Visibility Metrics
Visibility is the foundation of your AI presence. It measures how often and how prominently AI platforms mention your brand - weighted by which platforms matter most.
Your AI Visibility Score
Your visibility score reflects how often AI platforms mention your brand, weighted by each platform’s market share. This means visibility on ChatGPT (the largest platform) matters more than visibility on smaller platforms.
Current market share weights:
- ChatGPT: ~65% of AI usage
- Gemini: ~20% of AI usage
- Claude: ~8% of AI usage
- Perplexity: ~7% of AI usage
A 50% visibility score on ChatGPT contributes more to your overall score than 100% visibility on a smaller platform. We weight by actual usage so your score reflects real-world impact.
The Four Visibility Signals
Your visibility breaks down into four distinct signals, each measuring a different type of AI mention:
Mention Rate
How often AI mentions your brand by name in responses. This is the most basic form of visibility - are you being talked about?
Citation Rate
How often AI cites your website as a source. This indicates AI trusts your content enough to reference it directly. High citation rates usually mean your content is well-structured and authoritative.
Ranked Rate
How often your brand appears in “top X” or “best of” lists. When AI creates comparison lists, are you included? This measures your position in explicit recommendations.
Recommended Rate
How often AI explicitly recommends your brand. This is the strongest signal - not just mentioned, not just listed, but actively recommended as a solution.
Recommended Rate is the highest-value signal. A brand with 30% mention rate but 80% recommended rate is in a stronger position than one with 80% mentions but only 20% recommendations.
Platform-by-Platform Breakdown
Your report shows visibility separately for each AI platform we track. This reveals important patterns:
- Strong everywhere: Consistent visibility across platforms suggests solid overall presence
- Strong on some, weak on others: Different platforms weight different sources. Your report’s actions will include platform-specific recommendations when we detect these gaps.
- Blind spots: 0% visibility on a major platform is a critical gap
Identifying Blind Spots
A blind spot occurs when you have zero visibility on a platform with significant market share. Your report flags these automatically because they represent missed opportunities with large user bases.
If you’re invisible on ChatGPT (65% of users), you’re missing most of the market - even if you’re strong elsewhere. Check your report’s Actions section for specific steps to address platform blind spots.
Ranking Performance
When your brand appears in “top X” or “best” lists, where do you rank?
- Average Position: Your typical ranking across all list appearances. Lower is better - #1 is ideal, #5 means you’re often an afterthought.
- Best Position: Your highest ranking achieved. Hitting #1 proves AI can position you as a leader.
Average position matters more than best position for day-to-day impact. Consistently ranking #2-3 is better than occasionally hitting #1 but usually appearing at #7.
Visibility by Journey Stage
We track your visibility across buyer journey stages:
- Problem Recognition: Are you mentioned when buyers discover their problem?
- Solution Research: Are you included when buyers explore options?
- Vendor Evaluation: Are you recommended when buyers compare vendors?
Most companies should prioritize vendor evaluation visibility - that’s where buying decisions happen. But if you’re a category creator, solution research visibility may matter more.
Interpreting Changes
Your visibility fluctuates as AI models update. Small changes (+/-5%) are normal. Larger shifts warrant investigation.
Visibility increased? Check:
- Did you publish new content that’s being cited?
- Did a major publication mention you?
- Did a competitor’s visibility decrease?
Visibility decreased? Check:
- Did a competitor launch a major campaign?
- Is there new negative coverage about your brand?
- Did AI models recently update their training data?
Common Questions
What’s a “good” visibility score?
It depends on your market. In crowded categories, 15-20% visibility might be excellent. In niche markets, you might expect 40%+. Compare against your competitors rather than chasing absolute numbers.
Why does my visibility differ between AI models?
Each platform has different training data, recency bias, and source preferences. Perplexity pulls from recent web content. ChatGPT relies more on its training data. These differences reveal where you need to focus.
Which signal matters most?
Recommended Rate is the strongest signal of real impact. But all four work together - you generally need to be mentioned and cited before you can be ranked and recommended.
How do I improve a specific signal?
The Action Center generates targeted recommendations based on which signals are weak. Low citation rate triggers source optimization actions; low ranked rate triggers comparison content actions.