> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.shareofmodel.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Visibility, Perception & Influence > The mental model that ties Search Visibility, Brand Perception and Sources together. Share Of Model measures AI-driven brand performance across **three pillars**. Each pillar answers a different question, and each maps to a distinct module in the product. Together they form a complete picture of how a brand exists inside an AI-driven search ecosystem. *Where do I appear?* *How am I described?* *What shapes the answer about me?* ## Visibility — *Where do I appear?* Visibility is the **presence layer**. It measures whether and how prominently your brand or domain shows up in answers, across both traditional search engines and generative engines. It is captured by: * **Presence Rate** — how often you appear in eligible results. * **Visibility Score** — how prominently you appear, combining presence and ranking. * **Average Position** — the rank you reach when you do appear. Read these signals to understand **where you exist** in the AI landscape, by engine, thematic, prompt, and time period. This is the tactical layer — the closest analogue to traditional SEO performance. Visibility metrics live in the Search Visibility module. ## Perception — *How am I described?* Perception is the **meaning layer**. It measures what models think your brand stands for — the recurring concepts, attributes, and category cues they consistently associate with you. It is captured by: * **Awareness** — how often a brand is mentioned in a category, and how prominently. * **Pros and cons clusters** — the recurring strengths and weaknesses LLMs surface. * **Attribute scores** — `-5` to `+5` per attribute, vs. competitors. * **Sentiment** — how brand mentions are framed (`-1` to `+1`). Read these signals to understand **how you are framed** by AI models. This is the strategic layer — it provides the conceptual context that makes tactical visibility moves meaningful. Perception metrics live in the Brand module. ## Influence — *What shapes the answer about me?* Influence is the **causal layer**. It measures which sources feed an LLM's answer — the domains, URLs, and communities the model relies on when forming an opinion or surfacing a citation. It is captured by: * **Source role** — whether a domain acts as a Source, a Link, or both. * **Citation rate** — how often a source is used to build the answer. * **Influence Score** — frequency × position weighting, on which sources LLMs lean. * **Fan-out queries** — the internal queries the model uses, and which sources surface inside them. Read these signals to understand **what to influence** to move visibility and perception. If the goal is to be cited by ChatGPT for "best running shoes for trail", the influence layer tells you which sites already get cited — and where you need to be present. Per-domain influence inside Search. Per-attribute influence inside Brand. ## How the three pillars fit together The pillars build on each other — each layer explains the one before it. | If you only have… | You can answer | You miss | | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Visibility** | Where am I present and where am I not. | Why answers favour someone else, and what they say about me. | | **Visibility + Perception** | What models think of me and where I appear. | Which sources to influence to change the picture. | | **Visibility + Perception + Influence** | The full causal chain — from sources, to perception, to visibility. | — | Read the three pillars in this order: 1. **Perception** to understand the conceptual ground. 2. **Visibility** to measure where you stand on that ground. 3. **Influence** to identify the levers that move both. ## What's next The unit that produces all three pillars. How insights become marketing action.