Answer share is the portion of target prompts where your brand is named, recommended, or linked inside generative answers. It is useful as the headline metric for GEO progress — comparable over time when the prompt set and engines stay fixed.
Whilst “we got cited once” feels like momentum, in practice answer share without a fixed set is storytelling. For example, a team screenshots a friendly brand query and ignores category prompts they still lose. We often recommend scoring presence, preference, and link quality per prompt cluster, weekly or biweekly, before declaring GEO “done.”
Answer share is to generative engines what share of voice is to media — except the unit is prompts, not impressions. Define the set, define what counts (named vs linked vs preferred), and hold engine choice steady enough to trend. Segment by market and intent; a strong brand-query share can coexist with zero category share. Use it to prioritize citation gaps, not to vanity-report founder-name hits.