What is AI visibility?
AI visibility is how often AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity bring up your brand when people ask them questions in your market. There are two ways to show up:
- A mention: the assistant names your brand in its answer, for example in a list of recommended options.
- A citation: the assistant lists your website as one of the sources it used.
A mention puts your name in front of the buyer. A citation shows the assistant used your own pages, and gives the reader a link to you. The best result is both.
How the AI visibility checker works
You enter your brand name, your website (optional), a question your buyers would ask an AI assistant and a country. We then ask three assistants the question live:
- ChatGPT, using the GPT-4.1 mini model with web search
- Gemini, using Gemini 2.5 Flash with web search
- Perplexity, using its Sonar model
For each assistant you see whether your brand is mentioned, whether your website is cited, the full answer and its sources. Your visibility score sums it up as the number of assistants, out of 3, that mention or cite you. You also get the sites the assistants used most for that question.
How to choose the right questions
The question you ask decides what you learn. Use the questions a real buyer would ask before choosing a product or provider, not your brand name or a slogan. Good patterns:
- Best for: "best CRM for small law firms" or "best payroll software for restaurants"
- Alternatives: "alternatives to [competitor]"
- Problem first: "how do I stop losing leads from my website"
- Comparisons: "[competitor A] vs [competitor B] for a small team"
AI answers vary between runs and between users, so one question tells you little on its own. Test several questions that cover your main products and buyer types, and look for patterns across them. The questions your sales team hears every week are a good place to start.
How to read your results
Each assistant can land in one of four states. Here is what each one means and what to do next:
- Mentioned and cited: the assistant names you and uses your site as a source. Note which questions do this and keep those pages strong.
- Mentioned, not cited: the assistant names you but relies on other sites as sources. Read those sources, because they shape how your brand is described.
- Cited, not mentioned: your page was used as a source, but your brand did not make it into the answer. Make your brand and what you offer clearer on that page.
- Neither: you are not part of the answer yet. Start with the sites the assistants used most, and with the page on your own site that should answer this question.
How to improve your AI search visibility
Use your results as a to-do list. Work through these steps in order:
- Get mentioned on the sites the assistants use. The list of most used sites is your target list for PR, reviews, guest articles and outreach. Being named on those pages puts your brand into the material the assistants read for this question.
- Answer buyer questions on your own site. Write pages that answer the questions you tested, clearly and near the top of the page, with specific facts about who you serve and how.
- State your brand facts plainly. Say what you do, who it is for, where you operate and how it works, in words an assistant can repeat.
- Keep your details consistent. Your name and description should match across your site, social profiles, directories and review sites.
- Test again after changes. Run the same questions after you publish or earn new mentions, and compare the results.
Our AI citation services focus on the first step: earning mentions on the sources AI assistants use. Our AI search optimization service covers the full plan.
Limits of any AI visibility check
AI answers are not fixed. The same question can get a different answer on the next run, and different users can see different answers. The checker uses the models named above with web search, which may not match the settings a buyer has in the apps. Answers are cached for up to 24 hours, so running the same check again soon after shows the saved result instead of a new one.
Treat each check as a sample, test several questions and repeat the test over time. For Google's own AI answers, use the AI Overviews tracker and the AI Mode tracker.