Your office manager forwards an email titled "Free AI visibility audit." Her note says, "Is this a real thing?"
It is. Here's what I'd expect behind the name, and what I'd ask to see before replying.
What is an AI visibility audit?
It's someone asking the AI assistants your customers' questions, writing down what comes back, and telling you what to fix. That's the version to repeat to your office manager.
There are two halves. One is readiness: whether the assistants can reach and read your pages. The other is the answers: whether you're named when a buyer asks, and who is named instead. How AI assistants pick local companies explains why both halves matter.
An audit doesn't change any answer. It's the diagnosis, and the fixes are separate work. Ask which half an offer covers.
What does an AI visibility audit include, in order?
It covers four things, in the order I'd work through them.
1. Can the assistants read your pages?
Start with access. A block is quick to check, and it's the first thing to rule out. OpenAI says a site that opts out of its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot (a program that visits pages), won't be shown in ChatGPT's search answers, though it can still appear as a navigational link.[1] Anthropic says turning off Claude-SearchBot may reduce your site's visibility and accuracy in user search results,[2] and Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot.[3]
Google's guide (last updated July 10, 2026) says that to be eligible for its AI features, a page must be indexed (stored in Google's search index) and eligible to show a snippet.[4] Your site must also be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console, Google's tool for site owners.[4] Inclusion is the default,[5] and Google's best practices include making important content available as text.[6]
To check, open yourdomain.com/robots.txt, the file that tells crawlers what they may visit, then run our two-minute check. The Search Console setting is under Settings, then Search generative AI.[5]
2. What do they say when a buyer asks?
A real audit asks your customers' questions, in their words, with the town in them. Treat each answer as a sample, because where and how you ask changes it. OpenAI says ChatGPT may rewrite your question into a targeted search query and may use an approximate location from your IP address.[7] Anthropic says Claude may use your location for localized results.[8]
So the record needs the assistant, the date, the place and whether sources were shown. OpenAI says that without search, ChatGPT's responses are based on what the model learned in training.[9] If you run the questions yourself, copy each answer in full. If someone else does, ask what they kept. A wrong answer is easiest to trace from the exact words.
3. Who do they name instead of you?
ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI features can all show their sources,[7][8][10][4] so someone auditing by hand can open each cited page, and OpenAI says citations can be incomplete, outdated or incorrect.[7] The page that names a competitor is where your fix can start: their service page, a directory listing, a local list. Our piece on why ChatGPT names competitors and skips you covers the usual reasons.
4. What do you fix first?
A real audit ends in an ordered list, each fix tied to the page, profile or listing it lives on. Most of it is ordinary work, and Google says a Business Profile can help your services be visible in AI responses.[4] I'd fix whatever stops an assistant reading you first, then any wrong details you spot in the answers, then missing pages.
The format of one finding, for a window company in Plano
- Question, word for word: Who replaces windows in older homes in Plano?
- Said: who it named, and whether the company was one of them.
- Note: if a competitor's page answers the question and yours doesn't, the fix is a page about older-home windows.
Illustrative example
What should you have in hand at the end?
You should end up with a record to check and a list to act on:
- The questions, in your customers' words, with the town
- Each assistant asked, and the date
- Who each assistant named, and whether you were one of them
- What your site, profile and listings are missing, page by page
- A fix list in order
If any of that is missing, ask before you pay. Our sample report shows the shape, for a fictional company.
How is it different from an SEO audit or a Google Business Profile check?
An SEO audit asks how a search engine sees your site, and a profile check looks at one listing. An AI visibility audit uses both, then adds the step they skip: asking the assistants and keeping what they say.
Google says its AI features are rooted in its core Search ranking and quality systems,[4] so checking your Business Profile still counts.
What neither tells you is who gets named. One vendor study found Google Maps and the AI tools named a tracked business at different rates:
In BrightLocal's study of 200k+ localized AI searches, Google Maps named a tracked business in 66% of searches; ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews named it in only 32–38%.
Source: BrightLocal local AI visibility study · (opens in a new tab)
So I'd treat the map and the assistants as two checks. Google's report in Search Console counts how often links to your site appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode,[11] and Bing says its Citation Share metric in Bing Webmaster Tools, a June 2026 preview, doesn't expose competitor domains.[12] Look at both before paying anyone, even if a small site shows little data yet.
Which kind of audit are you being offered?
Usually one of three levels.
- You do it. A do-it-yourself audit costs only your time, and I'd budget an afternoon for a first pass, by my estimate. You ask the questions, write down what comes back and check your own settings, but you see only your own location and the assistants you try. Our open AI visibility benchmark is one free method, and it asks for three runs on separate days.
- Someone reviews it by hand. They read your website and Google profile and tell you what to fix first. Our Free AI visibility check works this way, usually within two business days.
- A full audit with dated answers. A readiness check plus a dated sample of real answers from the AI assistants we test (currently ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity), with the fixes ranked. Our AI visibility audit is this level. It comes as the Complete Visibility Report (see pricing) or as the Expert Action Plan at $149, the same report plus a 30-minute consultation, nothing more.
To compare what an audit costs, check each price against what you should have in hand.
How do you spot a weak audit, and what should you skip?
A weak audit hands you a conclusion without the evidence behind it. Five signs:
- A score and nothing else. Bing says understanding AI visibility takes more than a single metric, and that the new preview insights in its AI reports don't turn it into one ranking or score.[12] Ask for the questions, assistants, dates and answers behind any number.
- A number said to come from Google. Google says third-party tools don't have access to its internal ranking data and can't guarantee performance.[13]
- A special file or markup as the headline. Google says you don't need AI text files or special markup, meaning extra code that labels a page for machines, to appear in its AI features.[6] A missing llms.txt file or schema markup shouldn't lead the report.
- A promise to get you named. An audit is a diagnosis, so it shouldn't promise an outcome.
- One question, one assistant, one day. A sample that small is an anecdote.
Who needs one, and who can skip it?
If you already know what's broken, such as a blocked crawler or a half-empty Google profile, skip the audit and fix that first.
I'd get one once the basics are in place and you want to know what the assistants say about you, or before you sign with another AI search provider. Our monthly AI search optimization plans start with one in month one. If you're unsure, start with a free level.
What no audit can tell you
It can't tell you whether you'll be named next month. Google says indexing and serving aren't guaranteed,[6] and OpenAI says placement in ChatGPT search isn't either.[7]
It's a snapshot. Bing says citation patterns can shift with user behavior, models and freshness signals,[12] so treat an answer as a record of the day it was asked.
It may not match what your customer sees. Our methodology says answers vary from run to run, and the consumer apps can answer differently from the developer tools we use.
These pages were checked on October 15, 2026. Platforms change them, so re-read the ones that matter before you act.