How to check your AI search visibility with 5 prompts

A recent client AI search visibility audit surfaced one finding worth sharing: ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google rely on completely different sources.

That means there is no single AI search ranking to improve. A tactic that helps you appear in ChatGPT may do nothing for Perplexity or Google AI Overviews.

Before deciding what to improve, you need a baseline. Here is a simple process for checking whether buyers can find your company across all three.

Step 1: Choose the prompts you want to measure

Start with these five:

Best [category] for [audience]?
What should [audience] use to [solve problem]?
What are the best alternatives to [competitor]?
[brand] vs [competitor]: which is better for [use case]?
What does [brand] do?

Prompts 1–3 tell you whether a buyer who has never heard of you can discover your company. Prompt 4 tells you whether you appear in a direct comparison. Prompt 5 tells you whether the AI understands and describes your company accurately.

Keep the wording neutral. The constraints should describe the buyer’s situation, not your product’s differentiators.

For example, “best accounting software for a 20-person agency” is a useful visibility test. “Best accounting software with [your product’s unique feature]” is engineered to make your company win. That tests your prompt-writing ability, not your visibility.

Step 2: Run each prompt across three platforms

Run the same prompts in:

ChatGPT
Perplexity
Google Search, when an AI Overview appears

For every answer, record:

Whether your company is mentioned
Whether it is recommended or merely listed
Whether your website is cited
Which competitors appear
Which sources are cited
Whether the description of your company is accurate

A spreadsheet is enough. Keep the prompt wording consistent and repeat the check every month so you can compare like with like.

Do not combine everything into one score. In particular, separate your unbranded visibility from your branded accuracy.

If an AI system describes your company perfectly when asked about it by name but never includes it in an unbranded recommendation, your company is accurately known but commercially undiscoverable. Averaging those results together hides the real problem.

Step 3: Use the citations to shape your strategy

A mention tells you that you appeared. A citation tells you why the answer may have included you—or why it chose a competitor instead.

In one client’s category, the source mix differed sharply by platform:

ChatGPT relied heavily on vendors’ own websites, particularly product, category, and pricing pages.
Perplexity went almost entirely to third-party listicles and roundups.
Google AI Overviews mixed Reddit discussions, review-platform alternatives pages, and listicles.

The practical lesson is that “improve AI visibility” is not a strategy. Each platform rewards different work.

Step 4: Do the work each platform already rewards

Use the sources from your audit to choose the next action.

For ChatGPT

Make your own website easy to understand and cite:

Create a clear category page using the language buyers use
Strengthen product and use-case pages
Publish transparent pricing where possible
Make your positioning, audience, features, and proof explicit

For Perplexity

Build third-party coverage:

Earn inclusion in relevant roundups and “best tools” articles
Pitch credible industry publications and category experts
Publish useful comparison and alternatives content
Check which competitor-owned articles are shaping the category

For Google AI Overviews

Strengthen the wider footprint around your company:

Complete relevant G2, Capterra, and directory profiles
Participate genuinely in communities where buyers discuss alternatives
Monitor Reddit and forum threads about your category
Create the listicles and comparison pages that also help on Perplexity

Do not blindly copy the same tactic across all three. Follow the source pattern you can see.

Step 5: Repeat—and profit, hopefully

Run the same prompt set every month. Track what changed after you published a page, completed a profile, earned coverage, or joined a relevant discussion.

The goal is not merely to be mentioned more often. You want the right buyers to discover you, see you recommended for the right use case, and receive an accurate explanation of why they should consider you.

Five prompts will not tell you everything about your market. They will tell you far more than guessing—and give you a concrete place to start.