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In Citivus, a chat is a single AI-generated response to one of your monitored prompts. Each time Citivus sends a prompt to ChatGPT, Perplexity, or AI Overview, the response that comes back is recorded as a chat. Understanding how to read these chats is key to extracting actionable insights.

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Anatomy of a chat

Every chat in Citivus contains several pieces of information:

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Provider and location

Each chat comes from a specific AI provider (ChatGPT, Perplexity, or AI Overview) and was run from a specific geographic location (e.g., United States). The same prompt may produce different results across providers and locations.

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Mention status

The most fundamental data point — was your brand Mentioned or Not mentioned in this response?
  • Mentioned — Your brand appeared in the AI’s response. You’ll see your rank and citation details.
  • Not mentioned — Your brand did not appear. This is valuable data too — it tells you which questions AI assistants aren’t associating with your brand.

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Brand rank

When your brand is mentioned, Citivus records its position in the response. If the AI lists 5 products and yours is second, your rank is #2.
Why rank matters — In AI responses, position drives attention. The first brand mentioned gets the most visibility and is often perceived as the “top recommendation.” Moving from #5 to #2 can dramatically increase how many users consider your brand.

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Sentiment

Each mention carries a sentiment score — how positively or negatively the AI spoke about your brand in this specific response:
  • Positive — The AI highlighted strengths, made favorable comparisons, or recommended your brand
  • Neutral — The AI mentioned your brand factually without strong positive or negative framing
  • Negative — The AI mentioned drawbacks, criticisms, or unfavorable comparisons

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Citations

The sources that the AI provider cited in its response. These are the websites and URLs the AI referenced to support its answer. Citations tell you which content is influencing AI recommendations.

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Where to find chats

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On the prompt detail page

Navigate to Prompts Monitor > click any prompt > scroll down to the Recent Insights section. Here you’ll see chats organized by date, with expandable sections for each day.
Prompt detail view with prompt ranking table, share of voice breakdown, trend summary, and tabbed latest AI responses from different providers
Each daily section shows the number of responses collected that day (e.g., “3 responses” — one per provider). Click “Expand All” or “Collapse All” to control the view.

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Chat cards

Each chat card shows:
  1. Provider icon and name (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overview)
  2. Timestamp and location (e.g., “04:00 PM - United States”)
  3. Mention status — “Mentioned” with a green indicator or “Not mentioned” with a gray indicator
  4. Rank badge (if mentioned) — Shows your brand’s position (e.g., “#2”)
  5. Citation count — Number of sources cited (e.g., “2 citations”)
  6. Response preview — A blockquote showing the beginning of the AI’s response text
  7. Source links — Clickable links to the cited URLs
Click “View Details” on any chat card to see the complete response text and full analysis.

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Latest AI responses

At the top of the prompt detail page, the Latest AI Responses section provides a tabbed view showing the most recent response from each provider:
Google’s AI-generated summary — concise, focused responses that may or may not mention specific brands.
Each tab shows the rank, citation count, sentiment, mention status, and the full response text for that provider’s latest run.
ChatGPT AI response tab displaying mention status, rank, sentiment, and the complete response text with cited sources
Compare the same prompt across providers. You’ll often find that one provider is more favorable to your brand than others. This can inform where you focus your content optimization efforts.

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How different AI providers behave

Not all AI providers generate responses the same way. Understanding these differences helps you interpret your chats more effectively:
  • Tends to produce narrative-style responses with ordered lists of recommendations
  • Often includes detailed pros/cons for each brand mentioned
  • Citation behavior varies — some responses cite sources, others don’t
  • Ranks tend to be more stable day-to-day
  • Always cites sources — every response includes linked references
  • Produces more research-oriented responses with supporting data
  • May mention more brands in a single response
  • Source quality and recency tend to be higher
  • Generates concise summary-style responses at the top of Google search results
  • May or may not mention specific brands depending on the query
  • Citation behavior is tied to Google’s search index
  • Responses tend to be shorter and more focused
“N/A” in AI Overview — Sometimes AI Overview shows “N/A” for rank and citations. This means Google didn’t generate an AI Overview for that particular query at that time. This is normal — not all queries trigger AI Overviews.

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Reading chat position rankings

On the prompt detail page, the Prompt Ranking section shows how your brand compares to all brands mentioned in responses for this specific prompt:
ColumnWhat it shows
BrandThe brand name (your brand is labeled “My Brand”)
RankYour position (e.g., “#1 rank”) — the best single-response position achieved
AvgAverage rank across all responses (e.g., “#2.9 avg”)
VisiblePercentage of responses where this brand was mentioned (e.g., “75.00% visible”)
ChangePercentage change in visibility compared to the previous period
Brands you’re not tracking as competitors may appear here with an “Emerging” badge — these are candidates for your Emerging Threats list.

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What to look for in your chats

Consistent #1 ranking

Your brand is the top recommendation. Protect this position.

Declining rank

You’re sliding down the list. Check what competitors are doing differently.

Not mentioned, but competitors are

A content gap. The AI doesn’t associate your brand with this topic yet.

Negative sentiment

The AI is highlighting drawbacks. Address these in your content and PR.
Last modified on February 13, 2026