> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.heypharos.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Quickstart: from sign-up to first results in 10 minutes
> Create your account, add your brand, configure prompts, and run your first AI visibility analysis. Your first results arrive 15–30 minutes after setup.
Pharos gets you from zero to a live AI visibility score in a single session. This guide walks you through the essential steps — creating an account, setting up your brand profile, adding competitors, choosing prompts, and launching your first analysis.
After you complete setup, Pharos submits your prompts to the AI platforms you select. The initial analysis typically completes within **15–30 minutes**. You can close the browser while it runs — results will be waiting in your dashboard when you return.
## Before you start
You need:
* A work email address and a password (at least 8 characters, with uppercase, lowercase, and a number)
* Your company's website domain (for example, `acme.com`)
* The names and domains of two or three competitors
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Go to the Pharos sign-up page and enter your email and password.
After you submit the form, Pharos sends a confirmation email. Click the link in that email to verify your address and continue.
If you manage AI visibility for multiple clients, sign up at `/signup/agency` instead. Agency workspaces let you manage multiple brand profiles from a single account.
Enter your first name (and optionally your last name). This personalizes your experience inside the app.
Click **Continue** to move to the next step.
Type your company's domain — for example, `acme.com` — without the `https://` prefix. Pharos validates the domain and fetches your company information automatically.
Pharos uses your website to identify your brand in AI responses and to pre-fill your brand profile in the next step. The auto-fetch takes a few seconds.
Enter just the root domain (`acme.com`), not a subdomain or path. If Pharos can't reach your site, you can skip the verification and fill in your brand details manually.
Choose the geographic scope for your AI visibility tracking:
* **Global** — track visibility across all major markets
* **Region** — focus on a specific region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, etc.)
* **Country** — target a single country, with optional state or city refinement
Also choose the language for your AI prompts. English is the default.
Your target market determines how Pharos generates location-specific prompts and which competitors are surfaced during setup. You can change this later in **Settings**.
Pharos pre-fills your brand name, description, and industry from your website. Review and edit each field:
* **Company name** — how your brand appears in tracking and reports (required)
* **Industry** — helps Pharos generate relevant prompts
* **Description** — 2–3 sentences that explain what your company does; this helps AI platforms understand your business context
* **Brand identifiers** — alternative names or abbreviations AI models might use for your brand (for example, an acronym or a product name)
Click **Continue** when the profile looks accurate.
Add at least one competitor by entering their domain. Pharos fetches their company information automatically and generates identifiers for their brand.
You can add competitors one at a time or paste a list of domains, one per line. Pharos supports up to 10 competitors per brand.
Competitor data powers the side-by-side rankings, sentiment deltas, and trait comparisons in your dashboard. At least one competitor is required to continue.
Add the two or three competitors you hear about most often from customers or prospects. You can add more at any time from **Settings → Competitors**.
Select the topics you want Pharos to track — these are the subject areas your prompts will cover. Pharos suggests topics based on your website and industry. Select at least 3 topics (up to 10).
Pharos then generates a set of base prompts from your topics: the actual questions it will submit to AI platforms on your behalf. Each topic generates roughly 5 prompts.
Review the generated prompts. The default mix is approximately:
* **\~20% branded** — questions that mention your company directly (for example, "Is Acme good for X?")
* **\~60% commercial** — high-intent comparison queries (for example, "Best X for Y")
* **\~20% informational** — discovery questions (for example, "How does X work?")
Edit, delete, or add prompts as needed. You need at least 5 selected prompts to proceed.
Choose which AI platforms to track (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and others are available) and set your analysis schedule — the days of the week when Pharos automatically re-runs your prompts.
Daily analysis is the default. You can run it less frequently if your prompt volume is large.
Pharos shows you your estimated monthly prompt usage before you launch, so you can confirm it fits your plan's quota.
When you're ready, click **Launch Monitoring**. Pharos creates your brand, saves your prompts and competitors, and starts your first analysis immediately.
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## After setup
Once you click **Launch Monitoring**, Pharos begins querying the AI platforms you selected. The first analysis runs in the background and typically completes within 15–30 minutes. You'll see a progress indicator on the completion screen.
When results are ready, your dashboard shows:
* **Visibility score** — a 0–100 score based on how often your brand appears in AI responses
* **Sentiment breakdown** — whether AI mentions are positive, neutral, or negative
* **Platform comparison** — your visibility on each AI platform individually
* **Competitor ranking** — how your AI presence compares to the competitors you added
* **Prompt-level data** — which prompts surface your brand and which don't
From there, review the **Recommendations** section for prioritized content actions you can take to improve your score.
A thorough explanation of each setup step and what each field means.
How to read your visibility score, sentiment trends, and citation data.