How Does My Brand Look to AI? (AI Brand Audit Guide)
Introduction
Most brands aren't showing up in AI-generated answers—and they don't even know it.
Up to 88% of brands don't appear in results from ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini. Why? Their content is optimized for human clicks, not AI citations. Unlike traditional search engines that list links, AI models synthesize answers from sources they trust. If your content isn't structured with clear facts, authority signals, and direct answers, the AI simply passes it over.
Here's a 10-minute audit you can run yourself to see if you're part of the conversation or being left out.
Step 1: Stop Googling Yourself—Start Prompting Yourself
The first step is to replicate how a potential customer might encounter (or miss) your brand when asking an AI. You'll test three types of visibility using ChatGPT-4, Perplexity, and Google Gemini.
Run These Three Prompts
1. Identity Check: Does AI Know You?
Prompt: "Who is [Your Brand Name] and what is their core value proposition?"
Goal: Test for accuracy. Does the AI know who you are? Is the description current or outdated?
2. Sentiment Check: What's the Vibe?
Prompt: "What are the pros and cons of using [Your Brand Name]?"
Goal: Test for sentiment. AI models can hallucinate, but they often reflect the overall sentiment found online. Are the "cons" accurate or invented?
3. Citation Check: Are You the Source?
Prompt: "According to [Your Brand Name], what is the best way to [solve a problem your product solves]?"
Goal: Test for authority. Does the AI treat your content as a trusted source, or does it cite your competitors instead?
Step 2: The Competitor Shake-Down
With AI search, there's no "#1 ranking." You're either the answer, a citation, or invisible.
Traditional SEO focuses on ranking slots (1-10). GEO focuses on your presence in AI-generated answers—what we call "Share of AI Visibility." You need to see where you stand in the consideration set that AI creates.
How to Run a Competitive Check
Run these two prompts:
The "Best of" Prompt: "What are the top 5 [your industry] tools for [specific use case] in 2025?"
The Comparative Prompt: "Compare [Your Brand] vs [Competitor A] for a small business."
Analyze the Output
Presence: Did you make the list?
Position: Were you the first recommendation or an afterthought?
Context: Did the AI highlight your unique selling points, or give a generic description?
Source (Perplexity/Bing Chat): Click the citations. Are they linking to your homepage, a blog post, or a third-party review? Hint: AI often prefers third-party validation over your own marketing copy.
Step 3: Create Your AI Visibility Scorecard
Since you can't track traditional "rankings," use this simple scorecard to benchmark where you stand:
0
Invisible
AI doesn't mention your brand, even when prompted directly
1
Aware
AI knows your name but provides minimal or outdated info
2
Informed
AI describes your product accurately but without detail
3
Cited
AI references your content as a source in relevant answers
4
Recommended
AI suggests your brand unprompted in "best of" lists
5
Preferred
AI positions you as the top choice for your category
Goal: Move from 0-2 (Awareness) to 4-5 (Preference).
Track your score monthly. If you're stuck at 0-2 for three months, your content structure needs work.
How to Scale This Process
Manual audits give you a baseline, but you can't do this every week. AI models update constantly—a manual audit today might be obsolete in two weeks. For continuous monitoring and optimization, you need automation.
Why Your Current Tools Don't Help
Standard SEO tools track keyword rankings. They can't "read" the AI-generated answer to check if the sentiment is positive or the facts are correct. They also can't tell you why the AI chose a competitor's content over yours.
What a GEO-Native Platform Does Differently
A tool built for GEO (like Deca) approaches this differently:
Brand Research Agent: Identifies your current E-E-A-T signals (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) that AI models prioritize
Target Prompt Analysis: Instead of tracking keywords, it identifies the actual user questions where your brand should appear in answers
Continuous Monitoring: Tracks how AI engines parse your content over time, helping you shift from "human-readable" to "machine-understandable" content
The difference? You stop guessing and start measuring what actually drives AI citations.
Conclusion
If you don't audit your AI presence, an algorithm defines your brand story.
The shift from SEO to GEO isn't just about traffic—it's about control. This audit shows you where you stand today. Your next move? Take the "invisible" content you found and make it citation-ready.
Start with one prompt test today. Pick your most important use case and see if your brand shows up. If it doesn't, you know what to fix first.
FAQs
Q: How often should I run this audit?
Monthly manual checks are a good baseline. But since AI models like GPT-4 and Claude update frequently, automated monitoring works better for active campaigns. Think of it like rank tracking—you wouldn't check your Google rankings once a month if you're running an SEO campaign.
Q: Why is ChatGPT showing the wrong pricing for my product?
Usually because your pricing isn't clearly published. If it's hidden behind a login or buried in a PDF, the AI guesses based on outdated information. Solution: Publish clear, structured pricing in an easy-to-find page with proper schema markup.
Q: Can I "fix" a bad answer in ChatGPT?
You can't directly edit ChatGPT's training data, but you can influence it over time. Publish high-authority content, update your Wikipedia and Crunchbase profiles, and make sure your website's schema markup is correct. As AI models retrain, they'll pick up these new signals.
Q: What's the main difference between an SEO audit and a GEO audit?
An SEO audit checks technical factors like page speed, backlinks, and keyword density to rank your URL. A GEO audit checks content structure, entity clarity, and E-E-A-T signals to ensure your information gets cited—regardless of where the link appears in search results.
Q: Are there free tools for this?
Yes. The manual process described here using free versions of ChatGPT, Copilot, and Perplexity is your best starting point. For deeper analysis or automated tracking, you'll need specialized platforms.
References
Wellows. (n.d.). How to Audit Brand Visibility on LLMs. https://wellows.com/blog/audit-brand-visibility-on-llms/
Mention. (n.d.). How to Quantify Your Brand's Presence in the Age of AI Visibility. https://mention.network/learn/how-to-quantify-your-brands-presence-in-the-age-of-ai-visibility/
HubSpot. (n.d.). AEO Grader. https://www.hubspot.com/aeo-grader
Rankability. (n.d.). Free GEO Audit Checklist. https://www.rankability.com/free-geo-audit-checklist/
Surfer SEO. (n.d.). Generative Engine Optimization. https://surferseo.com/blog/generative-engine-optimization/
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