SEO and rankings
Before writing, look at who you are up against
What kind of pages hold the top, which Google elements eat the space, and what format that query really calls for. No generative AI: just what is there.
- Top results classified by page type: guide, comparison, product or forum
- The elements taking up screen before the first blue link
- Domain diversity: whether three dominate or there is room for a newcomer
The problem
- You write a guide and the top ten are product pages. You were never going to get in.
- The query has volume, but between the AI box and the ads there is no screen left.
- All ten results belong to the same publishing group and you did not know.
Volume tells you how many search. The first page tells you whether they will let you in.
How it works
It looks at what is there, not at what a model thinks is there. No generative AI is involved at any step.
- 1
The real page is fetched
From the country and language you set, with no session. What you see in your browser carries your history and represents nobody but you.
- 2
Each result is classified
By page type, not by domain. Ten results from ten different domains but all product pages mean the same as a monopoly: that query has a format and it is not yours.
- 3
What covers is measured
Featured snippet, related questions, AI box, local pack, shopping, news, videos and images. A query with five of these elements pushes the first organic result far down, and that changes what competing for it is worth.
What you get
One sheet per query, read in thirty seconds, that avoids months of wasted work.
- The top results with each one's page type.
- The elements present and how far they push the organic results down.
- Estimated difficulty and recommended format, with the reasoning written down.
Measure before you pay anything
The scanner runs 10 real responses in about 60 seconds. No signup, no card. If the number it returns tells you nothing, do not buy.
Measure my brandWho it is for
- Anyone deciding a piece's format before commissioning it.
- Teams wanting to discard expensive queries before spending the quarter.
- Agencies that must explain to a client why that keyword is not for them.
It is not for you if...
It is not for you if you want to watch your position day by day. This is a snapshot of the competition, not a tracker of yours.
An honest comparison
| By hand | With Citenza | |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs you | Searching in a private window and eyeballing the ten results. | Fixed country and language, without your history on top. |
| The method | Unclassified by type: they look like ten different pages. | Every result classified and every element counted. |
| Repeating it next month | With fifty queries to review, none gets reviewed. | All fifty queries reviewed in one afternoon. |
Availability by plan
Available on every paid plan, with stored query history growing by plan. It costs per query analysed, because each one is a real fetch from the country you chose.
Honest questions
- How is difficulty calculated?
- By crossing the authority of the top domains, how many differ from each other, and how much screen is left after Google's elements. It is an estimate and we say so. It works for ordering queries against each other, not as prophecy.
- Why do you not use AI to analyse the top content?
- Because here the value is the fact, not the interpretation. How many results are product pages is a count that admits no argument; what a model thinks of those pages' quality is another matter and it costs money. There is a separate tool for the second.
- Does the first page change much?
- The order does, week by week. What almost never changes is the dominant format: if that query is answered with comparisons, it will still be answered with comparisons in six months. That is why one snapshot is enough to decide what to write.
- Does it include Google's AI box?
- Its presence and how much screen it takes are counted, which is what affects the decision to compete. To know whether your domain is among its sources and follow it over time there is a specific tool, because that requires checking each query every few days.
Look at the door before pushing it
And remember there is another door: more and more people ask directly rather than search. That is measurable too.