which competitors get cited most often and in what context — the core diagnostic tool for understanding your Citation Share position.

What you're measuring: When a buyer asks an AI engine about your category, who does it cite? Your competitors or you? How frequently? In what contexts (definitions, product comparisons, case studies)?

How to do it: Build a prompt slate covering your category (50-100 queries). Run them through each engine. Log which companies appear, in what order, with what framing. Track weekly or monthly. Watch the shifts.

The output: A competitive retrieval landscape showing who owns the answer, who's gaining, who's losing. Actionable: if Competitor A is cited 3x more than you on "best X" queries, you know what content gap to fill.

Why it's strategic: Unlike SEO rank tracking (which measures Google's 10 links), retrieval mapping measures the actual answers buyers are seeing. It's the real measure of communications effectiveness in the AI era.

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