Niche Explorer

What is the Niche Explorer?

AURA's Authority dimension measures how well AI systems recognize your brand within a specific market niche. By default, AIVerdict auto-detects your niche based on your website content. But what if you're expanding into a new market? What if your positioning doesn't match how AI sees you?

The Niche Explorer lets you manually test your Authority score against any niche you choose — revealing exactly how AI systems rank your brand in different competitive contexts.

Where to Find It

1. Run an audit

   Run an audit on your website, or open an existing audit from your history.
2. Find the Authority section

   Scroll to the Authority section in your report.
3. Expand the Niche Explorer

   Click "Check your brand in a different niche" to expand the Niche Explorer panel.
4. Enter a niche and locale

   Type a niche (e.g., "sales automation platform") and optionally set a locale (e.g., "US" or "Global").
5. Get your results

   Click "Check" — your Authority score for that niche appears instantly, along with the top brand in that niche and your competitive positioning.

Marketing Use Cases

• target Find your strongest niche. Try 3-5 variations of your market positioning. If you're a CRM, try "CRM for agencies", "sales CRM", "AI-powered CRM", "lightweight CRM for startups". See where you score highest — that's where AI will most likely recommend you.
• fact_check Validate your positioning. If your marketing says you're a "project management platform" but you score 40 there and 85 as a "team collaboration tool", AI systems don't see you the way you think. Adjust your positioning or improve your signals.
• explore Scout new markets before entering. Planning to expand from "email marketing" to "marketing automation"? Check your Authority in the target niche first. If you already score 60+, you have a head start. If you score 10, you need significant signal-building first.
• compare_arrows Benchmark against competitors. Run niche checks on competitor sites too (via separate audits). Compare who has stronger Authority in each niche to identify competitive gaps and opportunities.
• trending_up Track niche expansion over time. After building Authority signals in a new niche (Wikipedia edits, press mentions, review platform listings), re-check your niche score to measure progress.

Understanding Your Results

Each niche check shows: your Authority score (0-100) for that niche, a tier label (Top recommendation, Well-recognized, Recognized, Emerging, Barely known), the #1 brand in that niche according to AI, and the competitive landscape (other brands AI associates with this niche).

You can run multiple niche checks on the same audit — results stack so you can compare side by side. Previous checks remain visible until you close the report.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How many niche checks can I run? expand_more
  Each niche check costs 0.5 audit credits (2 checks = 1 full audit). You can run as many checks as your remaining credits allow.
• Does the niche check change my main Authority score? expand_more
  No. Niche checks are exploratory — they show what your score would be in a different niche but don't change your main AURA report. Your default niche (auto-detected) remains unchanged.
• What makes a good niche to test? expand_more
  Be specific. "Software" is too broad — try "project management software for agencies" or "AI-powered CRM for startups". The more specific the niche, the more actionable the results. Try both broad and narrow variations to find the sweet spot.