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Measuring AI Visibility

You can't improve what you don't measure. Understanding how to track your brand's presence and performance in AI systems is essential for effective AIO.

In this guide

  • Key metrics for AI visibility
  • How to track AI mentions and recommendations
  • Tools and methods for measurement
  • Setting benchmarks and tracking progress
8 min read

The Measurement Challenge

Measuring AI visibility is harder than measuring SEO performance. There's no "AI Search Console" that tells you how often you're mentioned. AI responses vary by user, context, and time. And many AI interactions happen in private conversations we can't observe.

Despite these challenges, there are meaningful ways to understand and track your AI visibility.

Key Metrics to Track

1. AI Mention Rate

How often does your brand appear in AI responses to relevant queries? This is the most fundamental measure of AI visibility.

How to measure:

  • • Define a set of key queries relevant to your business
  • • Regularly test these queries across major AI platforms
  • • Track whether you're mentioned, and in what context
  • • Note your position (first mentioned, among several, etc.)

2. Sentiment and Accuracy

Being mentioned isn't enough. The AI needs to represent you accurately and positively.

Evaluate:

  • • Is the information about your brand correct?
  • • Is the sentiment positive, neutral, or negative?
  • • Are your key differentiators mentioned?
  • • Are you recommended, or just listed?

3. Competitive Share

How often are you mentioned compared to competitors? AI recommendations often include multiple options.

Track:

  • • Which competitors appear alongside you
  • • Who gets mentioned first or recommended most
  • • How your positioning compares to competitors
  • • Changes over time in competitive visibility

4. Source Citations

When AI systems cite sources, is your content included?

Monitor:

  • • Which of your pages get cited
  • • Which third-party sources about you get cited
  • • Citation frequency across different query types

Measurement Methods

Manual Testing

The simplest approach: regularly query AI systems with questions relevant to your business and document the results.

Pros
  • • No cost
  • • See actual responses
  • • Can test nuanced queries
Cons
  • • Time-consuming
  • • Hard to scale
  • • Results vary by session

Automated Monitoring

Use tools that automatically query AI systems and track your brand's presence over time.

Pros
  • • Scales easily
  • • Consistent tracking
  • • Historical data
Cons
  • • Cost
  • • API limitations
  • • May miss context

Proxy Metrics

Track related metrics that indicate AI visibility:

  • • Direct traffic changes: Increases may indicate AI recommendations driving brand searches
  • • Brand search volume: Growing brand queries suggest increased awareness
  • • "Recommended by AI" mentions: Customers mentioning they found you through AI
  • • AI referral traffic: Traffic from AI platforms with search functionality

Creating a Measurement Framework

Sample AI Visibility Scorecard

Metric Baseline Current Goal
Mention rate (10 key queries) 3/10 5/10 8/10
First position mentions 1/10 2/10 4/10
Accuracy score 70% 85% 95%
Positive sentiment rate 60% 75% 90%
Source citations 2/10 4/10 6/10

Query Categories to Monitor

Different query types reveal different aspects of AI visibility:

Brand Queries

"What is [Your Brand]?"

Tests basic AI knowledge of your brand and accuracy of information.

Category Queries

"Best [your category] software"

Tests whether you're included in category recommendations.

Problem Queries

"How do I [solve problem you address]?"

Tests whether you're recommended as a solution.

Comparison Queries

"[Your brand] vs [Competitor]"

Tests how AI positions you against competitors.

Use AI Rank for Automated Monitoring

AI Rank continuously monitors your brand's visibility across major AI platforms, tracking mentions, sentiment, accuracy, and competitive positioning so you can focus on improvement instead of manual testing.

Start Monitoring

Key Takeaway

Measure consistently over time.

AI visibility fluctuates based on many factors. Single snapshots don't tell the full story. Establish baseline metrics, track consistently, and focus on trends rather than individual data points.

What You've Learned

Congratulations! You've completed the AI Optimisation section. You now understand:

Ready to put this into practice? Explore our Strategies section for specific tactics, or check out the Developer track for technical implementation guidance.