> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rankai.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# AI visibility metrics

> What each number in your AI Visibility report means, how it's calculated, and what to expect.

**Each number describes the answers AI tools gave to your tracked prompts.** They don't measure traffic; they measure whether AI tools mention, rank, and trust you.

<Note>**Good to know.** RankAI calculates these automatically, about every 14 days.</Note>

<Info>**In RankAI:** Sidebar → **AI Search Visibility** → **Overview** · `rankai.ai/dashboard/<project>/ai-visibility`</Info>

## How a check works

RankAI asks ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews each of your prompts. Only answers the tool actually gave are counted. Prompts that name your brand are left out, so the numbers reflect how new customers discover you.

## The metrics

| Metric | What it means | How it's calculated |
| - | - | - |
| **Visibility** | How often AI answers mention your brand. | Answers that mention you ÷ all answers. Mentioned in 4 of 10 answers = 40%. A link without your name counts under **Used as a source**, not here. |
| **Share of Voice** | Your share of the conversation versus your competitors. | Your mentions ÷ mentions of you and your listed competitors. Mentioned 10 times while competitors are mentioned 40 times = 20%. With no competitor list, every named brand counts. |
| **Sentiment** | How positively answers describe you. | Average score from 0 to 100 across answers that mention you. 50 is neutral; higher is better. |
| **Position** | How early you're named in an answer. | Your average rank among the brands each answer names, counting only answers that mention you. #1 is best. |
| **Used as a source** | How often AI tools cite your website. | Answers that cite at least one page from your site ÷ all answers. |

The **By engine** table shows the same mention and citation rates for each AI tool separately.

## How changes are shown

Each change compares the latest period (14 days by default) with the period of the same length before it. Rate changes are percentage points: going from 20% to 25% shows as +5.

## What to expect

* Answers vary between runs, so small moves are normal. Look at the trend across several checks.
* Adding prompts or competitors changes your numbers. Note when you change them.
* AI tools that search the web can only cite pages they can find, so search visibility and **Used as a source** often move together.

***

*Last reviewed: October 13, 2026.*


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