Understanding tracking metrics
Learn what Visibility Score, Mention Rate, Position, Sentiment, and Citation Rate mean for your brand.
Answer Tracking measures your brand's AI visibility using five metrics: Visibility Score, Mention Rate, Average Position, Sentiment, and Citation Rate. Together they tell you how often, where, and how positively AI models reference your brand.
What is the Visibility Score?
The Visibility Score is a composite 0 to 100 score that combines all other metrics into a single number. It uses these weights:
- Mention Rate: 40%
- Average Position: 25%
- Sentiment: 20%
- Citation Rate: 15%
Scores map to letter grades: A (90-100), A- (80-89), B (70-79), C (50-69), D (30-49), F (0-29).
What is the Mention Rate?
Mention Rate is the percentage of AI models that mention your brand in their response. If 3 out of 4 models mention you, your Mention Rate is 75%.
What is the Average Position?
Average Position measures where your brand appears in each AI response. A position of 1 means your brand was mentioned first. Lower numbers are better. If a model does not mention your brand, it is excluded from the average.
What is the Sentiment breakdown?
Sentiment classifies how each AI model talks about your brand: positive, neutral, or negative. The dashboard shows a stacked bar chart so you can see the distribution at a glance.
What is the Citation Rate?
Citation Rate is the percentage of AI models that include a link to your website in their response. A higher citation rate means AI models are not just mentioning your brand but actively directing users to your site.
How do I read trend indicators?
Each metric shows an arrow and delta value comparing the current scan to the previous one:
- Up arrow (green): The metric improved since the last scan.
- Down arrow (red): The metric declined since the last scan.
- No arrow: No change or no previous data to compare.
For Average Position, the arrows are inverted: a lower number is better, so a decrease shows a green up arrow.
How do I use charts and filters?
The trend charts show metric values over time. Use the date range buttons to adjust the view:
- 30d: Last 30 days
- 90d: Last 90 days
- 6m: Last 6 months
- 1y: Last year
- All: All available data
You can toggle individual AI models on and off to compare performance across specific engines. Click any data point on the chart to see the detailed breakdown for that scan.
- Why does Average Position show "--"?
- A dash means your brand was not mentioned by any AI model for that scan, so there is no position to report.
- Why do metrics differ between AI models?
- Each AI model uses different training data, retrieval methods, and response styles. It is normal to see strong visibility on one model and weak visibility on another. Use AEOify recommendations to improve the signals that influence all models.