# Competitors

Competitors are the brands you expect to be compared against. They set the field your
[share of voice](https://shruwd.io/docs/getting-started/reading-your-results.md) is measured against.

## How matching works

Shruwd counts a mention only when an alias matches **exactly, on word boundaries**. There
is no fuzzy matching and no patterns.

This is deliberate. A near-match that silently counts the wrong brand corrupts every
number downstream and is close to impossible to spot later. The cost is that you have to
add the spellings answers actually use.

| You add | Matches | Does not match |
|---|---|---|
| `LaunchList` | "LaunchList", "launchlist" | "Launch List", "LaunchLists" |

Add each spelling you expect as a separate alias.

## Adding a competitor

**Permissions:** editor or above.

1. Go to the brand's **Competitors** page.
2. Select **Add a competitor**.
3. Enter the **name**, then any other **aliases** the answers use.
4. Add the competitor's **domain** so their citations are attributed to them.
5. Select **Add**.

On a new brand, add competitors before prompts. The first measurement starts with the
first prompt and counts only the competitors that exist by then; a competitor added
later counts from the next cycle.

### Short and common-word names

A name that is six characters or shorter, or that is an ordinary English word, is refused
until you add **context terms** — words that must appear nearby for a mention to count.
They are what make "Arc" mean the company rather than the word.

Shruwd asks rather than guessing, because the alternative is a metric that quietly counts
every unrelated use of a common word.

### Exclusions

Add an **exclusion** to stop a specific phrase counting as a mention — useful when your
competitor's name appears inside a longer, unrelated product name.

## Accepting a suggested competitor

Once answers start arriving, **Add as competitor?** lists names that came up but are not
tracked, with how often each appeared and a domain hint where the answers linked one.

1. Review the name and the domain hint. Check the spelling before it starts counting.
2. Select **Add** to track it, or **Dismiss** to quiet it for 90 days.

Accepting goes through the same checks as adding by hand, including context terms.

## Your brand

Your own brand appears at the top of the page as **Your brand**. It is matched the same
way as any competitor, so if answers spell your name differently — an old name, a
common misspelling, a product name used in place of the company — add those as aliases
here. Editing your brand's name in settings does not change what is matched.

Your brand cannot be removed.

## Removing a competitor

Select the remove icon. It stops counting from the next cycle on. Past measurements keep
it, and share of voice is recomputed against the remaining set.

## Next steps

- [Reading your results](https://shruwd.io/docs/getting-started/reading-your-results.md) — how share of voice is built
- [How findings work](https://shruwd.io/docs/findings/how-findings-work.md) — including when a competitor owns a prompt