AI share of voice is the percentage of AI-generated answers, across a defined set of prompts and engines, that mention or cite a brand compared with its competitors.
What is AI Share of Voice?
AI share of voice is the portion of AI-generated answers that feature your brand relative to competitors. You run a fixed set of category prompts across AI engines, count which brands each answer mentions or cites, then express your brand’s count as a share of the total. It is the AI-search counterpart of share of voice in advertising and SEO.
How it works
A typical calculation looks like this:
- Pick a prompt set (for example, 100 prompts about “endpoint detection and response”).
- Pick engines (for example, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews).
- Collect the answers and extract every brand mentioned.
- Divide your mentions by the total mentions for all tracked brands.
Variations exist. Some teams count only citations (linked sources), some weight earlier mentions more heavily, and some calculate it per prompt cluster such as “comparison” or “pricing” prompts. Because AI answers vary between runs, sampling each prompt more than once gives a more stable number.
Examples
- An email security vendor has a strong share of voice for “what is DMARC” prompts but a weak one for “best email security vendors”, showing it wins education but not shortlists.
- A DevTools company sees its share of voice rise in Perplexity after a well-cited comparison article, while ChatGPT stays flat.
- A CMO uses share of voice by competitor to decide where to invest in analyst relations and review sites.
Share of voice also helps prioritize work. A low share on comparison prompts usually calls for third-party coverage and comparison content, while a low share on definition prompts points to gaps in your own educational pages.
How to apply it
- Agree on the competitor list and keep it stable so trends are comparable.
- Segment prompts by intent: definitions, comparisons, best-of lists, pricing.
- Report per engine and blended.
- Pair share of voice with sentiment, so a high count of negative mentions is not mistaken for success.
- Review the cited domains behind competitors’ wins.
See GEO metrics and KPIs for how share of voice fits with other measures.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate AI share of voice?
A common method divides the number of answers that mention your brand by the total brand mentions for you and your tracked competitors across the same prompts. Some tools weight mentions by position.
What is a good AI share of voice?
There is no universal benchmark. It depends on how many competitors you track and how crowded the category is. The trend over time and the gap to the category leader are more useful than an absolute number.
Should share of voice be measured per engine?
Yes. Engines often recommend different brands, so a blended number can hide a weak engine. Report per engine and in total.
Guides that cover AI Share of Voice
- AEO for SEO managers
AEO for SEO Managers: Adding AI Search to Your Stack and Reporting
How SEO managers add AEO: turn GSC queries into monitored prompts, run prompt research, fix AI crawler access, analyze citations and report GEO metrics.
- AI search reporting
AI Search Reporting for CMOs: The Executive KPIs for AEO and GEO
The 6 board-level KPIs for AI search, a one-page monthly report template, and how CMOs tie ChatGPT and Perplexity visibility to pipeline and budget decisions.
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AI share of voiceAI Share of Voice: How to Measure It, Formula, Tools Compared and How to Improve
Measure AI share of voice with a clear formula and worked example, compare 9 AI share of voice tools by method, engines and price, and learn how to improve it.
