---
title: "AI visibility: share of voice, sentiment and position explained · Avouch"
description: "Understand AI share of voice, sentiment, position, mentions, citations and recommendations, with simple definitions and a practical reporting method."
url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained
markdown_url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained.md
---

# AI visibility: share of voice, sentiment and position explained

Know how often you appear, where you appear and what AI says about you.

**Steen Stones** · Reviewed 8 Oct 2026

An AI visibility report should separate being named, linked and recommended. It should also show your share of the conversation, your position in an answer and how you are described. Start with those questions instead of relying on a single score.

- Mention: does the answer name you?
- Citation: does it link to a page as evidence?
- Recommendation: does it suggest choosing you?
- Share of voice: how much of the tracked conversation is yours?
- Position: where do you appear in the answer?
- Sentiment: what does the answer say about you?

## One example, different measures

The examples below use made-up companies and numbers to explain the calculations. They are not Avouch findings or industry benchmarks.

## Mentions, citations and recommendations: did you appear?

A mention means the answer names your company. Ahrefs counts it once per answer, even if your name appears again.

A citation is a link used as a source. It may lead to your page or to another site talking about you. Being referenced is different from being recommended.

A recommendation suggests you as an option for the buyer. Read the sentence, rather than counting every appearance of your name as an endorsement.

For our suggested report, calculate mention rate by dividing answers that name you by all valid answers in the test. Calculate recommendation rate the same way, using answers that recommend you. Keep failed requests out and report their count separately.

## Worked example: mention rate

Suppose you collect 20 valid answers. Your company appears in 8 and is recommended in 5. Your mention rate is 8 ÷ 20 × 100 = 40%. Your recommendation rate is 5 ÷ 20 × 100 = 25%. These are illustrative figures.

## Share of voice: how much of the conversation is yours?

Share of voice compares your visibility with a defined group of competitors. Ahrefs uses your share of estimated impressions across the brands you track. Those impressions are based on Google search volumes, not a count of actual AI readers.

For a simple internal report, we suggest a mention-based share of voice: your mentions divided by all mentions across the companies you track. Count each company once per answer. Label it “share of tracked mentions” so the formula is clear.

Keep the competitors, questions, engines and period fixed when comparing results. Ahrefs notes that changing the tracked brands can change share of voice.

A score can improve because a rival appears less often. Read it alongside your own mention rate. Neither measure tells you your share of sales.

Worked example: share of tracked mentions

Swipe across to read all columns.

| Basis | Company | Mentions | Share |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ | -------- | ----- |
| [Illustrative example](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | Your company | 8 | 40% |
| [Illustrative example](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | Company B | 7 | 35% |
| [Illustrative example](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | Company C | 5 | 25% |

In this made-up example, there are 20 mentions across the tracked companies. Your share is 8 ÷ 20 × 100 = 40%. The total here is mentions, not answers: one answer can name several companies.

## Position: where does your company appear?

For your reporting sheet, define position as the order in which companies first appear in the answer. If yours is the third distinct company named, record third. This is our suggested counting rule, not a universal AI ranking standard.

Keep that separate from recommendation order. A company might be mentioned early as background but recommended later, or not recommended at all. Save the sentence that explains its role.

For an ordered shortlist, record the place on that list. For a comparison table or prose answer, record the display order without assuming it means best to worst. If the layout has no meaningful order, use “not applicable”.

Report position only where a company appears. Keep “not mentioned” as a separate outcome, rather than turning it into a zero. Otherwise an average can hide how often the company is absent.

If a tool gives earlier positions more weight in its share-of-voice score, ask for the weighting rule. Do not compare that score directly with an unweighted count of mentions.

## Worked example: position and absence

Across five illustrative answers, your company appears first, third and second, and is absent twice. Its average first-appearance position is (1 + 3 + 2) ÷ 3 = 2, among the three answers that name it. Its mention rate is 3 ÷ 5 × 100 = 60%. Report both, so the average does not hide the two absences.

Suggested position rules for your worksheet

Swipe across to read all columns.

| Basis | What the answer shows | What to record |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Suggested method](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | A numbered shortlist | The company’s place on the list |
| [Suggested method](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | Companies named in prose | Order of first appearance; do not call it a best-to-worst ranking |
| [Suggested method](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | An unranked comparison table | Display order only, or not applicable if order is not meaningful |
| [Suggested method](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | Your company is absent | Not mentioned; no position |

## Sentiment: is the description helping or hurting you?

Sentiment describes the tone of what AI says about your company. Ahrefs recommends checking whether the description is positive, neutral or negative.

We suggest adding “mixed” when the same answer gives meaningful praise and criticism. Judge the words about your company, not the mood of the whole answer.

