Step by step
- List five to ten real questions your customers ask before they buy. Use their words, not your industry's.
- Ask about you directly too, like "What do you know about [your business]?"
- Use more than one tool. ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity at least. Copilot and Claude if you can.
- Start a fresh chat each time so your history doesn't shape the answer.
- Ask each question a few times, since answers change from one ask to the next.
- Write down what you see, using the table below.
- Repeat every month so you can see what's changing.
What to write down
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Question | Exactly what you asked |
| Tool | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and so on |
| Were you named? | Yes or no, plus where in the answer |
| What it said about you | Word for word, so you can spot mistakes |
| Who else was named | Every business, in order |
| Sources | The pages it linked to, if it showed any |
What to look for
- Wrong details about you. Fix those first. Our answer on what to do when ChatGPT gets your business wrong walks through it.
- Names that keep showing up. Those are the competitors AI trusts for that question. They may not be the ones you expected.
- Sources you're missing from. If the same guides and threads keep getting cited, those are the pages worth getting onto.
Where it gets hard
One round is easy. Doing it properly adds up fast: ten questions, four or five tools and a few asks each is well over a hundred answers, every month. That's where people bring in a tracking tool or some help. We compared the two in our answer on whether you need an agency or a tool.
Key takeaways
- Ask the questions your customers ask, not just your name
- Use several AI tools and a fresh chat each time
- Write down who's named, what's said about you and the sources
- Do it monthly or get help once it gets to be too much
Related questions
Why not just search my business name?
Your customers rarely do. They ask for a recommendation, like the best option for their situation. That's where being named matters most.
Is the free audit the same thing?
It's a done-for-you version. We ask the questions your buyers ask and record a personal video walking you through what came back, including who came up in your place.
Milana Thornton
Founder of Be AI Visible. Writes The AI Visibility Report on Substack.