AI Presence 101: A Beginner’s Guide
SEO got you ranked. GEO gets you mentioned, by the AI models people now ask instead of Google. Here’s what that actually means, and the five numbers worth watching once you start.
Every real shift in marketing gets a name before anyone agrees on what it means. GEO is having that moment right now.
Here’s the plain version. Generative Engine Optimization is the work of making sure AI models, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, actually mention your brand, describe it accurately, and recommend it when someone asks a question your buyers would ask. It’s the same goal SEO always had. Only the surface changed. SEO earned you a spot on a results page. GEO earns you a place inside the answer itself.
That combined picture- how present, how well-ranked, and how well-regarded your brand is inside AI answers- is what we call AI presence. It isn’t one score. It’s five.
AI presence isn’t one number. It’s five.
Each metric answers a different question. Together, they’re the closest thing GEO has to a dashboard.
AI Visibility- are you even in the room?
How often, and how prominently, your brand shows up across the AI responses being tracked. It’s built from mentions, the raw frequency your brand appears , rolled into a Visibility Score you can break down by competitor, time period, buyer journey stage, and prompt. It’s the most basic question GEO answers, and the one worth checking first.
Ranking- where do you land when you do show up?
Being mentioned isn’t the same as being the answer an AI leads with. Ranking looks at your position within the responses that name you: named first, buried third, somewhere in between and rolls that up into an Average Ranking you can compare against competitors, by model and by prompt.
Sentiment - how are you being talked about?
Visibility and ranking tell you if you’re there and where. Sentiment tells you how you’re being described, positively, neutrally, or negatively, across tracked responses, scored per model so you can see where the tone shifts. Showing up often means less if the AI is lukewarm about you every time.
Share of Voice - how do you compare to the competition?
None of this happens in a vacuum. Your buyers are asking about your competitors in the same breath they ask about you. Share of Voice compares how often your brand appears in AI responses against the competitors you track, so you know whether you’re gaining ground or losing it, over time, by model, and by buyer stage.
AI Brand Strength - the one number to check first.
AI Brand Strength rolls Visibility, Ranking, and Share of Voice into a single overall score, so you can track your brand’s broader AI performance over time and against competitors without reading four dashboards to do it. Use it as the headline. Use the other four to work out why it moved.
Where to start, in the order that actually helps.
1. Ask the questions, not your brand name.
Skip searching for yourself. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity the real questions a prospect would ask in your category, in their words. That’s your AI Visibility baseline: are you mentioned at all?
2. See who you’re standing next to.
When you do show up, notice who else is in the answer and where you land relative to them. That’s Ranking and Share of Voice in one pass. If a competitor gets named first, consistently, that’s the gap worth closing.
3. Read what’s actually being said.
Don’t just count mentions, read them. Is the AI describing you accurately and favorably, or getting it wrong? That’s Sentiment, and it’s often the fastest thing to move, because it usually comes down to fixing what’s public about you: your website, your reviews, your press.
4. Pick one number to track monthly.
AI Brand Strength exists so you don’t have to check four dashboards to know if you’re moving. Make it the headline. Come back to the other four only when it moves and you need to know why.
5. Then start optimizing.
GEO work looks a lot like good brand work always has: a clear, well-structured website, credible third-party coverage, honest reviews, and consistent facts about who you are wherever AI models can read them. The difference is you’re now writing for a model that summarizes you, not just a person who scrolls past you.
None of this replaces SEO, and none of it happens overnight. But the brands checking their AI presence now are the ones deciding what the model says about them later. The ones that don’t are leaving that up to whoever else the model finds first.
Sources
Yetify Help Center, "AI Visibility"
Yetify Help Center, "Ranking"
Yetify Help Center, "Sentiment"
Yetify Help Center, "Share of Voice"
Yetify Help Center, "AI Brand Strength"
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