Service · Audits
AI search visibility audits
Find out how often your brand is being cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. And what to do about it if it's not.
At a glance
- An AI search visibility audit measures how often a brand appears in AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
- Most brands score under 20% citation rate when audited for the first time, even when their SEO rankings are strong.
- The audit covers 50 to 150 buyer-intent queries across the brand's category, plus competitive share of voice.
- Output: a prioritised six to twelve month action plan with technical, content and entity fixes.
- AEO and GEO are now standalone disciplines from SEO. Different signals, different work.
Why AI search visibility matters now
AI search referrals convert 9x better than social traffic (Salesforce, 2025 holiday season). 39% of consumers already use AI for product discovery. Google's AI Mode launched in 180+ countries with zero blue links, which means citation is the only visibility mechanism in that experience.
The shift is happening faster than most brands have adjusted. SEO investments that were working two years ago are flattening because the discovery layer has moved. Brands that get cited by AI engines get recommended. Brands that don't, drop out of the consideration set entirely.
An AI search visibility audit gives a baseline measurement and a roadmap. It answers two questions: how often does the brand currently appear in AI answers, and what specifically needs to change for it to appear more often.
What the audit covers
Buyer-intent query mapping
50 to 150 queries built around how real buyers in your category search. Not branded queries. Buyer-stage queries.
Live citation testing
Every query tested across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Citation rate calculated per engine.
Competitive share of voice
How often your top 3 to 5 competitors are cited for the same queries. Where the gap is biggest.
AI crawler accessibility
robots.txt audit for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and others. llms.txt where relevant. Server response checks.
Entity consistency audit
Brand facts checked across site, LinkedIn, review platforms and third-party mentions. LLMs reward consistency.
Schema and structured data review
JSON-LD validation. Stacked schema opportunities. Entity linking gaps. Rich Results test status per page.
Passage-level citability scoring
Existing high-traffic pages scored against the 512-token chunk rule. Which sections are AI-extractable and which aren't.
Prioritised action plan
Six to twelve months of recommended work, scored by impact and effort. Must-haves, nice-to-haves, and skip items.
The process
- 1
Intake call
60 minutes. Business model, ICP, top competitors, current channels, what success looks like.
- 2
Query mapping
Buyer-intent query set built from the intake plus keyword research. Reviewed and approved before testing begins.
- 3
Live citation testing
Each query tested across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Citations recorded with screenshots.
- 4
Competitive analysis
Share of voice calculated per engine. Where competitors win, where the gap is closeable, where it isn't.
- 5
Technical and content audit
AI crawler access, schema, entity consistency, passage citability on top pages.
- 6
Report and walkthrough
Written report delivered. One-hour walkthrough call. Two-week follow-up window for clarifying questions.
Who the audit is for
- E-commerce brands wanting to be cited by ChatGPT for product-discovery queries.
- SaaS founders building category authority and looking to be the default recommendation.
- Service businesses competing on consideration-stage queries.
- Brands that have invested in SEO but feel rankings have plateaued.
- Brands whose competitors keep showing up in AI answers and they don't.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI search visibility audit?+
An AI search visibility audit measures how often a brand appears in AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. It tests buyer-intent queries, maps competitive share of voice, checks technical AI crawler accessibility, and produces a prioritised action plan to improve citation rates.
How is this different from a regular SEO audit?+
A traditional SEO audit measures how a site ranks on Google. An AI search visibility audit measures whether the brand gets cited as the answer in ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews. The signals are different. AEO and GEO require schema, entity consistency, passage-level citability, and AI crawler access, none of which traditional SEO audits cover.
Which AI engines does the audit cover?+
The audit covers ChatGPT (with web search), Perplexity, Google's Gemini, and Google's AI Overviews. These are the four engines driving the majority of AI-generated answer traffic in 2026. Bing Copilot is included on request, as it shares its index with ChatGPT.
How long does the audit take?+
Most audits take two to three weeks from intake call to delivery. The first week is query mapping and citation testing. The second week is competitive analysis, technical checks, and content review. The final week is the report write-up and presentation call.
What do I get at the end?+
A written report covering current citation rates per engine, competitive share of voice, technical fixes required, content gaps, and a prioritised six to twelve month action plan. Delivered as a PDF with a one-hour walkthrough call and a follow-up question window.
Do you handle implementation as well?+
Yes. The audit is the entry point. Implementation work, including schema architecture, content production, entity setup and ongoing measurement, is offered as a separate retainer. Many brands take the audit first to scope the work before committing to implementation.
How is the audit priced?+
Pricing depends on the size of the brand, the number of buyer-intent queries tested, and the depth of competitive analysis. Audits start from a fixed-fee tier suitable for solo founders and bootstrapped brands. Larger e-commerce stores and SaaS businesses sit on a higher tier. Quotes are provided after the intake call.
Ready to find out how visible your brand actually is?
Book an intake call. If the audit fits, you'll have a baseline measurement and a roadmap within three weeks.
Book an audit