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.
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.
The gold variables — your category, your top 4 competitors, your brand name — are the parts you edit. Everything else stays as-is.
google_search_console via the free Growthspree MCP. If you already have the MCP installed, the diagnosis runs in 60–90 seconds.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.
Pulling branded search data and comparison query coverage now.
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.
Comparison query coverage: you rank in Google top 5 for 17 of the 23 high-intent shortlist queries analyzed. Six gaps below.
First run only. Every quarterly run after that takes under 2 minutes.
Head to growthspreeofficial.com/mcp. Click install and authorize Google Search Console through the OAuth flow. Read-only permissions — the workflow only queries data.
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.
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.
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.
Same diagnosis, different angle. Useful when you want a more specific answer to a more specific question.
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.
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.
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.
Install the free Growthspree MCP, paste the prompt, see your current shortlist rank in under 15 minutes. Or have senior GrowthSpree operators run the full Track 02 diagnosis quarterly and build the content surfaces that move you up.