Visibility Metrics
Visibility is the foundation of your AI presence. It measures how often and how prominently AI platforms mention your brand.
What Visibility Means
Your visibility measures whether AI platforms mention your brand when users ask buying-related questions. But it's more than a simple yes/no count.
We consider:
- Mention frequency: How often you appear across queries
- Mention context: Whether you're recommended, mentioned, or just referenced
- Position in response: Where you appear relative to your competitors
- Journey stage: Which buying stages you appear in
How We Calculate It
Your visibility score reflects the percentage of relevant queries where your brand was mentioned, weighted by the quality and context of those mentions.
A mention as the top recommendation counts more than a passing reference. Being mentioned during vendor evaluation counts more than problem recognition.
We also track whether you were cited in the AI's sources. Being mentioned is good; being mentioned and cited is even better.
Interpreting Your Changes
Your visibility fluctuates naturally as AI models update. Small changes (±5%) are normal. Larger shifts warrant investigation.
Your visibility increased? Check:
- Did you publish new content that's being cited?
- Did a major publication mention you?
- Did a competitor's visibility decrease?
Your 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?
Visibility by Model
Each AI platform has different tendencies. ChatGPT might favor established brands while Perplexity might surface more recent sources. We track your visibility per model so you can see these patterns.
If your visibility is strong on Claude but weak on Gemini, that's actionable insight. It might indicate Gemini relies on sources where you're not present yet.
Visibility by Journey Stage
We break down your visibility across buyer journey stages:
- Problem Recognition: Are you mentioned when your buyers discover their problem?
- Solution Research: Are you included when buyers explore options?
- Vendor Evaluation: Are you recommended when buyers compare vendors?
- Competitive Intelligence: How do you appear in competitor comparisons?
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 for you.
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%+. We show you how your visibility compares to competitors in your space, which is more meaningful than absolute numbers.
Why does my visibility differ between AI models?
Each AI platform has different training data, recency bias, and source preferences. Perplexity pulls from recent web content. ChatGPT relies more on its training data. Claude may weight authoritative sources differently. These differences are normal and reveal where you need to focus.
How often should I check my visibility?
We recommend weekly check-ins to spot trends, with deeper monthly analysis. Daily checking can be misleading since AI responses have natural variation. Focus on directional trends rather than day-to-day fluctuations.
Can I improve visibility without creating new content?
Yes. Sometimes visibility improves by optimizing existing content, getting mentioned on sites AI already trusts, or fixing technical issues that prevent AI from citing you. Our actions highlight all these opportunities, not just content creation.