Mention rate and position

How often do ChatGPT and other AI platforms mention your business? And when several companies appear in the same answer, which one gets mentioned first?

These are two of the most useful things you can measure in Klarvu. Mention rate tells you how often your brand appears, while position helps you understand how you compare with competitors.

What is mention rate?

Mention rate is the percentage of analyzed AI answers that mention your brand.

Imagine Klarvu has collected 60 answers to questions your potential customers might ask. Your brand appears in 18 of them.

Your mention rate is 30%.

In Klarvu, you'll see:

• "Mention rate": 30%
• "18 of 60 answers": Your brand appeared in 18 of the 60 analyzed answers.

One answer means one prompt sent to one AI platform on one day.

For example, tracking the same question across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews for 7 days can produce up to 21 answers.

Can I compare my mention rate with competitors?

Yes. Klarvu calculates your brand's mention rate and your competitors' mention rates using exactly the same set of answers.

If your mention rate is 30% and a competitor's is 45%, that competitor appeared in a larger share of the analyzed answers.

This makes the percentages directly comparable, even when multiple companies appear in the same answer.

On "Home" and "Competitors", Klarvu only includes answers to unbranded prompts in these metrics. These are questions that don't mention your brand by name.

If you ask ChatGPT directly about your company, there's naturally a greater chance it'll be mentioned. Including branded prompts would therefore give a misleading picture of your visibility compared with competitors.

How does Klarvu detect mentions?

Klarvu checks each AI answer for your brand name and any alternative names you've added.

By default, matching isn't case-sensitive, so uppercase and lowercase letters are treated the same. If your brand name is also a common word, you can turn on "Case Sensitive Matching".

If your company is also known by an abbreviation, a previous name, or a different spelling, it's important to include those variations.

You can also tell Klarvu which names shouldn't count. If your brand is called "Ocean" and you've added "Ocean Spray" under "Excluded Names", a mention of "Ocean Spray" doesn't count as a mention of "Ocean".

How are changes calculated?

When Klarvu shows an increase or decrease in mention rate, it compares the selected period with the immediately preceding period of the same length.

For example, the latest 7 days are compared with the 7 days before them.

Changes are displayed in percentage points, not relative percentages.

If your mention rate increases from 30% to 35%, Klarvu shows +5 percentage points.

That's simply the difference between the two percentages.

An increase is worth noticing, but it doesn't automatically explain what caused the change.

What does position mean?

There are two ways to look at position in Klarvu.

One shows how often you're mentioned compared with competitors. The other looks at which company gets mentioned first when several businesses appear in the same answer.

"Rank vs competitors" on Home

This metric shows your position among the brands you're tracking, ranked by mention rate.

If you see "#2 of 6", your brand has the second-highest mention rate among six tracked companies, including your own.

So this tells you how frequently you're mentioned compared with competitors, not necessarily how early you appear within each answer.

"Who's named first" on Competitors

On "Competitors", you can see which companies AI mentions first.

Klarvu only includes answers that mention at least two of your tracked companies. That makes it possible to compare their relative positions.

You'll see three metrics:

There's an important detail here: only the companies you're tracking count toward position.

Imagine an AI answer mentions four businesses, but you're only tracking two of them in Klarvu.

The position is calculated using those two tracked businesses, not all four names in the answer.

A company you haven't added as a competitor won't affect your position.

Why does being mentioned first matter?

People often read the beginning of an AI answer more carefully than the rest, especially when they're looking for a quick recommendation.

That makes it interesting to see whether your business appears first or further down the list.

The first company mentioned may receive more attention and, in some contexts, may appear to be the preferred recommendation.

But being mentioned first doesn't necessarily mean a company is the best option or the one AI recommends most strongly.

It's worth looking at position alongside what AI actually says about the company.

Why do the numbers fluctuate?

It's normal for mention rate and position to change from day to day.

There are a few reasons for this:

• AI doesn't always give the same answer. Even when the question stays exactly the same, the companies mentioned and their order can change.
• Small samples create larger swings. If you only have 10 answers, one additional mention changes your mention rate by 10 percentage points.
• Your prompt selection can change. Adding or removing prompts changes which answers are included in the calculation. That can affect your metrics even if the AI platforms haven't changed their behavior.

How to use these metrics

Once you understand the difference between mention rate and position, you can use them to identify where your business is performing well and where it's worth looking more closely.

Mention rate tells you how often you're part of the answer. Position tells you where you stand relative to the companies you're tracking.

Both become more useful when you follow them over time and use them as a starting point for examining the actual AI answers.