Created: Monday, June 30, 2025
Setting up a MINT project correctly ensures accurate AI search monitoring and comprehensive brand visibility tracking across search engines and AI-powered platforms.
Video Tutorial: Project Setup Walkthrough
Watch our comprehensive video tutorial that demonstrates each configuration step using a real project example. The walkthrough covers all settings screens and explains the strategic thinking behind each configuration choice.
What Is a MINT Project?
A MINT project is your centralized monitoring system that tracks how your brand appears in AI-generated search results. Each project monitors a specific website URL, focusing on one primary market and language to generate targeted analysis and competitive intelligence.
Projects organize your monitoring efforts around specific business objectives, whether tracking SEO keywords, analyzing customer journey questions, or monitoring brand mentions across AI platforms.
Essential Project Configuration Steps
1. Basic Project Settings
- URL Configuration: Enter your primary domain (e.g., lovable.dev) that MINT will monitor across AI search platforms. This becomes your tracking foundation for all visibility analysis.
- Market and Language Selection: Choose one primary market and language combination. This focus drives prompt generation and ensures culturally relevant monitoring that matches your target audience's search behavior.
- Project Objectives: Define specific monitoring goals using keywords from your existing SEO strategy or customer journey questions. These objectives guide automatic prompt generation and help organize multiple projects effectively.
2. Visibility Monitoring Configuration
Visibility tracking divides into two critical components that determine monitoring accuracy.
- Competitor Selection: Add relevant competitors you want to benchmark against. Edit competitor names, add new ones, or remove outdated competitors to maintain accurate competitive analysis. Choose competitors that directly compete for your target keywords and audience.
- Visibility Prompt Portfolio: Configure organic prompts that don't mention specific brand names. These neutral queries test how AI systems respond to generic searches related to your business objectives. All visibility analysis stems from these carefully crafted prompts.
3. Brand Alignment Setup
Brand alignment protects your reputation by monitoring how accurately AI systems represent your brand across different platforms.
- Brand Attributes Definition: Establish critical brand elements, marketing messages, claims, and key differentiators. Include specific pricing information, certifications, and unique value propositions that distinguish your brand. These attributes become the scoring benchmark for all analysis.
- Alignment Prompts Configuration: Use five standard alignment prompts or customize them for your specific needs. These prompts fact-check whether AI responses accurately reflect your defined brand attributes. Edit wording or add questions focused on verifying specific brand claims.
4. Sentiment Analysis Configuration
Sentiment monitoring captures external opinions and reviews about your brand across AI platforms.
- Generic Sentiment Queries: Standard questions like "What do you think about [brand]?" and "What are the main strengths and weaknesses?" provide broad sentiment insights. These queries search for customer reviews, external opinions, and general brand perception.
- Custom Sentiment Focus: Modify sentiment prompts to target specific topics, product features, or customer experience aspects. Customize these prompts while maintaining their generic nature for comprehensive coverage.
Project Configuration Best Practices
- Focus Over Breadth: Choose specific monitoring objectives rather than trying to track everything. Focused projects provide more actionable insights than broad, unfocused monitoring efforts.
- Regular Updates: Review competitor lists, brand attributes, and project objectives quarterly. AI search landscapes evolve rapidly, requiring periodic configuration adjustments.
- Objective Clarity: Write clear, specific project objectives that align with business goals. Vague objectives produce unfocused monitoring and less valuable insights.
- Prompt Quality: Ensure visibility and alignment prompts accurately reflect real user search behavior. Test prompts manually before implementing them in your monitoring strategy.
Common Configuration Mistakes
- Avoid selecting too many competitors, which dilutes analysis focus. Limit competitor lists to direct, relevant competitors rather than including every industry player.
- Don't create overly broad project objectives. Specific, focused objectives produce more actionable monitoring results than generic business descriptions.
- Ensure brand attributes remain current and accurately reflect your positioning. Outdated attributes lead to misaligned scoring and inaccurate brand protection analysis.
Next Steps After Project Setup
Once configured, your project begins generating monitoring data across visibility, alignment, and sentiment dimensions. Review initial results to validate configuration accuracy and adjust settings based on early findings.
Monitor project performance regularly and refine configurations based on changing business priorities, competitive landscapes, and AI platform updates.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I start configuring a new AI monitoring project?
Begin with your tracking URL, select your main market and language, then add project objectives using SEO keywords or specific questions you want to monitor.
What competitors should I include in my monitoring setup?
Choose direct competitors that appear in similar AI responses as your brand, focusing on 3-5 key players rather than comprehensive competitor lists.
How many brand attributes should I define for alignment tracking?
Define 3-7 critical brand attributes including key messaging, unique differentiators, pricing, certifications, or features essential to your brand representation.
Can I customize the alignment prompts for my specific needs?
Yes, edit the five standard alignment prompts to adjust wording or add fact-checking questions specific to your brand attributes and protection requirements.
What's the difference between visibility and alignment monitoring?
Visibility tracks how often your brand appears versus competitors, while alignment measures how accurately AI models represent your specific brand attributes and messaging.