The score, the formula, the caveats.
Most AI visibility tools hand you a number and refuse to show the math. We disagree. Here is exactly how GeoPulse computes the 0–100 score, which engines we poll, what we measure, and where the limits are.
Score = Mention × Position × Sentiment
Three dimensions, weighted, computed across 20 runs per scan (5 queries × 4 engines), normalised to 0–100.
score = 0.50 × mention_rate + 0.30 × position_score + 0.20 × sentiment_score
All three sub-scores are normalised 0–1, then aggregated and multiplied by 100. Each engine contributes per its weight (see below); per-engine scores are also returned in the report.
Mention rate
Across the 5 queries × 4 engines (20 runs per scan), how often is your brand named at all? A score of 50% means you appeared in 10 of 20 runs.
Position
When you do appear, are you the first option listed, or buried under 3 competitors? We measure ordinal rank within each answer and reward early citations.
Sentiment
Are you described as the recommended choice, a neutral option, or with caveats? We score sentiment per mention against the surrounding clause (positive / neutral / negative).
ChatGPT · Claude · Perplexity · Google AI Overview
Together these four cover the assistants and AI search surfaces that intercept the majority of buyer-intent informational queries in 2026. Free /check runs ChatGPT + Claude; paid tiers add Perplexity and Google AIO.
ChatGPT (GPT-4 class)
30%Largest consumer surface for AI assistants. We poll the public conversational endpoint with browsing disabled for reproducibility, then re-poll with browsing for a delta measurement.
Claude (Sonnet class)
25%Fast-growing assistant share, strong B2B knowledge-worker adoption. We poll without tools for parity with the ChatGPT no-browsing baseline.
Perplexity
25%AI search engine, heavy reliance on real-time web citations. Treated as the strongest signal for retrieval-based visibility (citations actually link back to your site).
Google AI Overview
20%Where most informational SERP traffic is being intercepted in 2026. We capture the AIO answer when triggered and record presence + citation slot.
Buyer-intent, not vanity prompts
We seed every scan with five templates that mirror how a real prospect actually phrases an AI assistant question. Category & competitor slots are auto-inferred from your domain; paid tiers let you override the list.
- 1
best [category] for [persona] - 2
[your brand] vs [top 2 competitors] - 3
[your brand] alternatives - 4
how does [your brand] compare with [adjacent solution] - 5
is [your brand] worth it for [use case]
What each band actually means
0–24
Invisible
Your brand is essentially absent from AI answers in your category. Competitors are taking the slot. Urgent.
25–49
Inconsistent
You surface on direct-brand queries but lose head-to-head and category queries. Typical for early-stage SaaS.
50–69
Recognised
You appear in most category answers but not first, and sentiment is mixed. Optimisation has clear ROI here.
70–84
Strong
Reliably surfaced, often first, mostly positive sentiment. This is the band paying customers tend to keep tracking monthly.
85–100
Dominant
Category-defining presence. Competitors are described as alternatives to you. Rare — and worth defending.
Things we will not do
Live API calls, every scan
Every /check run hits the real LLM APIs against your URL. No cached numbers, no demo scores. Run it twice in a row — the numbers will move within normal variance.
Reproducibility over volatility
Temperature is pinned, browsing/tools are disabled for the baseline run, and queries are templatised. Two scans 30 minutes apart should land within ~±5 points absent a real shift.
No optimisation for the score
We do not sell SEO services or guarantee score improvements. The score is a diagnostic. The fixes are yours to ship.
EU data residency
Scan inputs, results and email opt-ins are stored in Supabase Frankfurt. We never train models on your data. DPA available on request.
Where the score is wrong
LLM stochasticity. Even with pinned temperature, identical prompts can return slightly different answers. We mitigate by running 20 calls per scan and reporting the aggregate; expect ±3–5 point variance scan to scan absent a real shift.
Browsing bias. Engines with live retrieval (Perplexity, Google AIO, ChatGPT with browsing) reward recent web presence. If your site is new or blocked from crawlers, the score will under-represent your real authority.
Category inference. For free scans we infer your category from your homepage in one pass. If the inference is wrong, the queries are wrong, and the score is meaningless. Paid tiers let you override category + queries + competitors directly.
Sentiment edge cases. Sarcasm, hedged recommendations and conditional mentions are hard to score reliably. We default to neutral when the surrounding clause is ambiguous.
Run the formula on your own brand
Drop your URL. 5 queries × 2 engines on the free tier — your 0–100 score, sub-scores, and the top issues, in about 30 seconds.