When we launched Surfacd earlier this year, we set out to help brands understand how visible they are across AI search. Since then, thanks to feedback and iteration from our team and clients, it became clear that visibility was only part of the picture.
Two brands can appear just as often in AI-generated answers and still create very different impressions. One may be described as trusted and established. Another may be associated with high prices, poor support, or outdated limitations. The visibility numbers might look similar, but it’s the reputational impact that isn’t.
That is why we have developed Surfacd Reputation Intelligence, a new module that sits alongside Visibility, designed specifically to show not just where your brand appears, but also the sentiment and underlying themes and narratives that AI platforms are actually identifying about your brand.
Reputation Intelligence helps brands understand how sentiment changes over time, how different AI models characterise them, the themes and narratives repeatedly associated with their brand and the sources and responses behind those signals.
It’s part of an expanding suite of Surfacd capabilities which we’ve designed specifically to give our clients and users a data-rich understanding of both their position and positioning across LLMs.
Will Julian-Vicary, CTO at Clarity and the driving force behind Surfacd, explains:
“Going beyond visibility has always been the ambition for Surfacd. Knowing where you appear is valuable, but the real opportunity is understanding why you appear, how you’re being positioned and what is shaping that perception. As we continue expanding the platform, we’re giving clients and Surfacd users more ways to interrogate their position across LLMs and, crucially, more intelligence they can actually act on.”
And for me, this is where it gets really interesting; the Reputation Intelligence angle feels like the natural evolution of what we set out to do with Surfacd.
As marketing and communications consultants, we know that AI platforms are becoming a central part of how individuals research and evaluate brands.
In the B2B world, which is where Clarity operates, a buyer can ask for a shortlist of potential vendors, then immediately follow up with:
In addition to discovery, AI helps people interpret brands. And for some, it means they need to understand the stories, perceptions, and claims surfacing at that point in the buying journey far better - and do it fast!
Every reputation signal can be traced back to the prompts, responses, models and sources behind it, helping teams understand what is driving a particular perception and where they might need to intervene.
And that might mean correcting outdated information, strengthening a weak narrative, identifying a new reputational risk, or understanding why one model tells a different story from another.
This is also where Clarity’s combination of consultancy and technology becomes particularly powerful. Surfacd provides the data, and it’s our role to then help clients turn that data into action across comms, content, digital and SEO, ultimately driving their GEO strategy.
Reputation Intelligence is an important next step for Surfacd, and we’re not stopping here. As our clients ask increasingly sophisticated questions about how their brands appear and are interpreted across AI platforms, we’ll continue developing the capabilities to help them answer them.
Surfacd Reputation Intelligence is available now.
Head to the Surfacd site to get a free demo of our full suite, or if you’re ready to go, sign up for a free, no-obligation 7-day trial.