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Methodology · Visibility

How the AI search volume (estimated) is calculated

Method version visibility-v2 · Last updated

In short

AI search volume estimates how often a keyword appears in the questions people put to AI tools such as ChatGPT, per month, with the trend over the last 12 months. No AI company publishes how often something is asked, so this is an estimate by our data provider DataForSEO, based on the questions Google shows under 'People also ask'. We show it next to the Google search volume to indicate how much demand moves to AI assistants.

Formula

AI search volume = DataForSEO's monthly estimate per keyword, language and country
Trend = the same estimate for each of the last 12 months

How it is calculated, step by step

  1. Take the keywords of the SEO measurement and of keyword research, per language.
  2. Ask DataForSEO's AI keyword data for their estimated AI search volume in the market's country.
  3. Store the latest month and the 12-month trend with every keyword.

What goes into it

Keywords
The measured searches with their language.

Data sources

  • DataForSEO AI Optimization API (AI keyword data), an estimate based on Google 'People also ask' questions.

How often it is updated

With every SEO measurement (monthly) and every keyword research.

How to read it

  • Compare it within Actavero: which needs are asked to AI tools more than others, and which are growing.
  • A need with a rising AI volume and a low share for you in AI answers is a clear priority.

Limitations

  • It is an estimate by the data provider, not a count from the AI companies; treat it as an indication of relative size and direction, not an exact number.
  • Grammatical forms of a word are counted together, and multi-word searches only match questions that contain all the words.

Frequently asked questions

Why not the real number of ChatGPT questions?

OpenAI, Anthropic and Google don't publish how often something is asked. This estimate is the best available indication.

  • SEO share of voice — Your share of the estimated search clicks of all tracked brands: monthly search volume × expected click-through rate of each brand's Google position, per keyword.
  • Keyword research per product — The searches to rank on to own one product's visibility in one country: keyword ideas with volume, difficulty and intent, filtered to the product, with where you and your competitors rank.
  • GEO share of voice (AI answers) — Your share of brand mentions in AI answers to a fixed set of buyer questions, asked monthly to Claude with web search; a citation of your own site counts extra.
  • Visibility per product, with next steps — For every product or service in your market profile: your share in Google and in AI answers against your competitors, and the three next steps worth taking, without any keyword research.

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