> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.get3rd.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Diagnostics

> The reason behind every metric: root causes, evidence from real AI answers, and recommended fixes so you know exactly what to change and where.

The metric pages tell you *what* is happening. **Diagnostics** tells you *why* — it identifies where your brand is underperforming, what's causing it, and what can be done to change the situation.

## From symptom to cause

Each diagnostic insight connects three things:

1. **The metric that moved** — e.g. visibility dropped on a topic, sentiment turned negative in one market
2. **The likely root cause** — missing content, weak citations, negative framing on a trusted source, a technical issue blocking extraction
3. **The recommended action** — a concrete fix, with the evidence that supports it

<Info>
  Diagnostics compares you against your tracked competitors, so its findings are relative: not just "your visibility is 40%" but "you're losing this topic to Competitor X because their comparison page is cited in 70% of answers and you have no equivalent."
</Info>

<Note>
  **Select your domains and pages first.** Diagnostics reasons from the domains you've chosen to track and the pages you've marked as relevant. An accurate selection gives 3RD the best foundation for finding root causes, recommending what content to create, and benchmarking you fairly against competitors. Manage it under [Monitoring settings](/workspace/monitoring-settings).
</Note>

## How to use it

<Steps>
  <Step title="Start from your biggest gap">
    Diagnostics surfaces underperformance ordered by impact. Start at the top — it's already prioritized by what costs you the most.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read the evidence">
    Each insight links to the conversations and citations behind it. Verify the story before acting on it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Turn it into work">
    Diagnostics findings become the raw material for [Playbooks](/actions/playbooks) — goal-based plans with auto-generated, prioritized tasks.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Related

* [Playbooks](/actions/playbooks) — turn findings into a prioritized plan
* [Understanding conversations](/results/conversations) — read the evidence yourself