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What Sentiment Analysis Is

Sentiment Analysis automatically extracts and classifies how AI platforms talk about your brand. When AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews mention your brand, Slate analyzes whether the mention is positive, neutral, or negative. Every mention is categorized by theme (like pricing, support, or performance) and grouped into more specific categories. This gives you a detailed view of your brand perception across AI-generated responses.

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Why It Matters

AI platforms shape how users perceive brands. A single negative mention in a ChatGPT response can influence purchasing decisions. Sentiment Analysis helps you:
  • Monitor brand perception across AI platforms in real-time
  • Identify strengths and weaknesses by analyzing which themes get positive vs. negative mentions
  • Track competitor sentiment to understand how you compare
  • Spot emerging issues before they become widespread
  • Measure improvement as you address negative perceptions through content updates

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Key Metrics

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Sentiment Labels

Every mention is classified into one of three categories:
  • Positive: The AI platform describes your brand favorably (recommendations, praise, benefits)
  • Neutral: The AI platform mentions your brand without clear positive or negative framing
  • Negative: The AI platform highlights drawbacks, limitations, or criticisms

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Delta Tracking

When Compare to is on, sentiment metrics show period-over-period changes. The default is Previous period: if you’re viewing the last 30 days, you see how each metric changed compared to the 30 days before. Positive share changes appear in percentage points (pts).

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Sentiment Themes

Mentions are automatically categorized into themes that reflect different aspects of your brand. The theme names below match how they appear in Slate.

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Product Quality

  • Core Functionality Features: Core product features and functional capabilities
  • Performance Reliability: Reliability, stability, bugs, and overall performance
  • Speed Responsiveness: Speed, responsiveness, and latency
  • Scalability Capacity: Ability to handle growth and enterprise scale
  • Durability Reliability: Durability and reliability over time

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Pricing

  • Price Competitiveness: How your pricing compares to alternatives
  • Cost Effectiveness ROI: Value for money and return on investment
  • Promotions Incentives: Deals, discounts, and offers
  • Pricing Transparency: Clarity of pricing and billing

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User Experience & Support

  • Ease Of Use Accessibility: How simple your product is to use
  • Design Aesthetics: Visual appeal and interface quality
  • Customer Support Responsiveness: Speed and timeliness of support
  • Onboarding Learning Support: Learning curve, documentation, and training
  • Resolution Quality Self-help: Support resolution quality and self-serve resources
  • Delivery Fulfillment: Delivery, fulfillment, and shipping experience

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Trust & Security

  • Safety Security Compliance: Security, privacy, and compliance
  • Brand Perception: Overall reputation and trustworthiness
  • Customer Feedback Reputation: Reviews and customer feedback
  • Transparency Communication: Openness and communication quality

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Integration & Compatibility

  • Compatibility Interoperability: Integrations and compatibility with other tools
  • Ecosystem Fit Partnerships: Ecosystem fit and partnerships

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Business & Growth

  • Customization Flexibility: Ability to configure and adapt to specific needs
  • Innovation Differentiation: Unique features and forward-thinking
  • Roadmap Evolution: Product development direction
  • Market Competitiveness: Position relative to alternatives
  • Growth Traction: Growth, adoption, and momentum
Mentions that don’t fit any theme are labeled Other.

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How to Use Sentiment Analysis

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Filter Your Data

Use the filter bar at the top to narrow your analysis:
  • Platform: Select which AI platforms to analyze (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini).
  • Topic: Select one or more topics or query categories.
  • Prompt: Focus on specific tracked prompts.
  • Location: Filter by geographic location.
  • Period: Choose your time period (Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 3 months, Last 6 months, Last year, or Custom). The default is Last 30 days.
  • Compare to: Off, Previous period (default), Same period last year, or Custom.
When any filter differs from its default, a Clear N pill appears. Click it to reset all filters.
The filter bar has no sentiment filter. To show only positive, neutral, or negative statements, use the sentiment toggle in Theme Association With Brand.

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Sentiment Summary

The Sentiment Summary shows four cards for your brand:
  • Positive share: Share of statements about you that are positive
  • Positive statements: Positive statements about your brand
  • Negative statements: Negative statements about your brand
  • Neutral statements: Neutral statements about your brand
When Compare to is on, each card shows the change from the comparison period. Use the cards to get a quick pulse on overall brand perception.

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Sentiment Trend

The Sentiment Trend chart shows positive, neutral, and negative mentions over time.
  • Switch between % and Abs (absolute counts).
  • Group the data by Day, Week, or Month.
  • Click Download Report to export the trend data.

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Competitive Sentiment Benchmarking

Compare sentiment across your brand and competitors. Your brand is marked Your Brand (YOU in the heatmap). Choose one of three views:
  • Brand Sentiment Overview: Each brand’s Dominant sentiment and Sentiment balance (negative, neutral, and positive)
  • Theme Breakdown: A heatmap of the dominant sentiment share for each theme and brand. Stronger color means stronger sentiment.
  • Top Categories: Each brand’s Top Positive Category (what they’re praised for) and Top Negative Category (what they’re criticized for). Click a mention count to read the mentions.
Click Download Benchmark to export the data.

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Theme Association With Brand

View sentiment by theme to understand where a brand excels or struggles.
  1. Select a brand. Your brand is selected by default.
  2. Optionally, search with Search themes, keywords or pick All, Positive, Neutral, or Negative in the sentiment toggle.
  3. Review each theme’s dominant sentiment and statement count. When Compare to is on, each theme also shows the change from the comparison period.
  4. Click a theme to expand All Categories for that theme.
  5. Click a category to open Sentiment Mentions. Filter by All, Positive, or Negative, and click View Full Answer to read the AI response.
Click Download Data to export the theme data.

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Best Practices

Review sentiment changes weekly. Sudden shifts in negative mentions often indicate emerging issues.

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2. Focus on High-Volume Themes

Prioritize themes with the most mentions. A theme with 100 negative mentions matters more than one with 5.

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3. Compare Against Competitors

Don’t just track your own sentiment. Compare against competitors to understand relative perception.

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4. Investigate Negative Themes

When you see a theme with high negative sentiment, analyze what’s driving it. Understanding the specific criticism helps you prioritize improvements.

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5. Track Improvement Over Time

After addressing an issue (updating content, improving a feature), monitor whether sentiment improves in subsequent periods.

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6. Cross-Reference with Citations

Use Sentiment alongside Citations. If negative mentions cite specific URLs, you know which content to update.

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What’s Next

Now that you understand Sentiment Analysis, explore: