Three levers move it. Two only look like they do.
Share of voice responds to coverage, position and question value. It also responds, fraudulently, to changing what you count — which is why the method has to be fixed before the campaign starts.
Lever one: appear at all, in more of the set
The largest gains are almost always from questions where you are absent entirely, not from moving up in questions where you already appear. Pull the questions with zero appearances, look at the sources cited in those specific answers, and work that list by citation frequency.
It is unglamorous and finite. In one category we measured, a single third-party roundup was cited 126 times across the run — one page, deciding a large share of everything said about that category.
Lever two: move up the lists you are already on
Worth doing precisely because position carries so much of the value: two brands named in every answer can differ by eleven points of weighted share on ordering alone.
What moves it is how you are described in the sources, not how often. A brand described with a specific speciality tends to be named first for that speciality; a brand described as a general option tends to be listed after the specialists.
Lever three: be present on the questions worth money
Because commercial intent is weighted, appearing on buying questions moves the figure more than appearing on definitional ones — and it moves the business more too, which is the point of weighting it that way.
The two that only move the number
- Dropping a competitor from your tracked list. The figure rises and nothing has happened. This is why every brand an answer names enters the denominator whether or not it is listed.
- Rewriting the question set mid-series. A friendlier set produces a friendlier number and ends the comparison silently.
A boring one that pays immediately
Make sure your name resolves. A brand appearing under several variants is counted as several entities, and the parts do not add up — we have seen a business whose single best recommendation never registered against its own brand because the answer used a different spelling of its name. Fixing that raises a real figure without changing anything in the world.
The short answers
How do I increase my share of voice in AI answers?
Three levers, in order: appear at all in questions where you currently do not, move up the lists you are already on, and be present on the questions with commercial intent. The first is usually the largest and is worked by getting into the sources those specific answers cite.
Which matters more, appearing more often or appearing higher?
Appearing at all in questions you are absent from is usually the bigger gain, but position matters more than people expect: two brands named in every answer can differ by eleven points of weighted share on ordering alone.
What moves my position within an answer?
How you are described in the sources rather than how often. A brand described with a specific speciality tends to be named first for it; a brand described as a general option gets listed after the specialists.
Can I raise the number without changing anything real?
Yes, and it is usually an accident. Dropping a tracked competitor or rewriting the question set mid-series both raise the figure while nothing happens. That is why unlisted brands still enter the denominator and why the set is frozen.
What is the fastest legitimate gain?
Making your brand name resolve to one entity. A business split across name variants is counted as several — we have seen one whose best recommendation never registered against its own brand because the answer used a different spelling.
How long until the figure moves?
Months, and only reportably when the new interval stops overlapping the old one. Anything faster than that is variation.
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Every figure quoted here comes from a real question put to a real assistant, saved with the date and the assistant that answered it. This piece was written to answer the search "increase share of voice".