Connecting SimilarWeb on Clarisights
SimilarWeb is a digital intelligence platform that estimates traffic and engagement for any public website. Connecting SimilarWeb to Clarisights lets you blend competitive web traffic data — estimated visits, unique visitors, bounce rate, traffic source share — with your paid and organic performance, so you can benchmark your site against competitors and track market share over time.
At a glance
| Authentication | API key issued by SimilarWeb |
| Permissions needed | An API key on a SimilarWeb plan that includes Estimated Visits and Traffic Sources Overview endpoints |
| Account discovery | Manual — you specify each domain ("account") to track |
| Data freshness | Daily for visits / bounce rate; monthly for unique visitors |
| Lookback window | Subject to your SimilarWeb plan’s data retention |
| Backfill on connect | Configured per company; default backfill aligns with the standard ingestion window |
| Timezone | UTC |
| Currency | Not applicable (traffic data is non-monetary) |
| Levels supported | Account (Domain) only |
| Limited rollout | No |
Prerequisites
An active SimilarWeb account on a plan that exposes the Digital Intelligence API.
An API key generated from your SimilarWeb account settings. Admin users can create API keys for themselves or for other users on the same account from the API Management page.
The API key must be Activated in SimilarWeb (the Activation toggle in the API Management page must be ON — inactive keys return "Invalid API key").
The plan must include the Estimated Visits and Traffic Sources Overview Share endpoints if you want the full set of metrics listed below.
The list of domains you want to track. Each domain becomes one Account in Clarisights.
Steps to Connect
Step 1 — Generate your SimilarWeb API key
In SimilarWeb, sign in as an admin and open Account Settings → API Management. Create a new API key (or copy an existing one) and confirm the Activation toggle is ON. Copy the key value — you will paste it into Clarisights in Step 3.
Treat your API key like a password. It inherits your SimilarWeb account’s data access permissions and consumes credits on every call.
Step 2 — Add SimilarWeb in Clarisights
In Clarisights, go to Integrations → Organic Channels → SimilarWeb → Add Account.
[TODO: Screenshot needed — Integrations page SimilarWeb row with Add Account button]
Step 3 — Enter credentials
Provide your SimilarWeb Username (your SimilarWeb email or login) and paste your API Key. Click Validate.
Clarisights authenticates against SimilarWeb to confirm the key is active.
⚠ "Invalid API key" on validate → Re-open API Management in SimilarWeb and confirm the Activation toggle is ON for this key. If it’s on, regenerate the key, paste the new value into Clarisights, and click Validate again.
⚠ "Endpoint not enabled on your plan" → Your SimilarWeb subscription does not include the Estimated Visits or Traffic Sources Overview endpoints. Contact your SimilarWeb account manager to enable them, then retry.
Step 4 — Configure domains via Header Map
SimilarWeb does not auto-discover accounts — you tell Clarisights which domains to fetch. After validation, open the Header Map for the SimilarWeb integration and add one row per domain (for example: nytimes.com, wsj.com, bbc.com). Each domain becomes one Account in Clarisights and consumes SimilarWeb API credits on every refresh.
Verify the connection
Go to Integrations → SimilarWeb. Each domain should appear as a connected Account.
First data appears within ~24 hours of the next scheduled sync.
Quick start: create a new report, add SimilarWeb as the data source, and pull Account (Domain) · Total Web Visits (SW) · Desktop Bounce Rate (SW).
Data available
Hierarchy
SimilarWeb is a single-level integration — each domain is an Account. There are no Campaigns, Ad Groups, or Ads. Country and Metric Type are exposed as breakdown dimensions on Account-level data.
Native level (SimilarWeb) | Clarisights level |
Domain | Account |
Country breakdown | Account dimension (Country) |
Traffic source breakdown (Search, Social, Mail, Display Ads, Direct, etc.) | Account dimension (Metric Type) |
Dimensions
Dimension | Level | Description |
Account | Account | The domain you are tracking (e.g., |
Channel | Account | Channel name (always |
Country | Account | Country breakdown for the domain’s traffic |
Metric Type | Account | Traffic source classification (Search, Social, Mail, Display Ads, Direct) — used in conjunction with the POD-SW metrics below |
Metrics
Visits & visitors
Metric | Description |
Desktop Visits (SW) | Estimated number of desktop visits to the domain. Daily granularity. |
Mobile Web Visits (SW) | Estimated number of mobile web visits to the domain. Daily granularity. |
Total Web Visits (SW) | Sum of Desktop Visits (SW) + Mobile Web Visits (SW). |
Desktop Unique Visitors (SW) | Estimated unique desktop visitors. Monthly granularity. |
Mobile Web Unique Visitors (SW) | Estimated unique mobile web visitors. Monthly granularity. |
Total Web Unique Visitors (SW) | Sum of Desktop Unique Visitors (SW) + Mobile Web Unique Visitors (SW). |
Engagement quality
Metric | Description |
Desktop Bounce Rate (SW) | Estimated desktop bounce rate for the domain. Daily granularity. |
Mobile Web Bounce Rate (SW) | Estimated mobile web bounce rate for the domain. Daily granularity. |
Traffic source share (POD-SW)
These metrics correspond to the SimilarWeb Traffic Sources Overview Share endpoint and are typically pivoted by Metric Type (Search, Social, Mail, Display Ads, Direct) for desktop traffic.
Metric | Description |
POD-SW : Paid | Paid share of desktop traffic for the selected Metric Type (Search / Social / Mail / Display Ads / Direct). |
POD-SW : Organic | Organic share of desktop traffic for the selected Metric Type (Search / Social / Mail / Display Ads / Direct). |
For full endpoint details refer to the SimilarWeb API documentation.
Limitations & known constraints
Estimated data: SimilarWeb metrics are estimates derived from panel and crawl data, not direct site analytics. They are best used for benchmarking and trend analysis, not absolute counts.
Single-level hierarchy: Only domain-level data is available. There is no Campaign, Ad Group, or Ad equivalent.
API credit consumption: Every refresh consumes SimilarWeb API credits per (domain × country × metric). Adding many domains or country breakdowns can exhaust your monthly credit allowance — monitor usage in SimilarWeb’s API Management page.
Manual domain management: New domains must be added explicitly via the Header Map; SimilarWeb does not auto-discover accounts on credential validation.
Granularity mismatch: Visits and bounce rate are daily; unique visitors are monthly. Reports that mix daily and monthly metrics will resample monthly metrics across the relevant days.
Plan-gated endpoints: Some metrics (Traffic Sources Overview, country-level breakdowns) require specific SimilarWeb plan tiers. If a metric is missing in your reports, confirm the endpoint is enabled on your plan.
Mobile app data not included: This integration covers desktop and mobile web only. Mobile app traffic estimates are not pulled.
Operating notes
Refresh schedule: daily.
Lookback: incremental, subject to your plan’s SimilarWeb data retention.
Multi-domain: a single API key can fetch data for any domain visible to your plan. Add or remove domains via the Header Map at any time — each domain consumes credits independently.
Credential rotation: update the API key any time from Integrations → SimilarWeb → Edit API Key. Existing connected domains keep working with the new key.
Country breakdowns: configure the country list per domain in the Header Map. "World" (no country filter) is the default and consumes the fewest credits.
Blending with other channels: the Channel dimension is set to
SimilarWebon every row, making it easy to filter SimilarWeb data when blending with paid or web analytics sources.
Need help?
When contacting support from the in-app messenger, please include:
The integration name and the SimilarWeb Username (Integrations → SimilarWeb)
The list of domains affected
The exact error message or screenshot
The step where the issue occurred
When the issue started