Definition
AI share of voice is the proportion of relevant AI assistant answers that mention your brand, compared with how often they mention your competitors.
AI share of voice explained
Share of voice is an old marketing idea: of all the conversation in a market, how much is about you? In AI search it is calculated from a fixed set of prompts that represent how buyers ask about your category. For each prompt and assistant you record which brands are mentioned. Your share of voice is your mentions divided by all brand mentions across those answers.
Because AI answers vary, the prompt set and sampling method matter more than the exact number. Use enough prompts to cover different intents, such as comparisons, problems, use cases and price questions, run them several times, and keep the set stable so changes over time mean something. Many teams also weight results, counting a first recommendation more than a passing mention.
Tracking share of voice alongside named competitors shows whether you are gaining ground in AI answers, and on which topics a competitor dominates. Those topics are usually where content and PR effort pays off first.
Example
Suppose you run 50 prompts about “expense management software” and count 200 brand mentions in the answers, 40 of them for your brand. Your AI share of voice for that topic is one in five, and the detail shows a competitor takes most mentions for “expense software for construction companies”.
Why it matters
It turns scattered AI answers into one comparable number you can track monthly and set goals against, next to your organic and paid search metrics.
Related service
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
We help your brand get found, understood and cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
Generative engine optimization servicesPublished by Vidern, founded and led by Malhar Shah. Updated .
See how AI assistants describe your brand
The free GEO audit scores your readiness for ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews from 0 to 100, with an action plan, within 24 hours.
Related terms
- AI visibilityAI visibility is how often and how favorably AI assistants mention, recommend or cite your brand when people ask questions related to what you sell.
- Share of voiceShare of voice is your brand's portion of the total visibility in a market, such as rankings, ad impressions or mentions, compared with competitors.
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)GEO (generative engine optimization) is making your brand easy for AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini to find, trust and cite.
- Brand mentionA brand mention is any reference to your company, product or founder by name on another website, forum, video or AI answer, whether or not it links to you.