# Competitive position

> Competitive position is where your brand stands next to its competitors in AI answers: how often models name it and how high they rank it.

- **Area:** [AI Visibility](https://be1st.ai/glossary/ai-visibility)
- **Tool:** [AI Visibility](https://be1st.ai/tools/ai-visibility)
- **Page:** https://be1st.ai/glossary/ai-visibility/competitive-position

## Why it matters

Absolute mention numbers have limited value without competitive context. If you have 50 mentions but your main competitor has 200, you're significantly behind. Benchmarking against competitors allows you to identify specific areas where they outperform you and focus optimization precisely where it has the greatest impact on acquiring customers.

## In practice

Three travel agencies: when asked 'best travel agency in the US', AI responds: '1. Expedia, 2. Booking.com, 3. Kayak.' Kayak has competitive position 3 out of 3. After a campaign focused on building mentions, reviews, and content authority, it moves to 2nd place after 6 months. The long-term goal is to occupy position 1.

## How be1st checks it

Determines your brand's position compared to competitors in AI responses. It measures relative share of mentions (share of voice), ranking in lists and recommendations, and overall sentiment compared to competing brands. If AI lists your competitor first and you third when asked 'best X in [region]', your competitive position is lower. In be1st the ranking position makes up 30% of the discovery score, and competitors are extracted from the answers automatically.

[AI Visibility](https://be1st.ai/tools/ai-visibility).

## Sources

- [The AI Visibility Index: Here's who's winning AI search](https://searchengineland.com/the-ai-visibility-index-heres-whos-winning-ai-search-463319) (Search Engine Land)
- [Ahrefs Brand Radar: See ANY brand's AI visibility](https://ahrefs.com/brand-radar) (Ahrefs)
- [Semrush AI Visibility - Win Every Search](https://www.semrush.com/ai-seo/overview/) (Semrush)

## Related terms

- [Update freshness](https://be1st.ai/glossary/ai-visibility/update-freshness): Update freshness is how current the information AI models give about your brand is, for example whether they know your latest products and changes.
- [Knowledge level](https://be1st.ai/glossary/ai-visibility/knowledge-level): Knowledge level is how much an AI model knows about your domain and brand when asked directly, from nothing at all to a complete and correct profile.
- [Brand mention rate](https://be1st.ai/glossary/ai-visibility/brand-mention-rate): Brand mention rate is the share of relevant AI answers that name your brand, expressed as a percentage.
- [Link presence](https://be1st.ai/glossary/ai-visibility/link-presence): Link presence is whether an AI model's answer includes a direct link to your website that the reader can click.
- [Confidence score](https://be1st.ai/glossary/ai-visibility/confidence-score): Confidence score is how certain an AI model sounds when it talks about your brand, from hedged guesses to clear statements.
- [Reputation sentiment](https://be1st.ai/glossary/ai-visibility/reputation-sentiment): Reputation sentiment is the tone in which AI models describe your brand: positive, neutral or negative.