How does AI compare our brand with competitors in answers?

Questions must be the same to make a comparison

You can’t compare results if you ask easy questions about our brand and harder questions about competitors. First define a set of questions that share the same region, service, and context.

If you include a brand name in the question ahead of time, it assumes prior knowledge. You should also include questions without brand names to simulate real new customers.

Look at three things customers can understand

Instead of relying on complex model scores, separate the items you can see on the actual answer screen.

• Brand appearance: Did our brand appear among recommended candidates or in the explanation?
• Source linkage: Was our website or content used as a supporting link?
• Competitor position: Which competitors appeared earlier or more frequently?

Differences become topics for the next content pieces

If competitors appear but our brand is missing for certain questions, that signals a gap between the information customers seek and our pages. Strengthen the selection criteria and authoritative information needed for those questions.

Conversely, if our brand appears but the homepage is not linked as a source, check the supporting pages and internal linking. The VAN GEO dashboard connects comparison results to follow-up tasks.

Frequently asked questions

Can we trust the competitor ranking as-is?

AI answers can change with timing and conditions, so don’t treat a single ranking as definitive. Look at the trend across repeated results.

Do customers need to enter competitor names themselves?

At first you can reference known competitors, but the system also records competitors that repeatedly appear in actual answers.