What Is AI Search Share of Voice, and How Do You Measure It?

What is the basic AI share of voice formula?

The simplest version:

Share of voice = your brand's mentions ÷ all brand mentions, across the same answers

Three rules make it consistent:

1. Count each brand at most once per answer. A brand named three times in one answer is one mention.
2. Use the same question set and engines for every brand and every period.
3. Decide what counts: any mention, only recommendations, or only top picks. Recommendation share is usually the more useful business metric; see the difference between being cited and being recommended.

Share of voice is different from mention rate. Mention rate is the share of answers that name you ("named in 4 of 6 answers"). Share of voice is your share of all the brand names in those answers. A brand can have a high mention rate and a modest share of voice in a category where answers list many brands. How these KPIs compare is covered in which AI visibility KPIs brands should track.

What denominator should AI share of voice use?

The denominator changes the number a lot, so state it in every report:

For most businesses, report share against all brands named as the headline, and share within the tracked set as a second view. When a new competitor starts appearing, the difference between the two shows it quickly.

How do you calculate AI share of voice across prompts and repeated runs?

Here is a small worked example: three questions, each run twice, with four brands (A is yours). Brands are listed in the order each answer named them.

There are 16 brand mentions in total. A is named 4 times, B 6, C 4 and D 2. So:

• Share of voice: A 25%, B 37.5%, C 25%, D 12.5%.
• Mention rate: A is named in 4 of 6 answers, or 67%.

Six answers are far too few for real decisions; the example only shows the arithmetic. In practice, use 20–40 questions with three to five runs each.

Should repeated runs count as separate data points?

Yes, but be careful how you combine them. Each run is a separate answer, so it adds information. But runs of the same question are more alike than answers to different questions, so they should not outweigh the question set.

Two ways to combine, both worth knowing:

• Pooled: add up all mentions across all runs and questions, as in the example above. Simple, but a question run ten times counts five times more than one run twice.
• Averaged by question: work out the share for each question, then average across questions. In the example, A has 2 of 5 mentions on question 1 (40%), 0 of 5 on question 2 (0%) and 2 of 6 on question 3 (33.3%), for an average of 24.4%, close to the pooled 25%.

The two methods agree closely only when every question gets the same number of runs and its answers name a similar number of brands. When they differ a lot, report the question average, because it treats every question as equally important. To show how uncertain the number is, resample questions (not runs) and recalculate. The spread of results is a fair range for your share.

How do you calculate rank-weighted AI recommendation share?

Being named first usually matters more than being fifth in a list. A rank-weighted share gives earlier positions more weight. A common choice is 1 ÷ position: first place scores 1, second 0.5, third 0.33, fourth 0.25.

Applied to the example:

The total weighted score is 10.25. A's plain share is 25%, but its weighted share is 29.3%, because A is usually named early. B is named more often but lower down, so its weighted share falls from 37.5% to 35.8%.

Two cautions. First, position within an answer is unstable between runs, so weighted shares need more runs to settle. Second, weight positions only among recommended brands; a brand mentioned first as a historical example should not get full weight. Always report the plain share alongside the weighted one.

How should co-mentions be counted?

A co-mention is when your brand and a competitor appear in the same answer. For share of voice, each brand in an answer simply counts once, so co-mentions need no special treatment in the formula.

But co-mentions are worth reporting separately, because they show who you are compared with:

• Co-mention rate with each rival: the share of your answers that also name that rival.
• Head-to-head order: when both appear, how often you are named first.
• Exclusive wins: answers naming you and none of your main rivals.

A brand that always appears alongside the market leader, but after it, has a different problem from one that appears in different answers entirely. For how co-occurrence shapes recommendations, see how co-citation and co-occurrence affect AI recommendations.

How do you calculate citation share when answers cite several sources?

Citation share uses cited links instead of brand names. Answers cite different numbers of sources, so choose between two methods:

• Raw count: your citations ÷ all citations. An answer with ten sources counts five times more than one with two.
• Fractional count: give each answer a total weight of 1, split equally among its sources. If an answer cites four sources and one is yours, you get 0.25; if another cites two and one is yours, you get 0.5. Your share is the sum of your fractions ÷ the number of answers.

Fractional counting stops engines that list many sources from dominating the figure, and is usually the fairer choice when comparing engines. Report citation share by domain, and separately for your key pages.

What should an AI share of voice report include?

• The question set and version, engines, runs per question, dates and location.
• The denominator and counting rules: mentions or recommendations, pooled or averaged.
• Plain and weighted share, side by side, with a range.
• Share by engine and by question group, because averages hide where you win and lose.
• Co-mention and head-to-head figures for your main rivals.
• Changes since last period, flagged only when they exceed the usual range.

What do people ask about AI share of voice?

What is a good AI share of voice?

It depends on how many brands compete in your answers. In a category where answers name three brands, a third is average; where they name ten, 10% can be strong. Compare against your own baseline and your main rivals.

Is AI share of voice the same as share of model?

They are closely related. Share of model usually refers to how often a model mentions a brand, sometimes from memory alone; see what share of model is and how it differs from share of voice.

Should branded questions be included?

No. Questions that name your brand almost always mention you and inflate your share. Track them separately.

How often should share of voice be recalculated?

Monthly is enough for most brands. Weekly figures swing too much to be read on their own unless you run many questions.