§ Defined Term · AEO Glossary

AI Share of Voice™ — The Metric That Replaces Rankings.

Search rankings tell you who's listed. AI Share of Voice™ tells you who AI actually recommends. Measured across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews — across 100+ buying questions per category.

Check My AI Share of Voice™ → Read the definition

AI Share of Voice™

Invisible

Sample brand · 90-day climb · 12% → 64%

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Defined Term · noun · pronounced AY-eye SHARE of VOYS

AI Share of Voice™

The percentage of AI-generated buying answers that recommend a given brand, measured across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Where SEO rank measures presence, AI Share of Voice measures preference — the share of recommendations that actually go to you.

It is calculated by running a curated bank of buyer prompts (typically 100+ per category) through every tracked engine on a fixed cadence, then weighting each captured mention by prompt search volume, position within the answer, and engine reach.

SOV_brand = Σ ( mentions × position weight × engine reach ) ÷ Σ ( total weighted answer slots )

§ 01 — Score bands

Four bands. One spectrum.

Where you sit on the AI Share of Voice spectrum determines how AI surfaces you in buyer answers — and what you have to do next.

0 – 30%

Invisible

AI doesn't recommend you. Buyers asking your category aren't being told you exist. You're not losing — you're absent.

31 – 55%

At Risk

You appear in some answers, often after a competitor. One model update, one new entrant, and you're back in invisible territory.

56 – 75%

Strong

AI recommends you in the majority of category prompts, usually in the first or second slot. You're winning the buyer's first answer.

76 – 100%

Dominant

You are the default answer. Buyers asking AI for your category get you, by name, first, with framing in your favor.

§ 02 — Calculation

How we compute it.

Every score is reproducible. We run the same prompts, on the same cadence, weight each mention with the same constants, and publish the methodology. No magic.

Step 01 · Prompts

Curated bank, real buyers.

Our index covers 10,000+ category prompts ranked by commercial intent. Per category, we use 100+ — the questions buyers actually type into AI before purchasing.

Step 02 · Capture

Verbatim from every engine.

Each prompt runs across all five engines. We log the verbatim answer, the brands named, the order of mention, and any cited sources — every cycle.

Step 03 · Score

Weight, aggregate, publish.

Mentions weighted by prompt volume × position × engine reach. Aggregated to a single 0–100 composite, plus per-engine and per-prompt drilldowns.

§ 03 — Why it matters

Why it beats traditional metrics.

SOV measures the right thing in the right place: did AI tell the buyer to choose you?

SEO Rank #1vs.AI SOV 64%

Rank measures presence. SOV measures preference.

You can rank first on Google and never get recommended by AI. SOV captures the actual choice the buyer is given — not the list of choices that exist somewhere.

Share of searchvs.AI Share of Voice

Search volume measures intent. SOV measures outcome.

Share of search tells you what people are typing. AI Share of Voice tells you which brand they're being told to pick. Different question, different answer.

Brand awareness surveysvs.AI Share of Voice

Surveys measure memory. SOV measures recommendation.

Awareness asks "have you heard of us?" SOV asks "did the AI recommend us?" Only one of those moves a sale forward.

§ 04 — Sample report

What a real SOV report looks like.

A redacted view of one mid-market brand's report after 90 days on SearchDaddy, Inc.. Climbed from 12% to 64% across all five engines.

app.searchdaddy.io / reports / sov-march-2026 v 04.18

Composite SOV +52 pts

64%Strong

132 prompts · 5 engines · weekly

Position distribution

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th+

SOV by engine 90-day average

G ChatGPT

71%

C Claude

64%

P Perplexity

58%

G Gemini

62%

A AI Overviews

65%

Top-mention prompts last 7 days

"Best CRM for a 12-person SaaS startup"+1 slot

"Top sales engagement platform 2026"NEW · #2

"Pipedrive vs HubSpot vs holdcourt"+2 mentions

Five seconds

Get your AI Share of Voice™ score in 5 seconds.

Drop your domain. We'll surface the four most consequential AI visibility findings — then send the full 47-point audit to your inbox.

Check My AI Share of Voice™ →

§ 05 — Questions

SOV-specific questions.

Specific questions about how the metric works, how it's reported, and how it differs from neighboring measures.

How is AI Share of Voice calculated?

We run 100+ buyer prompts per category through ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews every week. Each AI mention is weighted by prompt search volume, position within the answer, and engine reach — then aggregated into a single composite score from 0 to 100. Per-engine and per-prompt scores are also reported.

How is AI Share of Voice different from share of search?

Share of search measures keyword query volume on Google. AI Share of Voice measures whether AI engines actually recommend you in their answers. Different signal, different buyer behavior — share of search captures intent, AI SOV captures outcome.

What's a good AI Share of Voice score?

Below 30% is Invisible, 31–55% is At Risk, 56–75% is Strong, and 76%+ is Dominant. Most B2B brands start under 30% before optimization. Category leaders typically settle in the Strong band.

How often is AI Share of Voice refreshed?

Every Pro and Enterprise account is refreshed daily. Volatility above 5% triggers an immediate alert in Slack, email, or via webhook. Starter accounts refresh weekly.