What does named first mean in AI answers?
In short
Named first is the share of answers that mention your brand before any competitor. An answer that lists five options and puts you fifth counts as named; one that leads with you counts as named first. On buying questions, people tend to start with the first option, so this is the measure closest to a sale.
Keats, from PressRoom. Updated Read as markdown
When an assistant recommends products it usually gives a list, and the order isn't neutral: the first option is often the one it describes at most length and the one a reader tries first. Named first measures how often that's you.
How it's counted: for each answer that names any brand in the category, check whether yours is the earliest. Over a week of answers to a question, named first is the share of answers where it was.
It sits beside two other measures:
- Named: you're in the answer anywhere. The broad measure of AI visibility.
- Cited: one of your pages is a source. The measure for fact questions.
Named first is most useful on tier-1 buying questions (see question tiers), and most useful beside a rival's number for the same questions. Being named in 61% of answers means one thing when the top rival is named first in most of them and another when you are. Keats shows it with the top rivals on each offering's weekly read.
Sources
- Keats: llms.txt, the operations and workflows for agents, read November 12, 2026