Tutorial · Practitioner
Using Ahrefs Brand Radar for AI
Ahrefs Brand Radar tracks how often your brand is mentioned or cited in AI answers across engines such as AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot. It offers two approaches: Custom Prompts, which you define and track, and the AI Visibility Index, a large pre-collected prompt set for instant benchmarking. This tutorial explains both, the metrics and a practical workflow.
Disclosure: this guide is published by MentionX, which also offers AI visibility tracking. Details below come from Ahrefs' public Brand Radar page, checked on 30 October 2026 (CET). Features and prices change; confirm on [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/brand-radar).
What are the two ways to track?
| Option | What it is | Best for | Listed price (30 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom Prompts | Questions you define, tracked on selected platforms | Specific buyer questions; lesser-known brands | From $50/month |
| AI Visibility Index | Pre-collected responses for 519 million+ prompts built from Ahrefs' keyword data | Benchmarking established brands and topics | From $199/month |
Ahrefs says the AI Visibility Index works best for established brands or topics with meaningful search demand, and may have limited coverage for brands with little search volume. Custom Prompts are better for niche or uncommon queries (Ahrefs).
Which metrics does Brand Radar report?
According to Ahrefs (Ahrefs):
| Metric | Definition (Ahrefs) |
|---|---|
| Mentions | How often your brand name appears in AI answer text |
| Citations | How often AI links to your pages or domains as a source |
| AI Share of Voice | Percentage of AI responses in your topic set that mention or cite your brand versus competitors |
| Estimated Impressions | Potential visibility weighted by the search volume behind each prompt |
Ahrefs also lists sentiment monitoring, buyer-journey stage, fan-out queries behind prompts and off-site sources such as YouTube, TikTok and Reddit (marked as beta).
How do custom prompt limits work?
Ahrefs' page lists checks per month by plan. Each prompt is checked daily on every selected platform; for example, 5 prompts on 1 platform uses 150 checks per month. Claude uses 8 checks per update (Ahrefs).
| Plan (as listed) | Checks/month | AI prompts |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | 150 | 5 |
| Standard | 300 | 10 |
| Advanced | 600 | 20 |
| Enterprise | From 2,500 | From 83 |
Plan these limits before adding prompts: 20 prompts on 3 platforms daily uses about 1,800 checks a month.
How do you set up a useful workflow?
- Start with the Index (if available to you) to see your category: which competitors and topics appear.
- Write 10–30 custom prompts from real buyer questions: sales calls, Search Console queries (Google) and support tickets.
- Tag prompts by topic and funnel stage.
- Select platforms that matter to your buyers; mind the check costs.
- Add competitors for share of voice.
- Review weekly, report monthly.
- Act on citations: look at which pages and sources are cited, then improve your pages or earn presence on those sources.
What makes a good custom prompt?
Illustrative.
| Weak prompt | Better prompt |
|---|---|
| "invoicing software" | "What's the best invoicing software for a 10-person agency in Germany?" |
| "Example CRM" | "Is Example CRM a good choice for a small B2B sales team?" |
| "CRM pricing" | "Which CRMs under €50 per user per month have good email integration?" |
Write prompts in natural, conversational language with the context a real buyer would give: size, industry, location, budget. Avoid naming your brand in discovery prompts, or you'll inflate mention rates.
How should you read the results critically?
- Daily checks are single samples. AI answers vary between runs, so look at trends over weeks, not one day (NIST).
- Index prompts are generated from keywords. They may not match how your buyers phrase questions in chat.
- Estimated impressions are modelled, based on search volume, not observed AI usage.
- Share of voice depends on the competitor set you choose.
- Mentions aren't recommendations. Check the answer text to see whether you're recommended, merely listed or described negatively.
What should you do with the data?
| Finding | Action |
|---|---|
| Competitor cited from a source you're absent from | Earn presence there (reviews, articles, listings) |
| Your page cited but brand described wrongly | Fix facts on the page and profiles |
| Low visibility on buyer-stage prompts | Create comparison and use-case pages |
| Negative sentiment theme | Address the issue and publish clear information |
| Fan-out queries you don't cover | Create content for those subtopics |
How does it compare with other approaches?
Brand Radar's strength is combining AI tracking with Ahrefs' keyword and web data. Alternatives include Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit (Semrush), other dedicated AI visibility tools and manual scans. Compare on platforms covered, check limits, repeated-run support, exports and price for your prompt volume.
A quick example
Illustrative. A B2B team uses the Index to find that two competitors dominate "best invoicing software" topics. It sets up 20 custom prompts on three platforms, tagged by funnel stage. After a month, citations show that a comparison site and Reddit threads drive most competitor mentions; the team prioritises those sources.
Checklist
- [ ] Decided between Index, Custom Prompts or both
- [ ] Check budget calculated for prompts × platforms
- [ ] Prompts written from real buyer questions and tagged
- [ ] Competitors added
- [ ] Trends reviewed over weeks, not single days
- [ ] Actions assigned for cited sources and wrong facts
Related
Sources
- Ahrefs, Brand Radar, accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Semrush Knowledge Base, AI Visibility Toolkit, accessed 30 Oct 2026
- NIST/SEMATECH, Confidence intervals for proportions
- Google Search Console Help, Performance report
Questions
What is Ahrefs Brand Radar?
An Ahrefs product that tracks how brands appear in AI answers, using custom prompts you define and a large pre-collected AI Visibility Index.
Which AI platforms does Brand Radar cover?
Ahrefs lists AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, with Claude available on some plans.
How much does Brand Radar cost?
As of 30 October 2026, Ahrefs' page lists Custom Prompts from $50/month and the AI Visibility Index from $199/month. Check the current page before buying.