That\u2019s exactly why I decided to approach this from a competitive perspective. Instead of asking how visible my brand is, I asked how my competitors are winning visibility in AI answers, and what patterns explain that advantage.<\/p>\n
Why competitive AI brand visibility analysis actually matters?<\/h2>\n
What became clear very quickly is that AI brand visibility isn\u2019t random. Competitors don\u2019t show up in AI answers by accident, and they don\u2019t disappear without a reason. Each AI mention is the result of patterns AI tools rely on, specific prompts, trusted sources, and consistent brand associations.<\/p>\n
By analyzing competitors\u2019 AI visibility, I could see which brands AI tools consistently rely on, which topics they dominate, and where they\u2019re vulnerable. More importantly, I could stop guessing. Instead of assuming which competitors matter, I could see who AI tools actually treat as authoritative. The value of this step is clarity: it shows which competitors are shaping AI-generated answers today, and in which contexts they are doing it.<\/p>\n
This kind of analysis shifts the conversation from \u201cHow do we rank?\u201d to \u201cHow do we become the brand AI trusts to mention?\u201d, which is the core goal of answer engine optimization<\/a>. Instead of reacting to AI answers after the fact, this approach shows where to focus first, and why those areas matter competitively.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s start diving in.<\/p>\n I started by creating a campaign in the Similarweb AI Brand Visibility tool<\/a> for Skyscanner and selecting travel-related topics that reflect how users actually interact with AI tools.<\/p>\n Instead of thinking in keywords, I focused on topics that generate repeat AI answers, such as Flight Deals, Travel Booking, Hotel Search, and destination-based prompts.<\/p>\n In Flight Deals, Skyscanner showed very strong visibility, clearly competing at the top of the AI answer space. In contrast, topics like Hotel Search and Travel Guides showed noticeably lower coverage, even though those topics had high AI prompt visibility.<\/p>\n This imbalance suggested that competition wasn\u2019t even. Skyscanner was strong where the product narrative was clear, and weaker where AI answers leaned more on reviews, editorial guidance, or experience-based content.<\/p>\n That early topic-level view already hinted at where competitors had an edge and where Skyscanner was underrepresented.<\/p>\n Next, I looked at the competitors’ view across all topics to understand who Skyscanner is really competing with in AI-generated answers.<\/p>\n What stood out most was the dynamic nature of visibility over time. Around early December, visibility dipped across most brands, followed by a steady recovery. This volatility showed that brands gain and lose exposure as AI systems adapt to sources and prompt patterns.<\/p>\n When I broke this down by topic, the competitive picture changed dramatically.<\/p>\n In flight-related prompts, Skyscanner clearly stood out as one of the strongest brands in AI-generated answers. In the Flight Deals topic, Skyscanner reached around 90% AI visibility, competing directly at the top of the category.<\/p>\n This confirmed that Skyscanner\u2019s AI strength is highly concentrated in flight-centric queries, where AI tools consistently associate the brand with price comparison and deal discovery.<\/p>\n The picture shifted again when I looked at travel booking-related prompts.<\/p>\n In the Travel Booking topic, Expedia clearly led the competitive set, reaching around 60% AI visibility and Skyscanner appeared in the middle of the pack with about 38% visibility.<\/p>\n This distribution showed a different kind of competitive pressure. Unlike flight-related prompts, where Skyscanner competes at the very top, travel booking prompts are more crowded and harder to stand out in.<\/p>\n AI tools leaned more heavily toward brands that offer end-to-end booking experiences, showing why Expedia and Booking.com lead booking-related prompts.<\/p>\n Together with the flight-related analysis, this made the pattern clear: Skyscanner\u2019s AI visibility is strongest where flight comparison is central, while competitors gain the upper hand as prompts shift toward broader booking decisions.<\/p>\n This was the clearest turning point in the analysis.<\/p>\n I checked the AI Prompt Analysis tool<\/a> and reviewed the high-visibility prompts that did not mention Skyscanner, focusing on the Travel Booking topic. These weren\u2019t rare cases, but high-intent prompts<\/a> with visibility scores between 13% and 19%.<\/p>\n Across these prompts, competitors like Expedia, Booking.com, Priceline, and Trustpilot-linked platforms appeared consistently.<\/p>\n This revealed a clear competitive pattern. Skyscanner was absent not because AI tools didn\u2019t understand the brand, but because these prompts leaned heavily toward trust, reviews, and experiential guidance, areas where competitors had stronger AI associations.<\/p>\n In other words, competitors weren\u2019t just winning on price or scale. They were winning on contextual relevance within AI answers.<\/p>\n To understand why those competitors kept appearing, I drilled into the Prompt Insights for one of the high-visibility prompts where Skyscanner was not mentioned: \u201cWhere can I find reviews for travel booking services?\u201d<\/p>\n This view made the pattern immediately clear. In the Brands Mentioned list, AI tools consistently mention platforms like Trustpilot, Expedia, Priceline, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Kayak, Airbnb, and even editorial brands such as Lonely Planet. Skyscanner was absent from this list, and the citations behind the answer explained why.