Running benchmark reports

Benchmark reports let you run a one-time visibility scan across search engines and AI platforms without setting up recurring tracking.

What is a benchmark report?

A benchmark report is a one-time visibility snapshot for a keyword. It scans every search engine and AI platform you select and delivers an SPI score, traditional rankings, AI mentions, and AI citations — the same data as an ongoing tracking project, just without recurring scans.

Benchmarks are ideal for sales calls, prospect audits, competitive checks, and client onboarding. Run one before a pitch to show a potential client exactly where they stand.

Creating a benchmark report

A benchmark is the One time schedule choice inside the report builder rather than a separate setup path. You build it exactly like a tracking report and decide at the end whether it repeats.

Select a client, open Track, and choose New project.
Work through the builder as you would for tracking: what you want visibility for, where Rankability should check, and the confirmation page for each channel.
On How often should we check?, choose One time. No recurring checks are scheduled.
On the review page, confirm the settings — the schedule reads Once, starting now — and create the report.

Because it is the same builder, entering several topics creates several one-time reports rather than one combined snapshot.

You can also start one without a workspace. Tools in the main navigation offers Create benchmark report, which opens the same builder for an account-level benchmark — useful for a prospect you have not set up as a workspace yet. A benchmark from Tools draws on your total usage and never on your tracked-prompt allowance. On a paid self-serve plan, its AI checks use your shared usage allowance while its Google checks and Local Pack scans count toward their purchased monthly or prepaid annual pool; the builder says so before you start, and no recurring tracking begins.

Benchmarks run from Tools are kept under Saved reports on the same page, alongside keyword research run from Tools, so your team can find them again. Search them, or filter by report type; Saved benchmarks jumps straight to the benchmark list.

Viewing results

After you start it, you are taken to the same project dashboard used for standard tracking. You’ll see:

Scanning timeline — Live progress showing each platform being scanned in real time.
Overview — SPI score ring with a breakdown by category (traditional ranking, AI mentions, AI citations).
Search — Your position on each search engine with competitor comparison.
AI → Answers — Whether your brand is mentioned in each AI platform’s response.
AI → Citations — Whether AI platforms cite your website as a source.

Converting to ongoing tracking

Every benchmark report includes an Auto-tracking toggle in the project dashboard. Flip it on and the project starts scanning on a recurring schedule — no need to re-enter any details. The keyword, domain, platforms, and brand settings are all preserved.

This makes benchmarks a natural sales funnel: show a prospect their current visibility, then convert the report to tracked monitoring once they sign on.

Benchmark vs. standard tracking

Feature	Benchmark	Standard tracking
Scan frequency	One-time	Daily, weekly, or monthly
Dashboard	Same	Same
SPI score	Yes	Yes, with trend history
Convertible	Yes, toggle auto-tracking on	N/A
Usage	One-time on-demand impact	Scheduled scans are protected

Tips

Select all AI platforms for the most complete picture of AI visibility.
Use benchmarks during prospect meetings to demonstrate your value before the client commits.
Run benchmarks for competitor keywords to identify gaps in their strategy.

Setting up keyword tracking — Create standard tracking projects with recurring scans.
Understanding SPI — How the Search Performance Index score is calculated.
Supported tracking platforms — Full list of trackable search engines and AI platforms.
Billing and usage — Pooled limits and protected scheduled scans.