Excluded Competitor Domains
When analysing SERPs for competitor scoring, filter out these domains. They are not real business competitors even when they rank for the target keyword.
Encyclopedias and Reference Sites
- wikipedia.org, britannica.com, investopedia.com, dictionary.com, merriam-webster.com, webmd.com, healthline.com, mayoclinic.org
Social Media Platforms
- facebook.com, instagram.com, twitter.com, x.com, linkedin.com, pinterest.com, tiktok.com, youtube.com, reddit.com, quora.com, threads.net
Content Platforms and Blogging
- medium.com, substack.com, blogger.com, wordpress.com, wix.com, squarespace.com, hubpages.com, tumblr.com
Search Engines
- google.com, bing.com, yahoo.com, duckduckgo.com, baidu.com
Marketplaces and E-Commerce Aggregators
- amazon.com, amazon.com.au, amazon.co.uk, ebay.com, ebay.com.au, etsy.com, shopify.com, alibaba.com, gumtree.com.au, kogan.com
Forums and Q&A
- stackoverflow.com, stackexchange.com, whirlpool.net.au, superuser.com, serverfault.com
News and Media
- bbc.com, bbc.co.uk, cnn.com, news.com.au, abc.net.au, theguardian.com, forbes.com, techcrunch.com, theverge.com, mashable.com, huffpost.com, nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com
Data and Research Platforms
- statista.com, ibisworld.com, similarweb.com
Directories, Reviews, and Listings
- maps.google.com, tripadvisor.com, yelp.com, trustpilot.com, yellowpages.com.au, bark.com, thumbtack.com, angi.com, homeadvisor.com, truelocal.com.au, hotfrog.com.au, productreview.com.au
Comparison and Aggregator Sites
- finder.com.au, canstar.com.au, iselect.com.au, mozo.com.au, comparethemarket.com.au, cmsmarket.com
Job Boards
- seek.com.au, indeed.com, glassdoor.com, jora.com, linkedin.com/jobs
SEO and Marketing Tool Pages
- semrush.com, ahrefs.com, moz.com, neilpatel.com, backlinko.com, searchengineland.com, searchenginejournal.com, yoast.com, screaming frog.co.uk, majestic.com
AI Platforms
- chat.openai.com, chatgpt.com, claude.ai, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com
Government Domains
- Any domain ending in .gov, .gov.au, .gov.uk, .gov.nz, .gc.ca
Academic Domains
- Any domain ending in .edu, .edu.au, .ac.uk, .ac.nz
URL Path Patterns to Exclude
Even on otherwise valid competitor domains, exclude URLs containing:
/tag/,/tags/,/author/,/category/,/archive//feed/,/rss/,/wp-json/,/wp-admin//login,/signup,/register,/cart,/checkout/terms,/privacy,/cookie-policy,/disclaimer/sitemap,/robots.txt
How to Use This List
- After fetching SERP results, check each URL against these domains
- Remove any matches before scoring competitors
- If fewer than 3 real competitors remain, note the thin competitive landscape
- Never count a filtered domain in the competitor analysis table