What counts as being named?
A brand counts as named when the answer presents it as a relevant option, example or source for the question asked. We do not count:
- A passing mention in an unrelated context.
- An appearance caused only by the question naming the brand. Branded and unbranded questions are reported separately.
- A mention that misidentifies the brand. That is logged in the Accuracy Check instead.
Unbranded questions matter most. They are the questions buyers ask before they know your name, which is where shortlists are formed.
Accuracy CheckHow is Answer Share calculated?
An eligible question is one where a business like yours could reasonably appear: within your offer, your market and your buyers. AI answers change from one run to the next, so every client question is asked three times on each assistant. We count every answer and show a 95% range around the result. With 120 answers the range is roughly eight points either side; with 480 it narrows to about four. The first read we run before an AI readout call asks each question once, so its figure is a first read, and we say so next to the number.
Answer Share = answers that name you ÷ answers collected for eligible questions
How is it broken down?
By platform
ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity often name different brands for the same question.
By buying stage
Exploring, Comparing and Deciding. Brands are often named while buyers explore, then drop out when they compare.
By question type
Recommendations, comparisons, explanations and validation checks each behave differently.
Against competitors
Who is named when you are not, and how often.
What sits alongside Answer Share?
Answer Share tells you whether you are in the answer. The rest of the method tells you why and what to do:
Answer Chain
Which stage you win or lose at, and which sources each answer relies on.
Answer Gap
The questions where you should be named and are not, and who is named instead.
Accuracy Check
Whether what AI says about you is true, judged against your approved facts.
Fix, Claim, Correct, Compete
The action each source gets.
What Answer Share is not
It is not website traffic, it is not a search ranking, and it is not a sales forecast. It measures whether you are considered. We also do not roll it into a single score out of 100: a number that blends visibility, accuracy and sentiment is easy to sell and hard to defend. And it is never a bare number: every figure comes with its range.
Harbourline Hotels
We test 80 unbranded questions a leisure traveller might ask, on four assistants, three runs each: 960 answers. 307 name Harbourline, an Answer Share of 32% (range 29% to 35%). The breakdown matters more than the headline: 45% while travellers are Exploring, 18% when they are Comparing. Harbourline is being found, then losing the shortlist. That points the work at comparison content and third-party reviews, not at being discovered.
Frequently asked questions
Is Answer Share the same as share of voice?
No. Share of voice counts mentions or impressions across media. Answer Share counts presence across the specific questions buyers ask AI assistants, question by question.
How many questions do you test?
An AI readout first read, which we run before your call and walk you through, uses 10 questions, asked once on four assistants. A full Answer Share report uses 25 questions asked three times. An audit uses the full question set by buying stage, usually 60 to 150 questions.
How often does Answer Share change?
AI answers shift as models and sources change. We re-measure on the same questions, assistants and number of runs, and report a change as real only when the new figure sits outside the previous range.
Can a small brand have a higher Answer Share than a market leader?
Yes, particularly on specific, contextual questions where clear, well-evidenced information matters more than size.
Why show a range?
Because the same question can get a different answer on a different day. A range tells you how sure the number is. Two figures whose ranges overlap may not be different at all.