Workflow · Diagnosis ~15 min run Google Search Console · MCP

Where do you sit on
the day-one shortlist?

A copy-paste Claude prompt that maps your branded search share against your top 4 competitors, calculates your shortlist rank (1–5), and surfaces which competitor is most at risk of dropping off next quarter. Uses only Google Search Console data through the free Growthspree MCP. The single most important question Track 02 answers.

Jump to the prompt ↓ Get the free Growthspree MCP

5vendors

Ranked side-by-side

3-5×

Win rate for shortlisted vs late-add

90d

Compared against prior 90 days

15min

First-run time

01 The Problem in 60 Seconds

Marketing teams ship content blind.
Nobody knows where they actually stand.

Most B2B SaaS teams can tell you their organic traffic, MQL count, and SEO rank for their target keywords. Almost none can answer the harder question: where do we sit on the shortlist a buyer mentally builds during research? Not what we hope. What's measurable.

The reason: shortlist position has never been easy to measure. It requires comparing your branded search volume to specific competitors, looking at comparison-query rank, and watching the trend across quarters — all with data spread across Search Console exports and competitor research tools that don't talk to each other. The information exists. It just sits in three places that nobody stitches together.

This workflow stitches them. One prompt, one data source (Google Search Console), one output: a current shortlist rank with the trend line and the competitor most likely to drop off next. Quarterly cadence. The single number you should know about your category position before you spend another dollar on content.

02 The Prompt

Copy this prompt into
Claude Desktop.

The gold variables — your category, your top 4 competitors, your brand name — are the parts you edit. Everything else stays as-is.

claude_desktop — shortlist_diagnosis.md

RoleYou are diagnosing where my B2B SaaS brand sits on the day-one shortlist for our category. The day-one shortlist is the mental list of 2–4 vendors a buyer forms during research, before they contact sales. Branded search share is the cleanest available signal for shortlist presence — it measures unaided brand recall. ParametersMy brand: [YOUR_BRAND] Category: [e.g., API monitoring for B2B SaaS] Top 4 named competitors: [Competitor A, Competitor B, Competitor C, Competitor D] GSC property: [your-domain.com] Time window: [last 90 days] Compare against: [previous 90 days] Task1. Pull branded search data for my brand from growthspree-mcp google_search_console connector. • All queries containing my brand name • Total impressions and clicks for the window • Compare current 90 days against previous 90 days 2. Estimate branded search volume for each of the 4 named competitors using GSC's competitor query analysis tools where available, and any direct queries that mention them in my GSC data (e.g., "[your brand] vs [competitor]"). For competitors not appearing in my GSC data at all, estimate from comparison-query volume only. 3. Calculate branded search share for each of the 5 vendors (my brand + 4 competitors): • Vendor's branded impressions ÷ total branded impressions across all 5 vendors = share • Compute QoQ change (current 90d share minus previous 90d share) 4. Rank the 5 vendors by current branded search share. The top 3 are "in the shortlist." Vendors 4–5 are "shortlist-adjacent." 5. Pull comparison query coverage from GSC for the highest-intent shortlist surfaces: • "[category]" definition queries (e.g., "what is API monitoring") • "alternatives to [competitor]" queries for each competitor • "[competitor] vs [competitor]" queries For each query, report whether my brand currently ranks in Google top 5. 6. Identify the competitor most at risk of dropping off the shortlist: • Among vendors 1–3, the one with the most negative QoQ trend • If no top-3 vendor is trending down, flag the vendor in position 3 as "stable but vulnerable" Output format1. Headline: my current shortlist rank (1–5) and the QoQ direction 2. Branded search share leaderboard: all 5 vendors ranked, with current share % and QoQ change. Highlight which 3 are "in the shortlist." 3. Comparison query coverage: how many of the high-intent comparison queries I rank top-5 for, with the specific gaps 4. One competitor most at risk of dropping off — and the data point that signals it 5. One specific recommendation for what to build or fix next quarter to either move up a rank or cement the current position // If a competitor isn't a real competitor in my buyers' minds, I'll get a clean answer that branded search comparisons against them are noisy — which itself is a useful signal that I named the wrong competitor. // If my brand has fewer than 200 branded impressions per month, flag the analysis as low-confidence and recommend revisiting in 90 days after Track 01 (Get Found by AI) work has compounded. // For comparison query coverage, count Google top-5 only — top-10 isn't shortlist-relevant.

