Getting started
Six AI engines: why each one answers differently
Ask the same question on six AI engines and you get six answers. What each engine is, why they differ, and how to read your standing engine by engine.
Your first AI visibility reading: what to do next
What your first AI visibility reading shows, how to read it as a starting point, and the first pieces of work to pick up before the second reading.
On this page
Your first reading is the first time you see, in numbers, how six AI engines treat your brand when buyers ask them questions. It is a starting point. It tells you where you stand today, and it gives you enough to start the work that moves you up before the next reading lands.
When the first reading arrives
The first reading can run as soon as setup is done. That means two things are in place: a brand marked as yours and at least one question. If one of them is missing, the screens in BotSay say which, so you know what to add.
You choose the rivals and questions one by one, or accept the ones BotSay recommends from your website address. Either way, the reading asks every question on all six engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode.
The two Google engines answer later than the other four. Until they are in, the This week page says how many engines have answered, and figures that could still move carry a Provisional mark. Once every engine has answered, the marks go and the week is complete. After that, readings are weekly.
What the first reading shows
This week opens with your Mention rate: of the answers read, the share that named you. Beside it sits a note with the number of answers that named you out of the answers read, so you always see what the figure was counted out of. Once the week is complete, it also shows a likely range, the span the true figure almost certainly sits in.
Under it, Where you stand ranks you against the brands you track on Mention rate. The Standing page puts every tracked brand side by side on the five measures: Mention rate, Share of voice, Average rank, Your pages cited and Sentiment.
A box headed Nothing to compare yet explains that a change needs two readings. That is the right way to read the first one. It shows where you stand, and from the second reading on, BotSay can say whether you moved. When your first numbers arrive covers each screen in detail.
Five things to do this week
You do not need to wait for the second reading to get going. Here is an order that works.
1. Check your names and sites
BotSay counts you as named under the names listed for your brand, and counts a cited link as yours when it points at a site listed as yours. If you trade under a short name, or your help pages live on their own site, add them in Setup, You and your rivals.
Work has a tab called Needs your call that collects decisions like this. It may ask whether a group of sites the answers cited is yours, or whether a name in the answers is a brand you already track. Each one says which figure it changes. Decisions take effect from the next reading.
2. Read what the engines said
Open Evidence. The What they said tab lists every question whose answers named you, least favourable first. The What they cited tab ranks every site the answers linked to, labelled as yours, a rival's, or a place you could be.
A short read here tells you more than the figures alone. You see which rivals come up beside you, what the engines say about each, and which pages they lean on.
3. Look engine by engine
The By engine tab on Standing shows your figures on each engine, with the strongest and weakest marked. When one engine clearly names you less than the rest, a card appears with a count of the questions where it named a rival and not you, and a Read button that opens that engine's answers in Evidence. That is a good place to read next.
4. Pick your first piece of work
Open Work. Once the list is worked out after the reading, the To do tab ranks what to do about topics where a rival is named ahead of you.
Your work, ranked
Write a pagePayroll for restaurantsNovaly is named in 31 of 48 answers here. You are in 6.
12 questionsGet mentionedTwo review sites the engines lean onCited 140 times this week. You are not listed on either.
9 questionsDecideIs help.tessera.example yours?Counting it lifts Your pages cited.
1 minuteExample, using an invented brand
Write a page items come first, ranked by how many questions you lose on the topic, and each has a brief you can copy. Take part and Ask to be listed items follow, built from the pages on other people's sites that the engines read or linked. Pick the top item, press I am on it, and a colleague can see who has it.
5. Set a target, if you want one
An admin can type a target for any of the five measures in Setup, Targets. Under each measure, BotSay writes where you are and where the leader is, and for every measure but Sentiment, a reachable next step. A target is a step you chose. BotSay never fills one in for you.
Keep the questions steady
Every reading asks your whole set of questions, so two readings compare like with like. That holds as long as the set stays the same.
Adding a question, or stopping one, changes which answers are counted. So does asking a question in another country, which makes it a new question. If you plan to change your questions, do it early, and then leave them alone for a while. Our guide How many questions do you need to track AI visibility? shows how the number of questions sets how precise your Mention rate is.
The second reading and after
From the second reading on, the headline on This week answers one question first: did anything change? When Mention rate moved by more than chance would produce, it says so and gives both weeks' figures. When nothing moved, it says that too, with the size of change that would have counted, so you know where the bar sits.
Below the headline, What changed in the answers shows which engine started or stopped naming you, and each of the other four measures shows whether it moved. Each week, your reading arrives in the weekly email, with the headline and the next thing to do.
BotSay to you08:00
Tessera moved up to second place this week.
You were named in 34.0% of answers, up from 27.8%. That is a real change. Novaly still leads.
Next Write about payroll for restaurants.
Example, using an invented brand
When a page from your work list goes live, press Mark published and give the date. Once a whole week after the publish week has finished, BotSay compares how often the page's questions named you before and after, and shows the result under Is it working. It calls a change real only when it is bigger than chance, and it shows the counts behind every result. Our guide Is my AI visibility score real? explains how to read a change.
What you gain with BotSay
- A first reading as soon as setup is done, then a fresh reading every week on all six engines.
- A clear starting point: where you stand against your rivals on the five measures.
- Pages to write, ranked by how many questions each could win, with a brief to copy where a topic has one.
- A Mention rate you can report with confidence, with its likely range and a label when a change is real.
- One fixed monthly price with everything included and no add-ons. Plans differ only in the number of questions, from $59 a month for 60 questions.
Keep reading
Getting started
Questions to track in AI answers: how to choose them
How to pick the buyer questions you track in AI answers, word them the way buyers ask, group them into themes and keep them steady.
Getting started
What AI says about your brand: how to check it
Run a hand check of AI answers this week, then track five numbers to see whether you are moving, and use the answers to decide what to write and fix.
Your first reading runs right after setup
Find the page to write next.
Monthly plans from $59. Cancel at any time.