If you work in sales, enablement, or revenue ops, you’ve probably heard people rave about tracking competitor mentions in calls. It sounds great—magically surfacing every time your team talks about the competition. But here’s the thing: most teams set it up once and then let the alerts, dashboards, and keyword lists rot. If you actually want useful insights (and not just a pile of “Acme” and “WidgetCo” false positives), you’ll need to put in a bit more thought.
This guide is for anyone using Gong who’s tired of sifting through junk alerts and wants real, actionable data about competitor mentions. I’ll walk you through setting up keyword tracking, optimizing it for relevance, and avoiding the common mistakes that clog up your inbox with noise.
Step 1: Get Clear on Why You’re Tracking Competitor Mentions
Before you even open Gong, ask yourself: what do you actually want to learn? Here are some common reasons people bother with competitor keyword tracking:
- Spot deals at risk because a competitor came up
- See which competitors come up most—and where
- Understand what customers actually say about the competition
- Arm your reps with better talk tracks
If you’re just doing this because “that’s what sales teams do,” pause. Vague goals = vague results. Be specific. For example: “I want to know when [Competitor X] is mentioned in late-stage deals, so we can coach reps on how to handle objections.”
Pro tip: Write down your goal. It’ll keep you from tracking every company under the sun and getting overwhelmed.
Step 2: Build a Practical Competitor Keyword List
Don’t just dump your whole competitor spreadsheet into the tool. People mention competitors in all kinds of ways, and you’ll get junk if you don’t think it through.
Start with: - The top 3–5 competitors you actually lose to (not every company you ever hear about) - Common spelling mistakes or nicknames (Acme, Acme Corp, Ackmee) - Product names or flagship features (e.g., “WidgetCo Flow,” “MegaSync”)
What to skip (at first): - Vague words like “the other guys” or “alternative”—they’re almost never useful - Every competitor on your battlecard—start narrow, you can expand later
Example list for Acme Inc.: - Acme - Acme Corp - Ackmee - Acme Flow (their product) - Acme Platform
Pro tip: Test your keywords by searching old Gong calls. If a keyword brings up a bunch of noise, tweak or drop it.
Step 3: Set Up Keyword Tracking in Gong
Now, let’s get your keywords working in Gong. The details may change as Gong updates their UI, but here’s the basic process:
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Go to Settings
In Gong, find the settings gear (usually bottom-left). Click it. -
Find ‘Keywords’ or ‘Tracker’ Settings
Look for “Keywords,” “Trackers,” or “Keyword Tracking” under Conversation Intelligence or a similar section. -
Create a New Tracker or Keyword Set
There’s usually an option to add a new set. Name it something obvious like “Competitor Mentions – [Quarter/Year].” -
Add Your Keywords
Copy your list from Step 2. If Gong supports “OR” logic, group similar variants (e.g., “Acme OR Ackmee OR Acme Corp”). -
Set Notification Preferences
Decide who gets notified and how often. Don’t default to “everyone, instantly.” Start with just yourself or your enablement lead, and maybe a daily or weekly summary. -
Save and Test
Save your tracker. Run a few test searches to see what pops up. If you see random junk, revisit your keyword list.
Heads up: Gong’s keyword tracking isn’t magic. It matches on what’s transcribed, so if the transcription is off, you’ll miss stuff. And sometimes it’ll catch things that aren’t actually competitor mentions (“Acme” as a person’s last name…).
Step 4: Filter, Review, and Triage Results
The first week, you’ll probably get more matches than you want. Here’s how to avoid drowning in garbage:
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Set up filters:
Limit results to certain call types (e.g., exclude internal calls), deal stages, or teams. No need to track competitor mentions in onboarding calls. -
Regularly review:
Pick a time—weekly is good—to look through recent matches. Are they useful? Or just noise? -
Triage fast:
If a keyword is giving you junk, don’t be precious. Edit or remove it. If you’re missing mentions, add variations or check if the transcription is the culprit.
Don’t bother:
With tracking every single mention forever. Focus on the competitors you’re actually seeing in deals right now.
Step 5: Share Useful Insights (Not Just Data Dumps)
If you want your team to care, don’t just forward every alert. Boil it down:
- “Competitor X came up in 6 deals this week; in 4, it was a pricing objection.”
- “We’re seeing Acme mentioned mostly in SMB conversations, not enterprise.”
Give reps specific examples (“Here’s how Jane handled the Acme objection on Tuesday—worth listening to from timestamp 11:45”).
Keep it real:
Nobody cares about raw numbers (“Acme mentioned 37 times”). What do you actually learn? Focus on patterns and stories.
Step 6: Iterate and Improve Your Tracker
Keyword tracking isn’t “set and forget.” Every few weeks:
- Prune any keywords that just generate noise
- Add new competitors if they start coming up
- Remove old product names or companies that don’t come up anymore
- Check if team feedback matches what you’re seeing in the tracker
Ask your reps:
“Hey, did we miss any competitor mentions last week?” If they say yes, figure out why.
Step 7: Watch Out for Common Pitfalls
Here’s what I see people get wrong (so you can skip the pain):
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Tracking too many competitors:
You get hundreds of useless matches and nobody reads the alerts. -
Never reviewing/cleaning keywords:
Language changes. New nicknames, new products, old competitors fade. Stay on top of it. -
Assuming 100% coverage:
Gong’s AI is good, but not perfect. Accents, bad audio, weird spelling—stuff gets missed. -
Ignoring context:
Not every mention means a deal is at risk. Sometimes a customer brings up a competitor just to say, “We hate them.” -
Over-notifying:
If your team gets pinged every time “Acme” comes up, you’ll train everyone to ignore alerts.
Pro Tips for Getting the Most Out of Gong Keyword Tracking
- Combine keyword tracking with deal stage filters (e.g., only track competitor mentions in late-stage pipeline)
- Use keyword trackers to spot training needs (“Reps seem to stumble when Acme is mentioned; time for a talk track refresher”)
- Don’t rely on keyword alerts as your only source—listen to a few calls, too
Keep It Simple and Iterate
You don’t need a perfect system on day one. Start with your top competitors, review what comes in, prune the noise, and expand from there. Most teams get overwhelmed because they try to track everything and end up learning nothing. Keep it focused, tune it over time, and use what you find to actually help your team—not just fill up another dashboard.
Happy tracking—and remember, when in doubt, cut the clutter.