An AI visibility audit checks whether AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews name your business when customers ask the questions that lead to a sale, who they name instead, and why. A useful one ends in a written fix list in priority order, not a score.
That second part matters more than it sounds. A score tells you that you have a problem. A fix list tells you what to do on Monday. Here is what a good audit covers, what one found when we ran it on our own business, and how to tell a real audit from a sales pitch.
What does an AI visibility audit check?
Six things, in this order.
- The questions your customers ask. Full questions, the way people type them into a chat window: “who’s the best family dentist near me,” “how much does a kitchen remodel cost in Myrtle Beach.” A good audit agrees these with you before anything runs, because the wrong questions produce a confident report about nothing.
- How each engine answers. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews, Claude and Grok each build their answers differently. Every question goes through each one, and the audit records whether you are named, mentioned in passing, or absent.
- What the answers say about you. Being named with the wrong hours, an old phone number or a service you stopped offering is its own problem. The audit checks the facts, not only the mention.
- Who gets named instead. The businesses the answers reach for, and the sources that put them there. This is usually the most useful page in the report.
- The sources the engines trust. Your website, your Google Business Profile, your reviews and the outside pages the answers cite, checked for gaps and for facts that contradict each other.
- The fix list. What to change, in priority order, and who can do each item: you, your web team or an agency.
How is this different from an SEO audit?
An SEO audit asks where your pages rank. An AI visibility audit asks whether your name ends up in the answer. The two overlap, because AI assistants search the web and read the pages that rank. They are still different scores, and you can do well on one and poorly on the other.
We have seen this on ourselves. In October 2026, ChatGPT’s own source lists showed it reading one of our articles first, ahead of every other page, on three of the questions we track. It named other agencies on all three. Being read is not the same as being named.
What did an audit of our own business find?
We run the same check on Southern Tide Media that we sell to clients. On October 26, 2026, two months after we relaunched our website, this is where we stood on 28 questions a business owner might ask when hiring a marketing company on the Grand Strand:
- ChatGPT and Perplexity named us on 0 of the 28.
- ChatGPT read our pages while building its answer on 6 of the 28, and still named other agencies.
- Google’s AI Overviews appeared on 16 of the 28 searches and cited us on none.
- We were on none of the maps of local businesses, on Google or in ChatGPT.
- The agencies on those maps had roughly 30 to 40 Google reviews each. We had 7.
That is not a flattering report, and we would not trust an audit that only produced flattering ones. It also tells us where to work. The engines can find and read us. What they cannot do yet is confirm us from enough other places, and the map belongs to businesses with several times our reviews. So our own fix list starts with reviews and with the outside directories the answers cite, ahead of any new page on our site.
What should the fix list look like?
Specific, ranked and usable by anyone. Each item should name the page or profile, say what is wrong, and say why it matters to the engines. A few that come up often:
- A security or hosting setting that blocks AI crawlers, so the engines never see the site.
- Hours, phone number or service area that differ between your website and your Google Business Profile.
- A question your customers ask that nobody local answers clearly, like what a service costs.
- Few recent reviews, or reviews with no replies.
- No listing on the directories and review sites the answers already cite in your category.
If your own web team cannot act on the list without calling whoever wrote it, the list is not finished.
How do you tell a useful audit from a sales pitch?
Ask to see four things before you pay:
- The questions. You should see them and agree them first.
- The answers themselves, dated, with the sources each engine cited. A percentage with no answers behind it can’t be checked.
- A fix list you could hand to someone else. If it only makes sense when the seller does the work, it is a proposal.
- No guarantee. Nobody controls what ChatGPT says. Anyone who promises you a spot in an answer is promising something they can’t deliver, and that includes us.
One more test: a good audit is willing to tell you that you don’t need much. If you already rank well and the answers already name you, the report should say so.
What does an AI visibility audit cost, and how long does it take?
Our AI Visibility Audit is $499, one time, and takes about two weeks from order to report: a few days to agree the questions, about a week to run them through each engine, then the written report and a walkthrough call. The report is yours whether or not you hire us afterward. If you want us to work the fix list, start our managed service within 30 days and the full $499 is credited to your first month. Every price is on our plans page.
If you want a first look before spending anything, the AI Visibility Snapshot is free. It is an automated read of where you stand today, with nothing to sign. The audit is the version done by a person, against your questions, and it ends in the fix list. There is a sample audit for a fictional dental practice if you want to see the format first.
Can you check this yourself first?
Yes, roughly. Ask ChatGPT and Perplexity five questions a customer would ask before they know your name. Write down who gets named, how you are described if you appear, and which sites are listed as sources. Ask the same questions next month. That will not replace an audit, but it will tell you whether you need one. Our guide to showing up in ChatGPT answers covers what to fix first.
Common questions about AI visibility audits
Is an AI visibility audit the same as a GEO or AEO audit?
Mostly, yes. GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization) are other names for the same work: getting AI assistants to name and cite your business. The audit is the measurement that comes before the work.
We already rank well on Google. Do we need one?
Maybe not, and a good audit will say so. Ranking on the results page and being named in an AI answer are different scores. AI assistants read the pages that rank, but reading a page is not the same as recommending the business behind it, so it is worth checking once.
Which AI engines should an audit cover?
At least the ones your customers use. Ours covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews, Claude and Grok. The fixes are rarely specific to one engine: clear pages, consistent facts and outside mentions help with all of them.
Why does my own ChatGPT show something different from the report?
Answers vary by session, by account and by how the question is worded. That is why a good audit asks a fixed set of questions the same way each time and keeps the answers on record. The pattern matters more than any one screenshot.
How often should the audit be repeated?
Once to set a baseline, then whenever you want to know whether the fixes worked. The engines change often, so a business that depends on being recommended should look at least every few months.