Position
How early your brand is named inside an answer, averaged across the answers where it appears — plus the reliability tier that says whether the average is worth reading.
Position measures rank within an answer. An assistant listing five brands names one of them first, and being that one is worth more than being fifth — Position is the metric that captures the difference.
How position is calculated
For each answer, the brands named in it are ordered by where they first appear in the text. The brand named earliest gets rank 1, the next gets rank 2, and so on. Your Position is the average of your ranks.
Position = average rank across the answers where you are named
Three rules govern it:
- Ranking is against the brands the answer names. If four brands are named ahead of you, your rank is 5.
- Only answers where you appear are averaged. Answers that omit you do not drag the average down; they lower Visibility instead. The two metrics divide that work between them on purpose.
- Lower is better. A position of 1.0 means you are named first every time. A falling number is an improvement, which is why the change indicator treats a decrease as positive.
Worked example
Your brand appears in six answers, at ranks 1, 2, 1, 4, 3 and 1.
Position = (1 + 2 + 1 + 4 + 3 + 1) / 6 = 2.0
A competitor appears in just two answers, both at rank 1, giving a Position of 1.0 — a better average built on a third of the evidence. That is exactly what the reliability tier exists to flag.
Reliability
An average rank computed from very few appearances is noise. Each Position therefore carries one of four tiers, derived from how often the brand appears and from how much data supports the average:
| Tier | What it means |
|---|---|
| High reliability | The brand appears often enough that the average is stable |
| Reliable | Enough appearances to compare across periods |
| Low reliability | Directionally useful; individual moves may be noise |
| Not reliable | Too few appearances — read Visibility instead |
Treat the tier as part of the number. A "Not reliable" position of 1.0 is not a win, it is a small sample.
Why position matters
- Being named first is disproportionately valuable — it is what a reader sees before deciding they have their answer.
- It shows the payoff of visibility work. Once you appear in more answers, position tells you whether you appear as the recommendation or as an also-ran.
- It is the metric that improves last. Visibility usually moves first, share of voice second, position last.
Related metrics
- Visibility — how often you appear
- Share of Voice — how much of the airtime is yours
- Sentiment — how favourably you are described
Updated 2026-08-03