# Win back a topic from a competitor

> A step-by-step playbook for winning back a buyer topic where AI names a competitor instead of you, using GetIntel's Topics, Competitors and Sources views.

Source: https://getintel.ai/docs/academy/playbooks/win-back-a-topic/

Use this when a topic's status is **Not found, and losing** or **Found, but losing to rivals**, and one competitor keeps getting named instead of you.

## TL;DR

1. Pick one revenue-relevant topic a single rival leads.
2. Read the answers and find out why AI picks them.
3. Decide whether you have a discovery problem or a comparison problem.
4. Get onto the sources that cite them, and publish a plain comparison.
5. Measure after a few weeks to a month.

## Why it works

Engines recommend the brand their sources present as the default for a question. Your rival is winning because specific pages name them, and name them first. Once you know which pages, the work is concrete: get onto those pages, and give engines a better page to cite.

<Steps>

1. **Pick one topic.** In **Topics**, choose a topic that matters to revenue, where a single rival leads. One topic at a time beats spreading effort thin.

2. **Read the answers.** Open the topic's **Prompts** tab and read what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini say. Note which rival is named first and the reasons the answer gives.

3. **Find out why AI picks them.** Open [Competitors](/features/competitors/) **→ View details** for that rival. Read **Why AI picks them**, **Prompts they win that you lose** and **Pages AI cites for them**.

4. **See what the sources want.** Open the topic's **Content** tab. It lists the facts AI compares for the topic and what the cited pages have in common. That is your checklist for what a page must say.

5. **Diagnose which fight you're in.** Look at the topic's status:
   - **Hidden strength**: you win comparisons but AI rarely brings you up. Work on **discovery**: get onto the sources AI cites (step 6).
   - **Found, but losing to rivals**: AI knows you but prefers them. Work on **comparison**: make your advantages explicit (step 7).
   - **Not found, and losing**: do both, starting with your own pages.

6. **Get onto the sources.** In the topic's **Sources** tab and your **Off-Page** tasks, find the lists, reviews and articles that cite the rival but not you. Work those tasks.

7. **Win the comparison.** Create or improve a page that compares you with the rival plainly, fact by fact, using the checklist from step 4. Your **On-Page** tasks for the topic include this.

8. **Measure.** Note the topic's Found and win rate today, then check again after a few weeks to a month of new answers.

</Steps>

<Aside type="tip">
Ask your coding agent: "Open the pricing topic with get_topic, compare our pricing page with the facts AI compares, and update the page to cover what's missing." See [Ship fixes with your coding agent](/docs/academy/playbooks/ship-fixes-with-your-coding-agent/).
</Aside>