What is average position?

By the Variask team · Updated

Definition

Average position is where your brand appears, on average, among the brands named in AI answers. Position 1 means you are usually named first. It is counted only in answers that name you.

Also called AI mention position

With Variask: Variask shows average position for you and every competitor, by engine and market.

How it works

  • In each answer, brands are ordered by where they first appear.
  • Your position is your place in that order.
  • Average position is the mean across answers that name you.

What it means for brands

  • Being named first often matters more than being named at all.
  • Watch visibility and position together: high visibility at position 6 is weaker than it looks.

Questions

Average position:
common questions

Usually. People read the first options most closely, and AI often recommends the first brands most strongly.

You may be named first in a few answers but missing from most. Work on visibility first.

Related terms

Keep exploring

Measurement

AI visibility

AI visibility is how often, and how prominently, AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity mention your brand when people ask questions in your category.

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Measurement

AI share of voice

AI share of voice is your brand's share of all brand mentions in AI answers for a set of questions, compared with your competitors.

Read

Measurement

Mention rate

Mention rate is the share of AI answers that name your brand, out of all answers to the questions you track. It is the core of AI visibility, measured across engines, markets and repeated answers.

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Full glossary