Ahrefs Blog Explains AI Share Of Voice Calculation

Ahrefs Blog reported that AI share of voice can be useful in determining a brand's visibility in AI responses compared to its competitors. However, the number is only as meaningful as the way it’s calculated.

AI share of voice is the share of AI visibility a brand captures compared to the competitors it tracks, across the prompts it cares about. A common way to calculate it is by dividing responses that mention a brand by responses that mention any tracked brand, then multiplying by 100.

The calculation can be influenced by the volume of prompts, with more frequently asked prompts carrying more weight. For example, a prompt with a high keyword volume will have a greater impact on the AI share of voice than a prompt with a low keyword volume.

Ahrefs Blog also noted that each AI platform has its own ratio, which reflects how much traffic each platform sends to websites compared to Google organic search. This ratio is used to weight each prompt, with ChatGPT currently having a ratio of 0.115, Gemini having a ratio of 0.011, and Perplexity having a ratio of 0.01.

The AI share of voice is calculated per platform, and when combining platforms, the overall score is a weighted average where platforms with more impressions count for more. This means that a brand's AI share of voice can vary significantly depending on the platform and prompts being tracked.

Ahrefs Blog emphasized the importance of reporting the scope of the AI share of voice, including which prompts, platforms, and competitors are being tracked, as well as the location and time period. This is because the AI share of voice can change significantly depending on these factors, and two tools can report different AI share of voice for the same brand without either being wrong.

Ahrefs Blog suggested that AI share of voice can be useful in answering questions such as whether a brand is more or less visible than its competitors in AI responses, whether its relative visibility is increasing over time, and which competitors appear most often for topics the brand cares about.

Ahrefs Blog also noted that AI share of voice does not tell the whole story, as visibility is not the same as outcomes. AI share of voice does not indicate whether mentions are positive, whether AI actually recommends a brand, whether the brand gets traffic, or whether that traffic converts.

Brand Radar, a tool offered by Ahrefs, gives users two ways to measure AI visibility: exploring a broad index of pre-collected AI responses or tracking a focused set of prompts chosen by the user. The broad index is available immediately, while tracked prompts start collecting data after they are added.

Users can add their brand and competitors to Brand Radar, either by accepting suggested entities or adding them manually. They can also use the broad index for immediate discovery or define their market and platform scope using report filters.

By using AI share of voice, brands can gain insights into their visibility in AI responses and make informed decisions about how to improve their online presence. However, it is essential to remember that AI share of voice is just one metric and should be considered in conjunction with other factors to get a complete picture of a brand's online performance.