GEO & AI Search
Share of Model Visibility: The New Market Share Metric
Quick Answer
Share of Model Visibility (AI Share of Voice) measures how often your brand appears in AI-generated answers compared to competitors. It's calculated by dividing your brand mentions by total mentions across target queries, then comparing against competitors. A 30% Share of Model Visibility means your brand appears in roughly one-third of relevant AI answers. This metric directly correlates with market share because 58% of consumers now use AI for product recommendations.
Your competitor shows up in ChatGPT answers. You don't. They appear in Perplexity recommendations. You don't. Every time someone asks an AI for help in your industry, they're building awareness while you're invisible.
Traditional market share tells you where you've been. Share of Model Visibility tells you where you're going. With ChatGPT processing over 1 billion queries daily and 58% of consumers using AI for product recommendations, the brands AI recommends today become market leaders tomorrow.
This is why Share of Model Visibility has become the leading indicator of brand trust, authority, and future market share.
What Is Share of Model Visibility?
Share of Model Visibility (also called AI Share of Voice) measures the percentage of AI-generated responses that mention, cite, or recommend your brand versus competitors. It's the competitive positioning metric for AI search.
Formula
Share of Model Visibility = (Your Brand Mentions ÷ Total Competitive Mentions) × 100
Example calculation:
You test 50 queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Your brand appears in 15 responses. Competitor A appears in 20, Competitor B in 10, Competitor C in 5.
Total mentions = 50. Your Share of Model Visibility = 15/50 = 30%
According to Birdeye, this metric measures how frequently and authoritatively your brand appears in AI-generated answers—reflecting overall brand visibility and digital trust, not just keyword rankings.
Key distinction from traditional metrics:
Traditional SEO tracks rankings and clicks. Share of Model Visibility tracks whether AI systems trust your brand enough to recommend it when users ask for help. You could rank #1 on Google but have 0% Share of Model Visibility if AI platforms don't cite you.
Why This Metric Predicts Market Share
There's a documented correlation between Share of Voice and market share in traditional marketing. The same principle applies to AI—with even stronger effects because AI provides direct recommendations rather than just visibility.
800M+
weekly ChatGPT users
Doubled from 400 million in early 2025. Each query is an opportunity to be recommended—or ignored.
58%
of consumers use AI for product recommendations
According to Capgemini research. If you're not recommended, you're not considered.
50%
organic traffic decline predicted by 2028
Gartner projection. Traditional search traffic is migrating to AI—is your visibility following?
780M
Perplexity queries in May 2025
Growing 20% month-on-month. Another massive platform where visibility matters.
The logic is straightforward: brands that AI recommends get considered. Brands it ignores don't. Over time, AI recommendations shape purchase decisions, which shapes market share. Share of Model Visibility is the leading indicator of this shift.
How to Calculate Your Share of Model Visibility
Calculating Share of Model Visibility requires systematic testing across AI platforms. Here's the process:
Step-by-Step Calculation
Build your query list (25-50 prompts)
Create queries reflecting different customer journey stages: awareness ("What is [topic]?"), consideration ("Best [product] providers"), and decision ("Is [brand] good for [need]?").
Test across platforms
Run each query on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot. Record which brands appear in responses.
Track competitive mentions
Document every brand mentioned: your brand, direct competitors, and category leaders. Note position and context.
Calculate share percentages
For each brand: (Brand mentions ÷ Total competitive mentions) × 100. Compare your percentage against competitors.
Advanced: Position-Weighted Calculation
Not all mentions are equal. First-position mentions carry more weight than being listed third or fourth. Use the reciprocal method for more accurate competitive analysis:
1.0
1st position
0.5
2nd position
0.33
3rd position
0.25
4th position
Aggregate position-weighted scores across queries for more nuanced competitive comparison.
Tools like HubSpot's AI Share of Voice Tool (free), Profound, and Semrush AI Toolkit automate this process across platforms, providing competitive dashboards without manual testing.
Benchmarking Against Competitors
Your Share of Model Visibility only matters relative to competitors. A 20% share is excellent if competitors have 5% each—or terrible if the market leader has 60%.
| Market Position | Typical Share | Strategic Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Market Leader | 25-40% | Defend position, monitor challenger growth |
| Strong Challenger | 15-25% | Target leader's weak queries, build authority |
| Emerging Player | 5-15% | Focus on niche queries, establish presence |
| New Entrant | <5% | Prioritize foundational visibility, build from 0 |
The key insight from Superlines research: AI Share of Voice predicts future market dominance because it measures what matters most—whether AI systems recommend your brand when consumers ask for solutions.
Tracking competitors matters: If your Share of Model Visibility is growing but competitors are growing faster, you're losing ground. Track both absolute visibility and relative position over time.
Improving Your Share of Model Visibility
Share of Model Visibility improves when AI models perceive your brand as more authoritative, trustworthy, and relevant. Here are the key levers:
Quick Wins (Weeks)
- • Schema markup – Structured data helps AI understand your content
- • Content structure – Clear headings, answer-first formatting
- • Review scores – Target 70%+ across G2, Capterra, Google Reviews
- • Bing optimization – 87% of ChatGPT citations match Bing top results
Long-Term Authority (Months)
- • Digital PR – Earned media in publications AI models trust
- • Wikipedia presence – If notable, create or enhance your entry
- • Reddit engagement – Genuine expertise in relevant subreddits
- • Industry directories – Listings on authoritative niche platforms
The factors that influence visibility align with what AI models seek: third-party validation, structured data, fresh and consistent content, and corroboration from diverse sources. Build genuine authority, and Share of Model Visibility follows.
What doesn't work:
Gaming AI systems with keyword stuffing or fake reviews backfires. AI models are trained to detect manipulation. Sustainable visibility comes from genuine authority—the same signals that build long-term business value.
FAQ
How is Share of Model Visibility different from traditional Share of Voice?
Traditional Share of Voice measures your visibility relative to competitors in paid and organic channels—ad impressions, search rankings, social mentions. Share of Model Visibility measures your presence in AI-generated answers. You could have 50% traditional Share of Voice but 5% Share of Model Visibility if AI platforms don't cite your content.
What's a good Share of Model Visibility benchmark?
It depends on your market position. Market leaders typically achieve 25-40% visibility for core queries. Challengers should target 10-20% and grow from there. A 30% Share of Model Visibility means your brand appears in roughly one-third of relevant AI answers—significant competitive advantage.
How often should I measure Share of Model Visibility?
Monthly for strategic tracking, weekly for high-priority queries. AI models update their knowledge frequently, so visibility can shift. Consistent measurement catches trends early. Quarterly reporting to stakeholders provides sufficient trend analysis without overwhelming with short-term fluctuations.
Can I improve Share of Model Visibility quickly?
Some tactics work within weeks: schema markup improvements, content structure optimization, and review score increases. Others take months: building authority through digital PR, establishing Wikipedia presence, and growing genuine Reddit engagement. Plan for 3-6 months to see significant movement in competitive queries.
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