For more than a decade, keyword rankings have been one of the primary benchmarks for marketing success. But in an AI-first search landscape, where large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity rewrite information rather than link directly to it, those rankings no longer tell the full story.

An Ahrefs analysis of 146 million SERPs found that AI Overviews appear in 21% of Google searches, underscoring how quickly AI-generated results are reshaping visibility. To stay competitive, marketers need to measure and benchmark their AEO performance — tracking visibility, accuracy, and sentiment to identify what’s working, replicate wins, and drive continuous improvement.

If you take away one thing

Build a measurement practice that connects visibility, accuracy, and sentiment — turning data into continuous improvement and translating visibility into real business impact.

Level 1: Track target keyword rankings

At this stage, teams are still relying on traditional SEO metrics like keyword rankings and organic traffic. You’re identifying topics your prospects care about, grouping them into keyword clusters, and tracking where your site appears for each term.

But in AEO, keyword visibility only tells part of the story. It’s time to start looking beyond rankings to understand whether your brand is showing up in AI-generated answers.

Questions to ask:

• Which LLMs are driving the most referral traffic and crawling our site most often?
• If we don’t have that data, can we focus on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot?
• When we ask LLMs our top buyer questions, do they mention or cite us?

How to get started:

• Review analytics to see which LLMs drive the most referral and crawl traffic, and to which pages
  
  • Use that data to prioritize updating or expanding high-traffic pages with limited content
• Ask your top buyer questions in leading LLMs and note whether your brand is mentioned or cited
  
  • Use those insights to guide outreach or content improvements to increase brand mentions

Level 2: Monitor mentions manually

Once you start listening to what’s happening in LLMs, the next step is to formalize your monitoring. At this stage, teams move from casual checks to systematic tracking of brand mentions and citations across AI-generated answers.

Questions to ask:

• How will we track and discuss brand mentions and sentiment in LLMs during our regular reporting cycles?
• How are we measuring behaviors or conversions from LLM-sourced traffic compared to other channels, especially unbranded SEO?

How to get started:

• Use third-party tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Profound, Scrunch, or Graphite for systematic AEO monitoring
• Track daily or weekly mentions and analyze:
  
  • Inclusion: Is your brand included in AI answers?
  • Citation: Are your owned resources linked?
  • Prominence: How early or prominently does your brand appear?
• Begin monitoring sentiment to understand perception in AI-generated responses
• Track conversion rates from LLM-attributed traffic and compare them to other channels

Level 3: Benchmark LLM performance signals

By this stage, your team is consistently tracking mentions, sentiment, and LLM-driven traffic. The next step is benchmarking — measuring your brand’s share of voice relative to competitors and tracking the accuracy of those mentions.

Questions to ask:

• How frequently are we mentioned relative to our top competitors?
• Is the content being referenced accurate, current, and up to date?

How to get started:

• Define success metrics across the funnel: visibility, share of voice, engagement, and conversions
• Track citations, visits, and leads to connect results back to campaigns and experiments
• Track zero-click mentions (where your brand is cited but not linked) and assign them value in reporting
• Review LLM outputs regularly to ensure your brand is represented accurately and consistently

Level 4: Integrate real-time feedback

At level 4, measurement becomes part of your decision-making process. Rather than reviewing reports periodically, you’re integrating real-time feedback loops that connect data across content, technical, and authority initiatives.

Questions to ask:

• How are we using measurement insights to shape our content, authority, and technical priorities?
• What can our data reveal about the buyer journey and emerging trends?
• Can we anticipate which questions or topics will become important next?

How to get started:

• Link measurement insights directly to content, authority, and technical planning cycles
• Develop a framework to quantify the impact of zero-click mentions by mapping them to brand visibility, share of voice, and downstream engagement metrics
• Move from monthly reporting to weekly or automated updates to respond faster
• Stay current with evolving LLM reporting standards as they begin to provide richer visibility

Level 5: Anticipate trends and respond fast

At the highest level of maturity, measurement and strategy work in sync, enabling your team to move quickly on content creation, refreshes, authority, and technical improvements. Measurement insights are fully integrated into AEO decision-making, turning data into real-time guidance. At this stage, you’re using insights to anticipate and prioritize your next investments.

Questions to ask:

• Where should we invest next based on emerging visibility trends?
• How far ahead can our data help us look — and act — before competitors do?

How to get started:

• Refine your measurement approach as content, authority, and technical strategies evolve
• Use data trends to identify new topics, content gaps, or authority opportunities.
• Keep a tight feedback loop between insights and execution
• Monitor how LLMs evolve to provide deeper reporting and context

Bringing it all together

Showing up in AI Overviews isn’t enough. You’re tracking the wrong metrics if you can’t answer whether ChatGPT cited your competitor instead of you, or if Perplexity summarized your content but stripped out your brand name. It’s the shift from “did we rank?” to understanding share of voice, accuracy, and sentiment across AI-driven search.

When done well, measurement becomes a system that connects content, technical, and authority into one continuous feedback loop.

Learn how to put this system into place and download the AEO Playbook, complete with frameworks, examples, and a step-by-step guide for your team.