AI recommendation tracking shows who AI recommends in your category, and where you stand against them.
AI recommendation tracking records, for each buyer question and each engine, whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews recommend your brand, which competitors they recommend instead, and in what order. It is how you find out where AI assistants send buyers in your category, and which rivals they prefer over you.
How can I monitor where AI assistants recommend my company versus competitors in my category?
Ask each assistant the same set of buyer questions on a schedule, record every brand each answer recommends and in what order, and compare your rate with each competitor's on the same questions. Done by hand, that looks like this:
- Write ten to twenty questions buyers ask before they know your name.
- Ask each one on every assistant your buyers use, several times.
- For each answer, list the brands it recommends, first to last.
- Count, per brand, how many answers recommended it, and how often it came first.
- Repeat on the same questions after any change, and compare.
A tracking tool does those five steps for you, every day, and keeps the answers so each count can be checked.
Is a mention the same as a recommendation?
No. A mention is any appearance of your name: a passing reference, a comparison you lose, even a warning. A recommendation is your brand offered as an answer to the buyer's need, usually inside a short ranked list. Counting mentions alone can flatter a brand that engines discuss but rarely suggest.
Two numbers separate them. Position when named shows how high in the list you appear. How the answer describes you, and whether it gets your facts right, shows whether the mention helps. Proofsource reports average position only once at least 5 named answers carry a measured place, so one lucky first place is never shown as a trend.
Why do ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews recommend different brands?
Because each one decides differently. Some search the web while they answer, some lean on what the model learned in training, and each reads a different set of pages.
In the public Tesla example, ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews each named Tesla in 16 of 25 buyer answers, Claude in 11 and Perplexity in 10. On a single question, the best home battery for whole-house backup, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude all recommended the Powerwall 3 while Google AI Overviews did not name Tesla. Claude's most-named rival across the set was SunPower, in 4 answers. A combined score would have hidden all of that, which is why recommendations have to be tracked per engine.
How do you compare your brand with competitors fairly?
- Same questions, same engines, same days for every brand. A rival measured on easier questions looks stronger than it is.
- Unbranded questions only. A question that names you will mention you whatever the engine thinks. Keep brand questions for checking accuracy.
- Share of voice next to mention rate. Mention rate is how often you are named; share of voice is your mentions as a share of all brand mentions. The formula is worked through on the AI share of voice page.
- Intervals on both sides. Tesla's 11 of 25 on Claude runs from about 27% to 63%; a rival on 10 of 25 overlaps it almost entirely.
Three answers per question
Recommended or not
Whether each answer offers your brand for the buyer's need.
Who instead
Every competitor the engine recommends where it leaves you out.
Where in the list
Your position when named, and which questions name you first.
How does Proofsource track AI recommendations?
Proofsource is an AI intelligence platform that shows which buyer questions name your brand in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, who gets named instead, and exactly what to fix.
- Who gets named instead, per question and engine, with the best place each competitor reached.
- Position when named, averaged once 5 named answers carry a measured place, and a view of the questions where you are named first.
- The pages behind each recommendation, so you can see which list or review put a rival ahead.
- A fix for each gap, drafted and held for your approval.
It asks on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, daily on Custom; the trial is 2 days of full AI visibility, today and tomorrow.
What should you look for in an AI recommendation tracker?
- Competitors per question, not one blended leaderboard.
- Order, not only presence. Third of five is not first of five.
- Brand and category questions kept apart, so your rate is not padded.
- Each engine on its own, since they disagree.
- The cited pages, because those are what you can change.
How do the leading tools compare?
2 criteria, the same for every tool. Each competitor fact links to the vendor's own page.
| Tool | Engines covered | Watch out for (our read) |
|---|---|---|
| Proofsource | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews in the trial. A Custom plan covers all 10, adding Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek and Meta AI, switched on at onboarding. | The trial covers four engines; all 10 come with Custom. Paid plans are set up on a demo call rather than a checkout. |
| Otterly.AIsource | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot on every plan; Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini as paid add-ons | 15 prompts on the entry plan. Claude costs extra. |
| Peec AIsource | Choose 3 per plan from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI; Perplexity as an extra model; up to 13 models including Claude on Enterprise | 3 models per plan; each extra model is a paid add-on. Claude only on Enterprise. |
| Scrunchsource | Core: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Copilot. Enterprise: 9, adding Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Google AI Mode and Grok | Highest published entry price here. Claude and Gemini only on Enterprise. |
| SE Rankingsource | Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini | AI features sit inside a broader SEO plan; no fix workflow is published. |
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkitsource | ChatGPT and Google AI Mode are named in Semrush's knowledge base; the full list is not published there | No trial. 25 tracked prompts at the base price. |
The full comparison of eight tools, with what each does best, is in the best AI visibility tools.
- Otterly.AI pricing otterly.ai/pricing
- Peec AI pricing peec.ai/pricing
- Scrunch pricing scrunch.com/pricing
- SE Ranking pricing seranking.com/pricing.html
- SE Ranking AI visibility tracker seranking.com/ai-visibility-tracker.html
- Semrush KB: AI Visibility Toolkit www.semrush.com/kb/1493-ai-toolkit
Sources read on .
What buyers ask about tracking AI recommendations
What is the best tool to track whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews recommend my brand over competitors?
One that covers all four on the plan you buy, shows competitors per question and puts an interval on each rate. Proofsource tracks exactly those four on every plan. Several other tools cover some of them by default and add the rest as extras; the table lists each tool's engines from its own pricing page.
Which platform tracks mentions across multiple AI answer engines?
Most AI visibility platforms do, but the engine lists differ more than the marketing suggests. Compare the named engines on the plan you would buy, not the largest number on the page.
Is there software to track brand recommendations in Perplexity and ChatGPT?
Yes. Every tool in the table can track ChatGPT; Perplexity is on some entry plans and an extra on others, so check each tool's engine column. Proofsource covers both, with Claude and Google AI Overviews, on every plan.
Why does AI recommend my competitor instead of me?
Usually because the pages the engine relies on for that question, such as comparison lists, reviews and forum threads, name your competitor and not you. Look at the pages cited in the answers that leave you out; those are the ones to get onto or to answer.
See who AI recommends instead of you.
See which buyer questions name your brand, who gets named instead, and what to fix. 200 answers. 25 Prompts/Question. Top AI engines. 2 days. Free. No card.
Google AI OverviewsGoogle AI Mode
