What is AI mention rate?
AI mention rate is the share of AI answers to questions about a specific job (a user's problem or need) that recommend or mention your brand. For example, if you put the question "What products do you recommend for better sleep?" (asked in Japanese) to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, it shows in how many of the answers your brand appears.
In marketing, AI mention rate is set to become a new measure of brand awareness. We are entering an era in which "how often AI recommends you," rather than traditional "search rankings," decides business success.
Step 1: Measure your current AI mention rate accurately
The first step toward improvement is an accurate picture of where you stand. Find out how often AI mentions your brand today.
Checking manually
- List 5 to 10 of your main keywords (jobs)
- For each keyword, send prompts like the following to the major AIs (in Japanese, the way Japanese users would ask):
- "What products or services do you recommend for X?"
- "Compare the popular brands in X."
- "How can I solve my X problem?"
- Record whether each answer includes your brand
- Record how competing brands are mentioned as well
Checking with a tool
Manual checks work well at the start, but they become time-consuming as the number of keywords grows. A monitoring tool such as AIOPulse automatically tracks how multiple AIs mention your brand in answers to Japanese-language prompts, and shows how that changes over time.
What matters is measuring regularly, not just once. AI answers change from day to day, so ongoing monitoring is essential.
Step 2: Analyze how AI mentions your competitors
You need to know how AI mentions not only your brand but also competing brands. The key here is to include job-based competitors, not just competitors in your industry.
Job-based competitor analysis
For example, for the job "sleep better," AI recommends more than just mattresses:
- Mattress brands (bedding industry)
- Sleep apps (tech industry)
- Essential oils (beauty industry)
- Supplements (health food industry)
Only when you know the competitors beyond your industry's boundaries can you practice generative engine optimization (GEO) in the true sense.
What to analyze
- Which AIs mention the brand: Look for differences, such as being mentioned by ChatGPT but not by Gemini
- In what context it is mentioned: As a recommendation, or as a point of comparison?
- Quality of the mention: Tell positive contexts apart from negative ones
Step 3: Strengthen the sources AI draws on
AI answers draw on training data and, when the AI uses web search, on real-time search results. To raise your brand's mention rate, you need to strengthen the full range of sources AI might consult.
Sources to strengthen
- Your website
- Restructure pages to lead with the conclusion
- Implement structured data (Schema.org)
- Expand your FAQ section
- External media
- Write for industry media and take interview requests
- Issue press releases regularly
- Offer expert commentary
- Review and word-of-mouth platforms
- Manage reviews on Google Business Profile
- Improve ratings on industry-specific review sites
- Social media and communities
- Post more actively on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and YouTube
- Raise your profile in industry communities
- Wikipedia and knowledge bases
- Consider creating a Wikipedia article if your brand meets Wikipedia's notability criteria
- Add your information to Wikidata
For implementing structured data, see Structured data for GEO: a guide to using Schema.org.
Step 4: Put your content strategy into action
Once you have decided how to strengthen your sources, carry out concrete content initiatives.
Short-term initiatives (doable in 1–2 weeks)
- Revise existing web pages to lead with the conclusion
- Add structured data to key pages
- Create or expand an FAQ page
- Make the way your brand name is written consistent everywhere
Medium-term initiatives (results in 1–3 months)
- Create comparison content (see How to create comparison content)
- Issue one or two press releases a month
- Start writing for industry media
- Run initiatives to collect reviews
Long-term initiatives (results take 3+ months)
- Branding initiatives that build authority (see How to build the authority that makes AI choose your brand)
- Initiatives to raise your profile in the industry
- Building a user community
Step 5: Keep improving with the PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle
GEO is not something you do once and finish; it needs continuous improvement. Run the following cycle every month.
Plan
Analyze your AI mention rate data to identify the keywords and AI platforms that need improvement. Review what competitors are doing, then decide on next month's initiatives.
Do
Carry out the chosen initiatives (content updates, adding structured data, press releases and so on) as planned.
Check
Check how your AI mention rate changed after the initiatives. Analyze in detail which initiatives worked on which AI.
Act
Continue and expand what worked, and rethink what had little effect. Use the new insights to build the next plan.
For more on running the PDCA cycle, see The PDCA cycle for GEO: concrete methods for monitoring and improvement.
Summary
Here again are the five steps to raising your AI mention rate:
- Assess where you stand: Measure your AI mention rate accurately
- Analyze competitors: Identify job-based competitors, not only those in your industry
- Strengthen your sources: Improve multiple sources, such as your website, external media, reviews and social media
- Put content into action: Carry out short-, medium- and long-term initiatives according to plan
- Keep improving: Run the PDCA cycle every month and improve based on data
For a systematic grounding in GEO basics, see What is GEO? The basics of AI search optimization. To learn how mention share is measured, see What is mention share? How to measure, calculate and use it.
Start by finding out where your brand stands. To see how ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude answer Japanese users' questions about your brand, contact us.