Comparing versions

Every rerun becomes another version of the same audit. Comparing versions shows what changed between an earlier baseline and the version you are viewing—from the top-line metrics down to individual prompts and sources.

Choose the versions

Open the date in the report header. The Versions tab lists every run in the audit:

• Viewing chooses the version whose report you are reading.
• Compare chooses the baseline. A version cannot be compared with itself.

Choose the earlier run in Compare. Palmata reads every comparison from the baseline to the viewed version. The header confirms the order, for example Jul 1, 2026 vs Aug 5, 2026.

Start with Brand Perception

The Brand Perception metric cards put the baseline beside the viewed version for Mentioned, Cited, Considered, and Positive perception. Read them together: visibility can rise while citation or perception falls.

The strategic narrative belongs to the version you are viewing. It is not a line-by-line diff of the earlier narrative.

Compare topics

In Topics & Prompts, each changed topic has a CHANGES SINCE strip. It shows movement in ranking, opportunity, and connected actions. New means the topic exists only in the viewed version; Gone means it existed only in the baseline.

Open the topic and read the heatmap

Open a topic to see the same comparison in context. The strip at the top keeps the topic-level movement visible while the heatmap shows how brand influence changed across its buyer questions.

Heatmap cells compare like-for-like prompts. A stronger or weaker cell shows where a brand gained or lost influence. A new prompt has no baseline cell; a prompt that disappeared remains part of the change summary as Gone. Use the prompt list below the heatmap to find the exact questions responsible for the movement.

Compare individual prompts

Open a prompt to inspect the evidence behind its change:

• The change strip shows signal, mention, citation, perception, and action movement.
• Brand Positioning shows influence changes for your brand and competitors.
• Sources Cited marks a source New when it appears only in the viewed version and Gone when it appeared only in the baseline.
• A source present in both versions shows its change in influence when that value moved.

The response text is the answer from the version you are viewing. Source highlighting applies to that response, while the comparison labels explain how its supporting evidence differs from the baseline.

Compare sources across the report

The Sources view shows how a page’s role changed across all analyzed prompts. Each changed source can show:

• Perception — how its net influence on your brand moved.
• Cited — how often the page was used in answers.
• Prompts — how many analyzed questions the page affected or was considered for.
• Actions — how many recommendations now connect to that source.

Read these changes with the source’s current section: Sources Boosting You, Sources Working Against You, or Sources Considered. A page can become more frequently cited while becoming more negative, so frequency alone is not an improvement.

Compare actions

Actions use the same baseline-to-viewed convention. Their change strips show movement in predicted impact, effort, affected prompts, and pages. Open an action to read the current recommendation and simulation workspace; the comparison indicates what changed, while the open action always belongs to the viewed version.

Turn comparison off

Open the date menu and choose Turn off comparison. Palmata returns to the version you were viewing without changing it.

Compare another report

For a quick reference outside the version chain, open Other Reports and choose a report in the Compare column. Palmata includes both report names in the header when they differ.

Separate reports may use different topics, prompts, dates, and audit settings. Use this view to investigate a specific contrast. Use versions of the same audit when you need the cleanest measure of change over time.