Our AI Ranking Scoring Methodology

HowDoIRankOnAI provides three distinct scores that together give you a comprehensive picture of your AI search visibility. This page explains exactly how each score is calculated, what the thresholds mean, and how to interpret your results.

Score 1: AI Retrieval Likelihood (0-100)

AI Retrieval Likelihood measures how likely AI models are to mention your brand when a user asks about your category. This is the most commercially valuable metric because it directly corresponds to new customer discovery.

We calculate this score by analyzing responses from all five AI models to a category-level query. For each model, we check whether your brand, domain, or a recognizable variation appears in the response. The score accounts for both the number of models that mention you and your position within their recommendations (mentioned first vs. mentioned last).

Score ranges: 80-100 (Excellent — you are a top recommendation across most AI models), 50-79 (Moderate — you appear in some models but not consistently), 20-49 (Low — you are rarely mentioned in category queries), 0-19 (Very Low — AI models do not associate you with your category).

Score 2: AI Answer Presence (0-100)

AI Answer Presence measures whether AI models recognize your brand when asked about it directly. This is a measure of brand awareness in the AI knowledge base.

We calculate this score by asking each AI model what your website does and analyzing whether the response demonstrates genuine knowledge of your brand. A model that returns a substantive, specific description scores higher than one that gives a generic or uncertain response. Models that explicitly state they do not know about your brand score zero for that model.

Score ranges: 80-100 (Excellent — all or nearly all AI models recognize your brand), 50-79 (Moderate — most models have some awareness of your brand), 20-49 (Low — only some models recognize you), 0-19 (Very Low — AI models do not know your brand).

Score 3: AI Interpretation Quality (0-100)

AI Interpretation Quality measures how accurately AI models describe what your business does. This is critical because inaccurate descriptions can actively harm your brand.

We calculate this score by comparing each AI model's description of your business against your actual website content and the description you provide. We assess whether the model correctly identifies your primary product or service, your target audience, and your key differentiators. Models that provide accurate, specific descriptions score higher than those that give vague or incorrect descriptions.

Score ranges: 80-100 (Excellent — AI models accurately understand and describe your business), 50-79 (Moderate — descriptions are partially accurate but may miss key details), 20-49 (Low — significant inaccuracies in how AI models describe you), 0-19 (Very Low — AI models fundamentally misunderstand your business).

Overall Score

Your overall AI ranking score is a weighted average of the three individual scores. AI Retrieval Likelihood is weighted most heavily because it has the most direct impact on business outcomes, followed by AI Answer Presence and AI Interpretation Quality.

The overall score gives you a single number to track over time, while the individual scores help you diagnose specific areas for improvement.

Per-Model Breakdown

In addition to aggregate scores, we provide a per-model breakdown showing how each AI model individually perceives your brand. This is important because different models have different training data and may have very different levels of awareness about your brand. A strong score on ChatGPT but a weak score on Claude means you are missing the Claude user base entirely.