The new competition
In traditional employer branding, you compete for attention. In the AI era, you compete for citations.
When a candidate asks “Best employers in [your sector]”, there is limited space in the answer. Usually 3-5 names. Are you mentioned? At what position? With what context?
This is share of voice in the AI era.
Measuring Share of Voice
Share of Voice (SoV) in GEO measures how often you are mentioned versus competitors in AI answers to relevant questions.
Formula:
SoV = (Your entries / Total entries in category) × 100%
Example:
In 10 questions about “best tech employers Netherlands”, you are mentioned 3x, competitor A 5x, competitor B 2x.
Your SoV = 30%, Competitor A = 50%, Competitor B = 20%
The audit methodology
Step 1: Define your competitive set
Who are your 3-5 most important competitors for talent? These are not necessarily your commercial competitors.
Step 2: Create a questionnaire
At least 15-20 questions candidates would ask:
- General: “Best employers in [sector/region]”
- Specifically, “What is the culture like at [company]?”
- Comparative: “[Company A] vs [Company B] as an employer”
- Function-oriented: “Best companies for [function] in the Netherlands”
Step 3: Test systematically
Ask each question in at least 3 LLMs:
- ChatGPT (largest user base)
- Perplexity (most active quoter)
- Claude (growing adoption)
- Google AI Overview (when available)
Step 4: Document and score
Per question, per platform:
| Metric | What you note |
|---|---|
| Mention | Yes/no, at what position (1st, 2nd, 3rd...) |
| Context | Positive/neutral/negative |
| Specificity | Vague mention or concrete details? |
| Sources | Which sources does AI quote for you? |
| Competitors | Who is also mentioned? |
Step 5: Analyse patterns
- In which questions do you score good/bad?
- Which competitors dominate where?
- Which sources are cited for top performers?
- Where are quick wins possible?
What top performers do differently
Analysis of companies with high AI visibility shows patterns:
1. Multi-platform presence
Sites present on 4+ platforms are 2.8x more likely To appear in ChatGPT answers (BrightEdge, 2025).
Top performers are active on: own website, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, industry publications, and news media.
2. Consistent messaging
Same key messages, metrics, and claims across all platforms. AI detects and rewards consistency.
3. Data-rich content
Concrete figures on salary, benefits, diversity, growth. Not “competitive salary” but “€55,000-€75,000 for medior developers.”
4. Recent updates
Content from the last 6 months is prioritised. Top performers update core pages at least quarterly.
5. Employee voices
Active employees on LinkedIn, recent Glassdoor reviews, employee quotes in content.
Competitive intelligence: what you can learn
Analyse why competitors score better:
- Content gaps: What topics do they cover that you miss?
- Format differences: Do they use FAQs, tables, data where you have prose?
- Source diversity: Are they quoted from more sources?
- Freshness: Is their content more recent?
- Specificity: Are their claims more concrete and verifiable?
Tools for competitive monitoring
- Manual: Spreadsheet + monthly audit (free, time intensive)
- Peec AI: Automated tracking with competitor benchmarking
- Semrush: AI Visibility toolkit with share of voice metrics
- BrightEdge: Enterprise-level competitive intelligence
From analysis to action
Competitive analysis is worthless without action. Prioritise:
- Quick wins: Where are you scoring just below competitors? Small optimisations can lift you past.
- Gap closers: What content are you missing that competitors do have?
- Differentiators: Where can you be unique? Proprietary data, unique cultural traits, specific employee stories.
Practical steps
This week:
- Identify your top five talent competitors
- Create a questionnaire of 15 candidate questions
- Conduct first audit in 3 LLMs
This month:
- Analyse why top performers score better
- Identify 3 quick wins for your visibility
This quarter:
- Implement a monthly competitive audit
- Track your share of voice over time
Next article
In the next article, we make it concrete: how to build a business case for GEO, what budget scenarios are there, and how to get stakeholder buy-in from CFO to CEO?
This article is part of a series on GEO and employer branding.
Sources:
- BrightEdge, “AI Citation Report” (2025)
- Semrush, “GEO Competitive Analysis Framework” (2025)
- Princeton/Georgia Tech/IIT Delhi, “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization” (2024)
- Detailed.com, “LLM Citation Patterns Study” (2025)