Request a callHow to measure share of answer in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews
Share of answer is the percentage of relevant buyer questions where an AI assistant mentions or recommends your company. Measure it by building a fixed set of buyer questions, running them across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews on a schedule, and scoring each answer for mention, citation, position, accuracy and competitors.
Key takeaways
- Use a fixed question set so month-to-month changes are comparable.
- Score mentions, citations, accuracy and competitors separately.
- Run each question more than once; AI answers vary.
- Tie trends back to branded search and self-reported attribution.
Build the buyer question set
Write 25 to 50 questions real buyers ask at different stages. Use sales call notes, search console queries and community threads as sources.
- Category: "best [category] for enterprise", "top [category] vendors in Canada"
- Problem: "how do I [problem your product solves]"
- Comparison: "[you] vs [competitor]", "[competitor] alternatives"
- Brand: "what does [you] do", "is [you] good for [use case]"
Score every answer the same way
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Mentioned | Yes or no |
| Position | First, among several, or last |
| Cited | Whether a link to your site or a source about you appears |
| Accuracy | Correct, outdated or wrong description |
| Competitors | Which competitors appear instead or alongside |
| Sources | Which pages the engine cited |
Account for variability
AI assistants do not return the same answer every time. Run each question a few times per engine in a clean session, record the share of runs that mention you, and keep location and language settings consistent.
Turn findings into work
- Questions where competitors win: create or rewrite a page that answers that question directly
- Inaccurate descriptions: fix facts on your site and on the third-party sources engines cite
- Missing citations: add structured data, clear headings and quotable answers
Report it like a channel
Report share of answer monthly by engine and question cluster, alongside branded search volume, direct traffic and "how did you hear about us" responses on demo forms.
Frequently asked questions
What is share of answer?
The percentage of a fixed set of buyer questions where an AI assistant mentions or recommends your company, measured per engine over time.
Can rank trackers measure AI search visibility?
Traditional rank trackers measure positions in search results, not mentions inside generated answers. Use a question set and scoring method, manually or with a dedicated AI visibility tool.
Related service: Generative engine optimization. See also pricing and client results.