One connector required. This prompt uses only google_search_console via the free Growthspree MCP. If you already have the MCP installed, the diagnosis runs in 60–90 seconds.

03 What Claude Returns

A leaderboard. A coverage map.
One number that matters.

Sample 90-day diagnosis output for a mid-market B2B SaaS brand in the API monitoring category. Real structure, illustrative numbers. Notice the difference between absolute share and QoQ direction.

Claude · via Growthspree MCP

Pulling branded search data and comparison query coverage now.

growthspree.gsc.get_search_analytics { branded_query_match: brand_name, window: 90d }

growthspree.gsc.compare_search_periods { compare: [current_90d, previous_90d] }

growthspree.gsc.get_advanced_search_analytics { comparison_queries: [alternatives, vs, what-is], top_n: 5 }

You are #3 on the shortlist — inside the magic three. Your branded search share is 19%, growing 12% QoQ. That's the fastest QoQ growth of the five vendors tracked. You're ranked above one named competitor and below two — and on the current trajectory you'll close the gap on #2 within 2–3 quarters.

Branded Search Share · Category: API Monitoring 90d window

1 Competitor A 38% · +4% QoQ

2 Competitor B 24% · flat

3 Your brand 19% · +12% QoQ

4 Competitor C 12% · −3% QoQ

5 Competitor D 7% · flat

Comparison query coverage: you rank in Google top 5 for 17 of the 23 high-intent shortlist queries analyzed. Six gaps below.

High-Intent Comparison Queries · Top-5 Coverage 17 / 23 covered

"alternatives to Competitor A" #3 880/mo

"alternatives to Competitor B" — 540/mo

"alternatives to Competitor C" — 320/mo

"alternatives to Competitor D" — 180/mo

"Competitor A vs your-brand" #1 410/mo

"Competitor B vs your-brand" #2 290/mo

"Competitor C vs Competitor A" — 240/mo

"what is API monitoring" #4 2,940/mo

"best API monitoring tools" #5 1,720/mo

Most at risk: Competitor C — currently #4 with 12% share and trending down 3% QoQ. The combination of low absolute share and negative direction is the strongest signal of imminent shortlist drop-off in B2B SaaS data. If Competitor C falls below ~10%, they exit the default shortlist and you have one less direct competitor for the top-3 slot.

Recommendation. Build alternatives pages for Competitors B, C, and D. You currently rank for "alternatives to Competitor A" but missed the other three — that's the single biggest gap in your comparison coverage. Combined query volume of those three pages is ~1,040 monthly searches, all high-intent shortlist surface. Building these three pages is the highest-leverage move available to you to cement #3 and start pressuring #2. Want me to draft the structure for the alternatives-to-Competitor-B page first?

TIME ELAPSED: 71 SECONDS · SAME ANALYSIS BY HAND: 4-6 HOURS

04 Setup

Four steps. Under fifteen minutes.

First run only. Every quarterly run after that takes under 2 minutes.

Install · 3 min

Install the free Growthspree MCP

Head to growthspreeofficial.com/mcp. Click install and authorize Google Search Console through the OAuth flow. Read-only permissions — the workflow only queries data.

Install now →

Verify · 1 min

Confirm GSC is connected

Open Claude Desktop. Click the tools icon. You should see growthspree-mcp with google_search_console showing green. If red, re-run the OAuth flow.

Configure · 3 min

Pick your top 4 competitors carefully

The diagnosis is only as good as the competitor list. Don't pick the four agencies your sales team complains about. Pick the four vendors B2B buyers in your category mentally compare against you. If you're not sure, run an AI shortlist test first — ask ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity "who are the top vendors for [your category]?" five times each. The names that consistently appear are your real competitors.

Run & act · 8 min

Run quarterly, act on the gap

Claude returns the leaderboard, coverage map, and recommendation in 60–90 seconds. The right cadence for full diagnosis is quarterly — branded search trends move slowly. The output gives you one specific build to prioritize next quarter (usually a missing alternatives page or a vs-comparison gap). Save the output as a markdown file and re-run quarterly to track the trend.

