The quick version: open ChatGPT, Google's AI, and Perplexity, ask each one to recommend a business like yours in your area, and write down what you see. If you're named, great. If a competitor is and you're not, you've just found your starting point. Below is the slightly more thorough way to do it.
The four-step self-check
Write down your customer's real questions
Think about how an actual customer would ask, not in keywords, but in plain conversation. Make a short list.
"Who's the best plumber in Oxford AL?" · "Recommend a good HVAC company near Anniston with strong reviews."
Ask each AI platform, one at a time
Put those questions into ChatGPT, Google's AI answers, and Perplexity separately. They pull from different sources, so the answers will differ, that's the point.
Write down three things
For each answer, note: were you named? Which competitors came up? And what sources did the AI cite or link to? That third one tells you where the AI is getting its information.
Run it again in a month
Save your notes. Ask the same questions in a month. Whether your visibility moved tells you if anything you're doing is working.
Most owners doing this for the first time find at least one surprise, they're not mentioned, a competitor they don't take seriously is, or the AI gets a basic fact about them wrong. That surprise is useful. It's the gap, made visible.
How to read what you found
A few patterns and what they mean:
- You're not mentioned at all. The AI doesn't have clear, trustworthy information about you to draw on. The most common situation, and very fixable.
- A competitor shows up consistently. They're clearer, better-reviewed, or more consistently described across the web, not necessarily better at the actual work.
- You're mentioned, but the details are wrong. The AI is pulling from outdated or inconsistent information about you. Worth correcting at the source.
- Different platforms give very different answers. Normal. Your visibility genuinely varies by platform, which is why checking just one isn't enough.
Why the thorough version is harder than it looks
The ten-minute self-check is genuinely useful, and you should do it. But a real picture takes more. The answers shift depending on exactly how a question is phrased, they change over time, and there are several platforms to cover with several questions each. Doing it properly, consistently, and knowing how to interpret which sources are driving the results, is the tedious part.
That's the part worth handing off. A proper check covers all the major platforms with the right questions, captures who your real AI competitors are, and turns it into a clear picture of where you stand and what to fix first.
Common questions
Can I check my AI visibility myself for free?
Yes. Open ChatGPT, Google's AI, or Perplexity and ask it to recommend a business like yours in your area. See whether you're named. It takes a few minutes and costs nothing. A thorough check across all platforms is more work, which is where a service helps.
What questions should I ask the AI?
Ask the way a real customer would: "who's the best [your service] near [your town]," "recommend a [your trade] in [your area] with good reviews," "who should I call for [the problem you solve] in [your city]." Natural, conversational phrasing.
What if the AI doesn't mention my business?
Common, and fixable. It usually means the AI doesn't have clear, consistent, trustworthy information about you to draw on. The fix is making your business easy for AI to find, understand, and trust across the web.
Want the thorough version, done for you?
You've seen how to peek. We'll do the full check across every major platform, find your real AI competitors, and show you what to fix first. Free, no commitment, back to you within a day.
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