What is an AI Visibility Audit?

An AI visibility audit is a structured check of whether large language models (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude) and Google's AI Overviews mention your business when buyers ask the questions that matter to your sector. It tests a defined set of buyer prompts across the major engines, records which brands are cited, and pinpoints the on-page, schema and off-site changes needed for your business to start appearing in those answers.

Why an AI visibility audit matters in 2026

Buyers now ask ChatGPT and Perplexity for shortlists before they ever reach Google. Deloitte's CTO has reported that 93% of B2B buyers use generative AI in their research, yet only 7% of UK SMEs appear in the answers. If your competitors are cited and you are not, you have been quietly removed from the shortlist before any sales conversation happens.

Traditional SEO tools cannot see this. They measure Google blue links, not what an AI model says when someone asks 'who are the best AI consultants for UK insurance?' An AI visibility audit closes that blind spot.

How an AI visibility audit works in 3 steps

  • Prompt set: We build a list of 20 to 40 buyer prompts based on your sector, services and competitors. These are the real questions your customers type into ChatGPT and Perplexity, not vanity keywords.
  • Engine test: We run each prompt across the major answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Google AI Overviews) and record which businesses are named, which sources are cited, and where you sit relative to competitors.
  • Gap and fix plan: We identify the specific on-page content, schema markup, citation sources and third-party mentions that determine those answers, then deliver a prioritised plan you can act on.

What an AI visibility audit actually checks

  • Brand mentions: how often your business is named across the prompt set
  • Citation sources: which pages, directories and articles the AI models pull from
  • Competitor presence: which rivals appear and why
  • Schema and structured data: whether your site gives AI models the facts they need
  • Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) readiness: direct-answer paragraphs, FAQ schema, HowTo schema
  • llms.txt and crawler access: whether AI training and retrieval systems can read your site
  • Off-site signals: review platforms, Wikipedia, industry publications and LinkedIn citations

AI visibility audit vs SEO audit: what's the difference

An SEO audit asks 'why aren't we ranking on Google?' An AI visibility audit asks 'why aren't we being mentioned by ChatGPT?' The two overlap but are not the same.

SEO audits focus on keywords, backlinks and Google's blue-link algorithm. AI visibility audits focus on how generative models extract, summarise and cite information when answering buyer questions. You can rank #1 on Google and still be invisible to ChatGPT, because LLMs weight clear direct-answer content, structured data and authority citations differently to Google's classic ranking signals.

Most businesses need both. The audit shows you which gaps to close first.

How this works in practice

A UK motor claims business we audited had solid Google rankings but appeared in zero out of 32 ChatGPT prompts when buyers asked about claims handling specialists. Their site had no FAQ schema, no direct-answer paragraphs, and no llms.txt file. Three competitors were cited in 18 of those 32 prompts.

Within six weeks of acting on the audit (restructured service pages, FAQ schema across the site, an llms.txt file, two guest articles on industry publications) they were appearing in 11 of the same 32 prompts. Same business, same expertise, just finally visible to the engines buyers are using.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does an AI visibility audit take?

Typically 5 to 10 working days from prompt scoping to delivery. We run the engine tests in parallel and present the gap analysis with prioritised fixes.

Which AI engines do you test?

ChatGPT (OpenAI), Perplexity, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude and Google AI Overviews. These cover the vast majority of generative search queries in the UK market in 2026.

Is an AI visibility audit the same as Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

The audit is the diagnostic. GEO (also called AEO, Answer Engine Optimisation) is the ongoing optimisation work you do based on the audit findings. You need the audit first to know what to optimise.

How much does an AI visibility audit cost?

Pricing depends on the size of the prompt set and the depth of competitor analysis. Our discovery call is free and we are upfront about cost before any commitment. See our AI consulting cost guide for ranges.

What do I get when the audit is finished?

A written report covering: prompt results across every engine, named competitor analysis, a citation-source map, and a prioritised list of on-page, schema and off-site fixes ranked by impact and effort.

Can my in-house team act on the findings?

Yes. The audit is written in plain English with specific recommendations. Most teams can implement the on-page and schema fixes themselves. We can also deliver the changes if you would prefer.

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