What this check inspects
Shipwork decides which query the page should be compared on, in order of trust: an explicit query, then the top query for that page from a connected search property, then a short rewrite of the page title, then the title itself. It searches web results for that query, fetches the top external pages that are not your own host, and reads your page plus each competitor. It turns the text and every section heading into vectors and reports the subtopics that at least two competitors share and your page does not cover. It also compares depth, naming a page that is far shorter than the median competitor, and reports structured-data types a majority of competitors carry that your page lacks. It never claims a Google ranking: it says web results, and only says pages ranking above you when your own page was in the results and the pages it reports sat above it.
What a failure means
Fewer than two competitor pages fetched is reported as a reason the comparison could not be made, because a gap cannot be told from a single page. A page with too little readable text degrades the same way. With no query that can be derived sensibly, it says so rather than searching a title like Home. A subtopic two or more competitors share and your page does not is a warning. A page far shorter than the median competitor, and missing structured-data types most competitors carry, are reported on their own lines. A site with no gap found is told it was checked and clean, not left blank.
How to fix it
- Add a section for each subtopic the competitors share and your page is missing, answering it in your own words rather than copying theirs.
- Where the page is much shorter than the median competitor, expand the sections it already has rather than padding with unrelated text.
- Add the structured-data types most competitors carry, such as a product or FAQ block, when they suit the page.
- Use the query the check compared on as the target phrase, since that is what the page is being measured against.
A typical failure, worked through
The setupA store page about a hiking boot appears in web results, but the pages around it all cover waterproofing, sole type and returns. The store page mentions only the boot name and price.
What the check reportsThe check reports that several competitors cover waterproofing and sole type and the page does not, that the page is a few hundred words short of the median, and that most competitors carry a structured-data type the page lacks.
The pointThe gap is the difference between the page and the pages around it, stated as sections to add, which is directly actionable rather than a similarity score.