05 Prompt Variations

Three ways to cut the same data.

Same diagnosis, different angle. Useful when you want a more specific answer to a more specific question.

01 / Multi-category brand

Diagnose shortlist position by category

If your product spans multiple categories (e.g., a platform that sells into "API monitoring" AND "observability"), run the diagnosis once per category. The shortlist rank is often very different across categories — and the recommendation differs accordingly.

Tweak Run the prompt twice with two different category + competitor sets. Add: "Compare results across categories. Where am I strongest? Where am I weakest? Recommend one category to prioritize next quarter."

02 / Pre-investment baseline

Capture a baseline before a category-building investment

If you're about to spend on category content, conferences, or PR, capture a clean baseline first. The diagnosis output becomes your control group — re-run in 6 and 12 months to measure whether the investment moved the rank.

Tweak Append: "Save this output as a baseline reference. Identify the top 3 metrics most likely to move first if the brand invests heavily in category-building (typically: branded search QoQ, comparison query coverage count, top-3 ranks gained)."

03 / Annual board memo

Auto-draft the annual category position memo

For boards and CMO reviews. Have Claude write a one-page narrative covering current rank, trend, the strongest competitor's moat, and one strategic ask. The format busy executives actually read.

Tweak Append: "Draft a one-page board memo with the headline rank, year-over-year trend, the moat that protects whoever is #1, and one strategic ask for next year — ranked by leverage."

07 Frequently Asked

Quick answers on the diagnosis.

It measures three signals that together approximate where your brand sits on B2B SaaS buyers' day-one shortlist: branded search share versus the top 4 named competitors, comparison query rank for high-intent X-vs-Y and alternatives queries, and quarter-over-quarter trend on each. The output gives you a current shortlist rank (1–5), the direction of travel, and the single competitor most likely to drop off the default shortlist next quarter.

Branded search is the cleanest available signal of unaided brand recall. When a B2B buyer types your brand name into Google, they already know about you — usually because they encountered you during research. Branded search volume tracks how many buyers in your category remember your name well enough to type it. Across 300+ B2B SaaS accounts, branded search share against the top 5 vendors in a category correlates strongly with shortlist presence and demo-to-close win rate. It is not a perfect proxy, but it is the best signal that exists in tools you already have.

SEO rank tracking measures where your pages rank on specific keywords. Shortlist diagnosis measures whether buyers know your brand exists in the first place. They are related but distinct — you can rank #1 on a keyword and still not be on the shortlist if the buyer can't recall your name without prompting. Track 02 prioritizes recall-based signals (branded search, direct traffic) over rank-based signals because recall determines who gets considered.

If you don't know which 4 competitors B2B buyers in your category mentally compare you against, run an AI shortlist test first — ask ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity "who are the top vendors for [your category]?" five times each and note which names show up consistently. Those are your real competitors for shortlist purposes, regardless of who your sales team thinks you compete with. Then run this workflow against that AI-generated list.

Quarterly is the right cadence for shortlist work. Branded search trends are slow-moving — month-over-month variance can mask the real direction. A quarterly run lets you compare the last 90 days against the previous 90 and see real trend lines. For accounts in active category-building investments, monthly tracking on a single metric (your branded search QoQ trend) is useful as a fast-feedback loop, but full diagnosis quarterly.

If your branded search volume is below 200 monthly impressions, the comparison is statistically noisy and you're likely earlier in category presence than the shortlist conversation. The right move at that stage is foundational AEO work — Track 01 is the playbook. Once branded search reaches a few hundred monthly impressions, this Track 02 diagnosis starts producing useful signal. Most B2B SaaS at $5M+ ARR cleared this threshold by then.

It works at both ends, with different output. For mature players, the diagnosis returns a meaningful rank (1–5) with trend lines. For early-stage SaaS, the diagnosis honestly returns "not yet on the shortlist" with the gap to the lowest-ranked named competitor. The honest gap measurement is itself useful — it tells founders how far they actually are from category presence, which is usually a much smaller or much larger number than they assumed.

Where do you sit onthe day-one shortlist?

Marketing teams ship content blind.Nobody knows where they actually stand.

Copy this prompt intoClaude Desktop.

A leaderboard. A coverage map.One number that matters.