PWC (Position-Weighted Count)
The central L3 quality metric — brand prominence with an exponential position decay.
What is PWC?
Position-Weighted Count (PWC) is the central L3 quality metric. PWC = Σ over brand sentences ( wcₛ · exp(−posₛ / |S|) ) / total words — an exponential position decay, not Σ 1/pᵢ. From the GEO KDD 2024 paper.
PWC rewards being mentioned, mentioned at length, and mentioned early — combining volume and position into one quality score.
PWC splits a response into sentences S. For every sentence that mentions the brand it takes the sentence word count wcₛ and multiplies it by an exponential position weight exp(−posₛ / |S|), so a mention near the start of the answer counts far more than the same mention buried at the end. The weighted sum is divided by the response’s total words to give a normalised score.
The exponential decay is deliberate and is not the same as the naive Σ 1/pᵢ that other tools use. A 1/position weight drops off too slowly and ignores answer length; the exp(−pos/|S|) form, taken from the GEO methodology presented at KDD 2024, models how strongly early prominence actually drives recall and re-citation.
PWC sits at L3 Quality of the SOV pyramid alongside First Mention Position, Citation Authority Score and sentiment. Where mention rate (L1) only asks "did the brand appear?", PWC asks "how prominently?" — which is why it is the metric the closed loop optimises once basic presence is achieved.