Keep the exact wording beside the label. “Good for small teams, but limited reporting” needs a different response from an entirely negative description. This sentence is an invented example.

Record the reason too: price, support, ease of use or a missing feature. Review unclear cases by reading the answer. A sentiment percentage without the reasons gives you little to act on.

Illustrative sentiment labels

Swipe across to read all columns.

| Basis | Example wording | Label | What to investigate |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| [Illustrative example](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | A strong choice for small teams | Positive | What strengths are being recognised? |
| [Illustrative example](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | Offers project management software | Neutral | Is there enough detail to help a buyer choose? |
| [Illustrative example](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | Support is slow | Negative | Which source makes that claim, and is it current? |
| [Illustrative example](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-visibility-metrics-explained) | Easy to use, but reporting is limited | Mixed | Check the praise and criticism separately |

For example, if 10 answers mention you and 6 are positive, report “6 of 10 mentioning answers were positive”. Keep negative, neutral and mixed counts beside it. This is an illustrative calculation, using only answers that mention you.

## Accuracy and citation share: what else needs checking?

A positive description can still be wrong. Ahrefs recommends saving the question, response and cited sources when a company is described inaccurately or with outdated information.

Bing’s Citation Share measures your site’s citations against all citations for the same search query used to support an answer. It is not traffic share or a content-quality score.

Visible citations are not a complete reading history. OpenAI’s sources list can include consulted pages that were not cited in the answer.

Track visits and business enquiries separately. Traffic alone does not show whether people saw your company mentioned, cited or recommended without clicking.

## Build a report you can act on

Keep a row for each answer. Record the engine, date, question, memory and conversation conditions. Save the answer itself so someone else can check the labels.

Add columns for Mention, Recommendation, Citation, Position, Sentiment and Accuracy. Summarise share of voice across a fixed group of competitors, using the formula written beside your report.

Keep answers with web search separate from answers without it where you can identify the difference. Report each engine separately before combining results.

Repeat the same questions across sessions and periods before calling a change a trend. Aleyda Solís recommends repeated testing for reliable presence measures.

Use the result to choose work. Low mention rate calls for a visibility investigation. Negative descriptions call for reading the criticism and its sources. Wrong facts call for correcting the information behind them.

## Use a simple recording sheet

Keep one company per answer per row. That makes mentions, position and sentiment easier to check before you calculate a summary.

[Download the blank measurement sheet ](https://avouchedfor.com/downloads/ai-visibility-measurement-sheet.csv)

## Related guide

Google query fan-out: a step-by-step guide

[Read the guide ](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/find-google-query-fan-out)

## Related guide

ChatGPT query fan-out: a step-by-step guide

[Read the guide ](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/find-chatgpt-query-fan-out)

## Common questions

### Is share of voice the same as mention rate?

No. In our suggested method, mention rate uses all valid answers as its total. Share of tracked mentions uses all tracked companies’ mentions as its total. Ahrefs has a different, impression-based share-of-voice formula.

### Does first position mean the AI thinks we are best?

Do not assume that. Record the order, then read whether the answer actually recommends you. Our suggested method keeps first appearance and recommendation order separate.

### Can positive sentiment still contain wrong facts?

Yes. Review tone and accuracy separately, and keep the original answer and its sources when you find an error.

### Can we be cited without being recommended?

Yes. A source link and a recommendation are different outcomes.

## Sources

1. [help.ahrefs.com, AI Visibility Metrics, Help Center, Ahrefs (opens in a new tab)](https://help.ahrefs.com/en/articles/15501968-ai-visibility-metrics), checked 8 October 2026
2. [linkedin.com, 🚨 Common AI Search Tracking Mistakes and Misunderstandings: 1. Treating traffic-based metrics as a proxy for AI visibility or the full measure of AI impact Organic traffic doesn't show whether a…, Aleyda Solís (opens in a new tab)](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aleyda%5Fcommon-ai-search-tracking-mistakes-and-activity-7450585310587174915-qilk), checked 8 October 2026
3. [ahrefs.com, AI Visibility Audit: How to Measure Your Brand’s Presence in AI Search (opens in a new tab)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-visibility-audit/), checked 8 October 2026
4. [blogs.bing.com, New AI Visibility Insights in Bing Webmaster Tools: Intents,... (opens in a new tab)](https://blogs.bing.com/search/2026/6/New-AI-Visibility-Insights-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Intents-Topics-Citation-Share-Compare/), checked 8 October 2026
5. [developers.openai.com, Web search, OpenAI API (opens in a new tab)](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/tools-web-search), checked 8 October 2026

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