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The Category Leaderboard
Category leaders are both discoverable in Google and
AI search - as well as leading demand in their category
Can't see your brand? Contact
us to see where you rank
Select your category
Select your
category:
Xero
Category leadership score: 3.32
Sage
Category leadership score: 3.64
BrightPay
Category leadership score: 4.55
The last 3 days
Can't see your brand? It's time to talk to a Rise strategist and find out why
Biggest Movers and Losers in Payroll software today
Biggest Climber
Smart Pension
From: #42
To: #22 (+20)
Biggest Faller
PCMag
From: #58
To: #68 (-10)
The Dashboard
140
Brands tracked
52
Rank increases
10
Rank decreases
11
Unchanged
2
New to top 10
2
Left top 10
3 Days
Leader streak
Explore who's winning category leadership positions
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(UK-based data)
What does category leadership mean?
Category leadership isn't the brand with the biggest budget. It's not even the brand with the largest market share.
To own a category, you have to be two things: found and wanted.
Discoverable - showing up when people search, whether that's Google or AI. And...
In demand - the brand people are actually asking/searching for by name when it comes to that category
We've partnered with Ahrefs to measure exactly that.
For every category, we pull the most visible brand in Google, the most visible brand in AI search and LLMs, and the most in-demand brand. Those three signals combine into a single Leadership Score.
How to read the metrics
Scores run from 1 to 100. The closer to 1, the stronger your position.
Low scores need defending. High scores is where your opportunity lies.
Google Discovery Data (pos score)
Brand & category demand SV
AI visibility/ share of voice
Why these three metrics define category leadership - and not just one
Every brand is ranked using a leadership score
We talk to brands every week who have strong awareness but disappear the moment someone starts searching.
Big TV spend. Millions of impressions. But no presence in the moments that actually drive decisions.
That's not category leadership. That's brand recognition without commercial impact.
The data shows it clearly: discoverability drives demand, and demand drives discoverability. Google and AI reward brands that are talked about, recommended, and earning mentions across the web. They surface what the internet already endorses.
So visibility alone isn't enough. If your non-brand SEO is strong but nobody's searching for you by name - if your PR, social and creative aren't building that pull - you won't win the category.
You need both. Discovery and demand. Together, they're what makes a category leader.
Category leaders:
Get in
touch
Request data for your brand
If your category isn't here or your brand isn't where it should be that's the opportunity.
If you're not visible everywhere, you're not winning anywhere.