Glossary

What is share of voice in AI search?

Also known as SOV, AI share of voice, share of model

Definition

Share of voice in AI search is the portion of brand mentions in AI answers that go to your brand, compared with competitors, across a set of prompts. Some tools weight it by where each brand appears.

Key points

Share of voice compares your mentions in AI answers with your competitors' on the same prompts.
Weighting by position means being named first counts for more than being named last.
Splitting it by engine and by market shows where you lead and where you trail.

What does it mean in practice?

An accountancy firm tracks a set of prompts, such as the best accountant for small businesses in Glasgow. Across all the answers, the AI engines name six firms. Share of voice shows how the mentions split between them. If one rival is named in most answers and your firm in only a few, the rival has the larger share.

Position matters too. Being named first in a list is worth more than being named fifth. Axiom GEO weights share of voice by position using 1/rank. A first mention counts as 1, a second as a half, a third as a third, and so on.

Why does it matter for AI search?

A raw mention count can hide a lot. You might be named often but always last, or only on one engine. Share of voice puts you next to competitors on the same questions, which makes progress easier to judge.

It also helps to split it by engine and by market. A brand can lead in Perplexity and trail in ChatGPT, or do well in Edinburgh and poorly in Manchester. Competitor share of voice in Axiom GEO shows those splits, and our AI share of voice guide covers how to read them.

These terms sit close to share of voice.

Brand mention, each time an answer names a business.
Prominence, how strongly a brand features in an answer.
AI visibility score, a single number for overall visibility.
Prompt set, the questions share of voice is measured across.

Common questions

How is share of voice calculated in AI search?

It is your mentions divided by all brand mentions across the same set of answers. Axiom GEO weights each mention by position, using 1/rank, so a brand named first counts as 1, second as a half and third as a third. That way a first mention counts for more than a passing one at the end.

Is share of voice the same as share of recommendation?

No. Share of voice counts mentions. Share of recommendation counts only the times an engine actually recommends a brand. A brand can be mentioned often but rarely recommended, so it helps to watch both.

Reviewed 26 September 2026

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