Is Your Brand Visible in AI Search? Here Are Three Metrics to Watch.

TL;DR: People are changing how they search — turning to new AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity as part of a multi-platform discovery journey. But AI search remains a black box: marketers can't see where or how their brand appears, or how they stack up against local competitors. To compete, brands need a new way to measure AI search visibility. By tracking presence, sentiment, and comparative position, Scout turns hidden AI performance into clear, actionable insights.

As marketers, we're used to having dashboards for just about everything. But when it comes to AI search, the data goes dark.

People are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to discover brands, products, and services. But these platforms don't offer any native analytics. That's a big challenge for most marketers, and they're left asking:

• How do we know if our brand is appearing in AI-generated answers?

• How is it being described or positioned?

• How often is it being mentioned relative to competitors?

That uncertainty is what makes AI search a black box. Brands risk losing ground because they simply can't see what's happening.

The solution lies in figuring out how to measure "AI search visibility."

AI search visibility refers to how often, where, and in what context your brand appears in AI-generated answers across platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

And in today's landscape, where discovery and engagement happen everywhere, this visibility matters as much as traditional SEO and paid media. Possibly more.

That's exactly what Yext Scout was built for. Scout introduces a new framework for measuring AI visibility built around three essential metrics: presence, sentiment, and comparative position.

1. Presence: Are you being cited in AI results?

Let's start with the most basic — and arguably most critical — question: Is your brand showing up at all?

Presence is about whether your brand is mentioned or referenced when AI platforms generate answers. When a user asks, "What's the best urgent care near me?" or "Where can I find gluten-free pizza in Boston?", is your brand part of the response?

Without native dashboards, marketers are left guessing. Enter Yext Scout: by analyzing billions of AI-generated outputs to show you exactly when, where, and how often your brand is cited. Scout can help give you clarity into your brand's actual footprint across AI search.

If you're not present, the rest doesn't matter.

But there is good news: citations aren't just something you can track. They're something you can influence.

A recent Yext study found that 86% of sources cited by AI models are brand-managed — think websites, help articles, menus, bios, and location pages. When your brand is cited as a source in an AI-generated answer, that's not just a visibility win. It signals trust and authority.

Why it matters: Tracking where and how your brand appears in AI answers offers a new layer of measurable insight into how customers are discovering and evaluating you. And as platforms continue to surface citations, these mentions can become a leading indicator for downstream outcomes like sentiment, recall, and even conversion. (More on this below.)

2. Sentiment: How is AI describing your brand?

Okay, so your brand is being cited in AI-generated answers. Now what?

AI engines don't just regurgitate information; they interpret and frame it. That means how your brand is described may matter as much as if it's included.

Scout measures how AI platforms talk about your brand — identifying sentiment and the context of AI-generated answers. Are you framed as a trusted option or a budget choice? Are attributes like reliability, convenience, or customer service part of the conversation?

Why it matters: Understanding sentiment helps you adjust messaging, protect brand reputation, and fine-tune your content strategy. It also surfaces trends that could otherwise go unnoticed — until it's too late.

3. Comparative Position: Are you shown over competitors?

AI results are often concise. Unlike traditional search results pages, where users scroll through pages of links, AI platforms typically surface just a handful of options — often framed as conversational recommendations.

That means your relative visibility — the way you're ranked or mentioned next to competitors — can make or break customer decisions.

Comparative position reveals where you stand in the generative landscape (with detailed insight into your performance against local competitors).

Again, here's where Scout shines: it benchmarks your brand against peers in real time.

This helps marketers identify:

• Where your brand is favored or deprioritized in AI answers

• Hyperlocal visibility gaps

• Emerging opportunities and competitive threats

• High potential visibility optimizations**

Why it matters: Comparative position could be the difference between being chosen or remaining unknown. This insight is also especially important when measuring AI visibility at the hyper-local level, where competition is tight and customers expect tailored, relevant answers.

Why these AI visibility metrics matter for 2026

AI search is no longer on the horizon — it's here. Customers are already asking ChatGPT where to go, Gemini what to buy, and Perplexity who to trust. And brands that don't understand how they're being represented (or overlooked) risk falling behind.

That's why marketers need a new layer of intelligence — one built for AI-first discovery. With Scout, Yext becomes the first platform to close the data gap and make AI visibility measurable.

These three metrics — presence, sentiment, and comparative position — don't just explain what's happening. They offer a roadmap for action. Paired with Yext's unified platform, brands can move from insight to impact: closing visibility gaps, improving brand perception, and outperforming competitors in the places that matter most — at the sidewalk level.

This is how modern marketers thrive in the age of AI. Not by guessing. By measuring what matters.

Run your free Scout visibility report to see exactly how your brand appears in AI search.