# What is AI visibility, and how do I check it?

> AI visibility is how often AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features mention, cite or recommend your brand when people ask questions in your field. You check it by putting a fixed set of real customer questions to several assistants, repeating each one, and logging whether you appear. Answers change from run to run, so one check proves little.

Topic: AI search: AEO and GEO. Last reviewed: 12 November 2026. Source: Arcline, https://arcline.celira.space/faq/what-is-ai-visibility

## What does AI visibility mean?

AI visibility is how present your brand is inside the answers AI assistants write. Unlike search ranking there is no fixed list of ten results, so you measure presence in answers, not a position. Three signals are worth telling apart.

| Signal | What it means | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mention | Your brand name appears in the answer text. | “Popular options include Acme Dental and two others.” |
| Citation | Your page is listed as a source, usually with a link. | A numbered source under the answer opens your pricing page. |
| Recommendation | The answer points the reader to you, or ranks you among the best choices. | “For braces in Ahmedabad, Acme Dental is a good choice.” |

They can happen separately. An assistant can cite your page without naming your brand, or name you from memory with no link. Log each one on its own. The wider idea is covered in [what GEO is](https://arcline.celira.space/faq/what-is-geo).

## Why does a single check mislead?

AI answers are generated fresh each time, so the same question can name different brands on Monday and Tuesday, or on two runs a minute apart. Results also shift with the exact wording, the assistant, whether web search was switched on, the country and, when you are signed in, whatever the assistant remembers about you.

Treat one result as one draw, not a verdict. Ask each question several times on different days and report a share, such as “named in 6 of 20 runs”. There is no official number of runs; five per question across three or four assistants is a practical starting point.

> **A score is not a standard.** An AI visibility score has no standard definition. Each tool weighs mentions, citations and tone its own way, so scores from different tools cannot be compared. Read the stored answers behind the number.

## How do I check it by hand?

1. **Write 15 to 25 questions.** Use customers' words: “best” searches, comparisons, problems you solve and a few that name your brand. Keep the list fixed so results can be compared over time.
2. **Ask logged out, with search on.** Use a private window, turn on web search where the assistant offers it and note the country. That is closer to what a new customer sees than your own account, which carries your history.
3. **Try several assistants.** Run every question in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Mode or AI Overviews. They use different sources, so your presence can differ a lot.
4. **Repeat each question.** Ask at least three to five times, on different days.
5. **Log what you see.** In a spreadsheet record the date, assistant, question, whether you were mentioned, cited or recommended, which competitors appeared and the sources shown. Your share is the runs where you appear divided by all runs.

## How do I check it with a tool?

Tools automate the same loop: they send your questions to assistants on a schedule, store each answer and calculate shares. That saves hours and builds a history. When you compare them, ask four things.

- Does it keep the full text of every answer and its sources, so you can read what was said?
- Does it separate answers that used live web search from answers drawn only from a model's memory?
- Does it repeat questions over time instead of reporting one run?
- Does it say which readings are guesses, such as whether an answer “recommends” you or sounds positive?

Answers fetched through a developer interface can differ from what people see in the consumer apps, so read any tool's numbers as a guide. Free signals help too: visits from chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai in your analytics (some may arrive without a referrer) and server logs that show which AI crawlers fetched your pages.

## What does one tracker do in practice?

Arcline is one example (Premium). It builds questions from your own site (about your brand, “best” searches in your topics, comparisons with competitors you add, real customer questions and near-me searches for local businesses), and you can add your own. Premium tracks up to 25 questions per website, and Free runs one snapshot of 5. It puts them to AI assistants that search the live web, stores every answer with the assistant, date and sources, and shows whether each mentions and links to you.

It does not count answers from an AI's memory alone, labels its “recommends you” and tone readings as rule-based guesses, and alerts you when an assistant stops citing you or mentions you far less than the week before. Which assistants it asks depends on the AI search services connected, and the numbers are a guide, not an exact count. The Free plan already scores how ready your pages are for AI answers; see [the features page](https://arcline.celira.space/features).

## What should I do with the results?

- If assistants cannot reach you, fix that first: check robots.txt and bot protection against [the AI crawler list](https://arcline.celira.space/faq/block-or-allow-ai-crawlers).
- If they reach you but name others, open the sources they cite and see what those pages offer that yours do not.
- Read [how to get mentioned by AI assistants](https://arcline.celira.space/faq/brand-mentioned-by-ai) for the actions that have evidence behind them.
- Re-run the same set monthly and watch the trend, not single answers.

> Visibility is not revenue. A mention may send nobody to your site, so track enquiries and sales beside your share. Never trust a seller of guaranteed placement in AI answers: no company controls those answers.

## Related questions

- [How do I get my brand mentioned by AI assistants?](https://arcline.celira.space/faq/brand-mentioned-by-ai.md)
- [How do AI assistants decide which websites to cite?](https://arcline.celira.space/faq/how-ai-chooses-sources.md)
- [How does Arcline check whether AI assistants mention my business?](https://arcline.celira.space/faq/arcline-ai-visibility-tracking.md)
- [How do I get my website to show up in ChatGPT answers?](https://arcline.celira.space/faq/rank-in-chatgpt.md)
- [What is GEO (generative engine optimization)?](https://arcline.celira.space/faq/what-is-geo.md)