AI Visibility Audit: How to Check What ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Say About Your Brand
Before paying anyone to 'improve your AI visibility', measure it. Here's a repeatable audit you can run in an afternoon, and how to turn the results into a short list of fixes.
An AI visibility audit checks whether, and how, AI assistants mention your brand when people ask questions you'd want to be the answer to. The method is simple: write the prompts your customers would use, run them several times in each assistant, record whether you're mentioned, how you're described and which sources are cited, then fix the sources and pages that matter. You can do it yourself in an afternoon.
Key takeaways
- Build a prompt set from real customer language: category, problem, comparison, local and brand questions.
- Test ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode or AI Overviews, and Gemini at a minimum.
- Run each prompt several times. AI answers vary from one run to the next.
- The cited sources are the most valuable output: they tell you which third-party pages shape answers in your category.
- Repeat monthly with the same prompts so you can see real change rather than noise.
Step 1: Build your prompt set
Write 15–25 prompts across five types. Use your customers' words, taken from sales calls, emails and support tickets.
| Type | Example pattern | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Category | "Best [category] for [use case]" | Whether you're on the shortlist |
| Problem | "How do I fix [problem your product solves]?" | Whether you're associated with the problem |
| Comparison | "[Your brand] vs [competitor]", "[competitor] alternatives" | How you're positioned against rivals |
| Local or regional | "Best [service] in [city or country]" | For businesses that serve a location |
| Brand | "What is [your brand]?", "Is [your brand] any good?" | Whether facts about you are accurate |
Add country context where it matters ("in the UK", "for US companies"). Answers often differ by region.
Step 2: Test the main assistants
At a minimum:
- ChatGPT, with search enabled
- Perplexity
- Google: AI Overviews in normal search and AI Mode
- Gemini
Optionally, Microsoft Copilot and Claude.
Use a logged-out or fresh session where possible, so your own history doesn't skew results. Run each prompt three times per assistant. Answers vary between runs, and a single run can mislead you badly in either direction.
Step 3: Record the results consistently
Use a spreadsheet with one row per prompt, assistant and run:
| Column | What to record |
|---|---|
| Prompt | Exact wording |
| Assistant | Which tool |
| Mentioned? | Yes / No |
| Position | First, among several, or a passing mention |
| Description | How you were described, and whether it's accurate |
| Competitors named | Who else appeared |
| Sources cited | URLs the answer linked to |
Step 4: Analyse the sources
This is where the useful findings are. Sort all the cited URLs by how often they appear across prompts. You'll usually find a small number of pages doing most of the work in your category:
- "Best X" list articles. Are you in them? Is the information current?
- Review platforms. Do you have a profile, and recent genuine reviews?
- Directory and listing sites: for local businesses, especially Google Business Profile and Yelp.
- Community threads. What's being said about you, and about competitors?
- Your own pages. Which ones get cited, and for what?
Want this audit done for you, with a fix list? We run the prompts your customers use across the major assistants and show you exactly which sources to work on. Book a free strategy call.
Related: For local businesses, the sources behind AI answers are quite specific: Google Business Profile and Yelp dominate. Our guide to AI search for home service businesses covers that data.
Step 5: Turn findings into a fix list
| Finding | Typical fix |
|---|---|
| Not mentioned for category prompts; competitors are | Get included in the comparison and list pages that are cited, with accurate information |
| Mentioned, but described inaccurately | Fix the source pages carrying the wrong information, and state the correct facts clearly on your own site |
| Your own pages never cited | Make key pages clearer: what you do, for whom, specifics near the top; check crawler access |
| Cited sources include outdated pages | Contact the authors with updated information |
| Local prompts favour competitors | Complete and verify Google Business Profile and Yelp; keep details consistent |
Step 6: Check the technical basics
- robots.txt and CDN/firewall settings shouldn't block OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Googlebot.
- Key content in the HTML, not loaded only by JavaScript after the page renders.
- No accidental noindex or nosnippet on important pages.
Step 7: Repeat monthly
Keep the same prompt set so results are comparable. Track the share of runs in which you're mentioned for each prompt type over time. Expect noise; look for sustained changes across several months rather than reacting to one run.
What an audit can't tell you
- Exact "rankings" in AI. There's no stable position to report. Answers change by user, location, wording and time.
- Traffic you'll get. Many AI answers don't produce a click at all.
- The full picture of personalised answers for logged-in users with history.
Be sceptical of any tool or agency reporting a single precise "AI ranking" or "AI visibility score" as if it were stable.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI visibility audit?
It's a structured check of whether and how AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews mention a brand when asked relevant questions, including which sources they cite, so the brand can improve those sources and its own pages.
How do I check if ChatGPT mentions my brand?
Write the questions your customers would ask, run each several times in ChatGPT with search enabled, ideally logged out, and record whether you're mentioned, how you're described and which sources are cited.
How often should I run an AI visibility audit?
Monthly works for most businesses, using the same prompt set each time so changes are comparable. AI answers vary from run to run, so look at trends over several months.
Are AI visibility tools accurate?
They can help with tracking at scale, but treat precise scores carefully. AI answers vary by prompt wording, location, user and time, so any single number simplifies a moving picture.
What should I do if AI assistants describe my business inaccurately?
Find the sources the answers cite, correct inaccurate information there where you can, and state the correct facts clearly and consistently on your own website and key profiles.
Want an AI visibility audit with a clear fix list? We'll run it across the major assistants for your market and tell you what to work on first.
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