<\/p>\n This set of sources included:<\/p>\n AI tools weren\u2019t favoring these competitors at random. They had stronger citation signals because they repeatedly appeared in the exact content formats AI relied on to answer this question.<\/p>\n Skyscanner\u2019s absence wasn\u2019t about brand recognition, it was about not being present in the sources powering the answer.<\/p>\n The final layer of my analysis was sentiment, and this is where the picture became more complex.<\/p>\n When reviewing the AI Sentiment Analysis tool<\/a>, I found that Skyscanner\u2019s sentiment scores were consistently strong:<\/p>\n In contrast, competitors like Expedia and Booking.com, while more visible overall, showed lower or more mixed sentiment in several topics. Google Flights performed strongly in destination-based prompts but didn\u2019t dominate transactional sentiment.<\/p>\n This revealed an important insight: Skyscanner\u2019s challenge isn\u2019t trust, it\u2019s coverage. When Skyscanner appears, AI tools frame it positively. The opportunity lies in expanding presence into prompts where sentiment strength can already work in its favor.<\/p>\n Looking across visibility, prompts, citations, and sentiment together, several insights became clear.<\/p>\n AI visibility is not shared evenly, even among well-known brands. AI tools don\u2019t try to balance exposure. They repeatedly return to the same brands for the same types of questions.<\/p>\n Once a brand is associated with a specific prompt type, like flight deals, reviews, or booking decisions, it tends to be mentioned again and again. This creates a loop where competitors who appear early gain more visibility over time, while others struggle to break in.<\/p>\n Citations play a key role in this loop. Brands that show up in the sources AI relies on become the \u201csafe choice\u201d for future answers. At that point, visibility is no longer about who is best, but about who already fits the answer AI is trying to give.<\/p>\n Sentiment helps explain where this loop can be broken. Some competitors appear often, but with weaker or neutral framing. That suggests opportunities to compete by showing up with clearer value and stronger positioning, rather than trying to out-mention competitors.<\/p>\n This analysis proved to me that AI brand visibility is measurable. Once you understand how competitors earn their mentions, through prompt coverage, trusted sources, and positive framing, you can move from observation to action.<\/p>\n Based on this analysis, the competitive opportunities are clear:<\/p>\n Focus on prompts related to reviews, trust, and use-case-driven travel planning.<\/p>\n Identify the editorial and review sources that repeatedly mention competitors and work toward presence in those same content ecosystems.<\/p>\n Use Skyscanner\u2019s high sentiment in flight and booking topics as leverage to enter related prompts.<\/p>\n Separate flight, booking, destination, and review-driven competitors to avoid misleading comparisons.<\/p>\n Because AI exposure is unstable, changes in competitor visibility can signal emerging threats or opportunities early.<\/p>\n This analysis makes it clear that AI brand visibility is already shaping how competitors appear in high-intent travel conversations. By analyzing Skyscanner alongside Expedia, Kayak, Booking.com, and Google Flights, clear patterns emerge around prompts, citations, and sentiment. AI prompt analysis<\/a> shows where competitors dominate AI answers, AI citation analysis<\/a> explains why they appear, and AI sentiment analysis<\/a> reveals how they are positioned.<\/p>\n With Similarweb\u2019s AI Brand Visibility tools, these insights are easy to access and compare across brands, topics, and time. This makes it possible to move beyond observation and actively manage how your brand competes in AI-generated answers.<\/p>\nHow to Analyze AI Brand Visibility Across Your Competitors<\/h2>\n
1. Setting the competitive foundation: campaign and topic selection<\/h3>\n
![\"campaign](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/attachment-image1-1.png\")
<\/p>\n2. Finding the competitors that AI tools mention across topics<\/h3>\n
![\"Finding](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/attachment-image4-2.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Flight](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/attachment-image6-2.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Travel](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/attachment-image3-2.png\")
<\/p>\n3. Discovering where competitors win and you\u2019re missing entirely<\/h3>\n
![\"Discovering](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/attachment-image5-2.png\")
<\/p>\n4. Understanding the sources behind competitor visibility<\/h3>\n
![\"Understanding](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/attachment-image7-1.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
5. Comparing sentiment: how AI positions competitors<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"Comparing](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/attachment-image2-2.png\")
<\/p>\nWhat does this competitive analysis reveal to me?<\/h2>\n
Turning AI Brand Visibility Insights into Action<\/h2>\n
1. Prioritize high-visibility prompts where Skyscanner is not mentioned<\/h3>\n
2. Reverse-engineer competitor citations<\/h3>\n
3. Expand topic coverage where sentiment is already strong<\/h3>\n
4. Track competitors by intent, not as a single group<\/h3>\n
5. Monitor visibility trends over time<\/h3>\n
Competing in AI Answers Using Similarweb Data<\/h2>\n
FAQs<\/h2>\n