How do you know if your brand is visible on ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini? AI visibility metrics allow you to precisely measure your presence on AI answer engines. This complete guide explains the 6 key indicators and how to use them to drive your AEO / GEO strategy.
Why Measure AI Visibility in 2026?
With the massive adoption of conversational AI, 40% of internet users now prefer to query ChatGPT rather than Google. This revolution fundamentally changes how brands must measure their online presence.
Traditional SEO had well-established indicators: Google position, CTR, organic traffic. But how do you measure your visibility when users never arrive on your site? When the "conversion" is being recommended by AI rather than clicked in a search result?
That's exactly the role of AI visibility metrics: providing concrete, measurable indicators to drive your strategy for presence on AI answer engines.
The 6 Key AI Visibility Metrics
Here are the 6 essential indicators that every digital marketing professional should track to evaluate and improve their visibility on conversational AI.
1. Visibility Score — The Overall Indicator
The Visibility Score is the most comprehensive metric. Rated out of 10, it aggregates multiple dimensions to give an overall score of your AI presence:
- Citation frequency: How often your brand is mentioned
- Position in response: 1st recommendation = maximum score
- Mention quality: Direct recommendation, comparison, simple mention
- Details provided: Does the AI mention your products, services, features?
| Score | Interpretation | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| 8-10 | Excellent — Brand leader recognized by AI | Maintain and expand to other topics |
| 6-7 | Good — Present but not dominant | Strengthen authority and content |
| 4-5 | Average — Mentioned without priority | AEO/GEO strategy needed |
| 1-3 | Low — Late or incomplete mention | Complete audit and urgent action plan |
| 0 | Absent — Not cited by AI | Build visibility from scratch |
Tip: Track your visibility score monthly. An improvement of +1 point per month is an excellent pace.
2. Mention Rate — Citation Frequency
The Mention Rate measures how frequently AIs cite your brand. Expressed as a percentage, it answers the question: out of all relevant questions asked, in how many responses do you appear?
The calculation is simple:
Mention Rate = (Responses citing you / Total questions asked) × 100
For example, if you ask 20 relevant questions to ChatGPT and your brand appears in 8 responses, your mention rate is 40%.
- >60%: Excellent — You're an essential reference
- 40-60%: Good — Present but with gaps to fill
- 20-40%: Average — Partial visibility, lots of potential
- <20%: Low — Visibility strategy to build
3. AI Share of Voice — Your Place Against Competitors
The AI Share of Voice measures your relative weight compared to your competitors. It's the AI equivalent of the traditional marketing "Share of Voice".
Share of Voice = (Your mentions / Total industry mentions) × 100
If across 20 industry queries, your brand is cited 6 times, competitor A 8 times, and competitor B 4 times, your share of voice is 33% (6/18). It's a crucial indicator for:
- Competitive benchmarking: Knowing where you stand in your market
- Strategic evolution: Measuring gains or losses against competitors
- Opportunity identification: Spotting topics where competitors dominate
4. AI Average Position — Your Rank in Recommendations
The AI Average Position indicates at what rank you're cited in AI responses. Being mentioned in 1st position is radically different from 5th position:
- Position 1: First recommendation — Maximum impact on recall and conversion
- Position 2-3: In the top 3 — Good visibility, recognized credibility
- Position 4-5: Mentioned but not prioritized — Low recall
- Position 5+: End of list — Almost zero impact
The analogy with Google SEO is telling: in SEO, 75% of clicks go to the first 3 results. In AI visibility, the first 2-3 recommendations capture most of the attention.
5. Sentiment Score — How AIs Talk About You
The Sentiment Score evaluates the tone with which AIs talk about your brand. Rated out of 10, it analyzes whether responses are positive, neutral or negative.
Sentiment breaks down into several dimensions:
- Enthusiastic recommendation (score 8-10): "I highly recommend...", "One of the best..."
- Positive mention (score 6-7): "It's a good option...", "Known for..."
- Neutral mention (score 4-5): "Among available options...", "There's also..."
- Negative mention (score 1-3): "Some users criticize...", "Notable limitations..."
Important: A low sentiment score is often linked to online reputation issues (negative reviews, critical articles). AI sentiment largely reflects the overall web sentiment.
6. Thematic Coverage — The Breadth of Your Visibility
The Thematic Coverage measures in how many different question categories you're visible. Expressed as a percentage, it reveals your strengths and blind spots.
For example, a restaurant might be visible on "best restaurant" queries (general visibility) but invisible on "restaurant for events" (special occasions) or "wheelchair accessible restaurant" (accessibility).
It's a valuable indicator for directing your content strategy:
- Identify gaps: Which topics are uncovered?
- Prioritize content: Create content on missing topics
- Compare with competitors: On which topics do they beat you?
How to Use These Metrics Together
Each metric provides a different perspective. Used together, they give a complete picture of your AI visibility:
| Situation | Key Metrics | Diagnosis |
|---|---|---|
| High mention rate but low average position | Mention + Position | You're known but not recommended as a priority |
| High visibility score but low coverage | Visibility + Coverage | Strong on some topics, invisible on others |
| Good position but negative sentiment | Position + Sentiment | Cited but with reservations — reputation issue |
| Low share of voice despite good mention rate | Share of voice + Mention | Your competitors are even more visible than you |
The Tool to Measure Your AI Metrics
Measuring these metrics manually is possible but extremely time-consuming. You'd need to query each AI, analyze each response, calculate the scores...
AI Labs Audit automates the entire process:
- 100+ AI models tested: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Mistral, Llama...
- 6 metrics calculated automatically with competitive comparison
- Time tracking: Score evolution from one audit to the next
- Technical GEO Score: Website audit for AI
- Professional PDF reports: To present results to your clients
Learn how to run a complete audit in our step-by-step tutorial.
Measure Your AI Visibility Now
Create your free account and receive 1000 credits to test all metrics.
Start for FreeFAQ
What is the most important metric for AI visibility?
The Visibility Score is the most comprehensive metric as it aggregates multiple dimensions (frequency, position, quality). However, AI Share of Voice is particularly useful for competitive benchmarking.
How often should you measure AI visibility metrics?
A monthly audit is recommended for basic monitoring. After corrective actions (new content, technical optimization), run another audit 1-2 weeks later to measure the impact.
Do metrics vary from one AI to another?
Yes, significantly. Your score can be excellent on Perplexity (thanks to its web search) and low on Claude (which relies solely on its training data). That's why it's important to test across multiple AIs.
How to quickly improve your AI visibility score?
Quick-impact actions include: adding Schema.org structured data, creating an llms.txt file, enriching your FAQs, and optimizing your Google Business listing. For lasting results, work on your domain authority and content.
Can AI metrics be compared to traditional SEO metrics?
The concepts are similar but not identical. AI Average Position is akin to Google position, Mention Rate to impression rate, and AI Share of Voice to traditional Share of Voice. Both disciplines are complementary.
Conclusion
AI visibility metrics have become essential for any digital marketing strategy in 2026. Visibility Score, Mention Rate, Share of Voice, Average Position, Sentiment and Thematic Coverage form a complete dashboard for driving your presence on conversational AI.
What matters is to measure regularly, compare with your competitors, and act on identified levers. Companies that master these metrics and adjust their strategy accordingly gain a decisive edge.
