Short answer: ask the engines the exact questions your customers ask ("best [your service] in [your city]"), record whether you're named and whether your site is cited, and repeat across 8–10 questions to get a real mention rate. Below is the manual method, what to record, and the faster automated version.
Why this is worth 20 minutes
When someone asks an AI assistant who to hire, the AI names two to five businesses. There is no page two. If you've never checked which businesses those are for your market, you're guessing about a channel your competitors may already own.
The manual method
Step 1 — Write down real buyer questions
Not keywords — questions. The way an actual customer talks:
- "Who's the best [service] in [city]?"
- "I need a [service] near [neighborhood], who do you recommend?"
- "[Service] in [city] that's open weekends?"
- "Most trusted [business type] in [city]?"
Aim for 8–10. Pull them from how customers describe you on the phone, in reviews, and in referral texts.
Step 2 — Ask each engine
Run every question through at least:
- ChatGPT (with web browsing enabled, if available on your plan)
- Perplexity — the most citation-heavy engine, and the clearest view of which sources drive the answer
- Google — check whether an AI Overview appears above the results, and who it names
Use a clean session where you can (a fresh chat, or a private window) so your history doesn't tilt the answers.
Step 3 — Record two things per answer
- Named: did the answer mention your business at all?
- Cited: is your website one of the linked sources?
Those are different wins. Being named gets you considered; being cited means the engine treats your site as evidence, which compounds — cited sources tend to keep getting retrieved.
Step 4 — Record who is being named
This is the part most people skip and it's the most valuable: list every competitor the AI names, per question. After 10 questions you'll have a rough share of voice — who owns the answer in your market. That list is your to-do list: look at what those businesses have that you don't (review volume, FAQ pages, directory presence, press mentions, structured data).
Step 5 — Compute your rates
- Mention rate = questions where you were named ÷ total questions
- Citation rate = questions where your site was cited ÷ total questions
Under ~30% mention rate in your home market means AI is actively routing customers to competitors.
Why the answers change (and why one check isn't enough)
AI answers aren't stable rankings. Models update, retrieval sources shift, competitors publish new pages, review counts move. A business that's named today can vanish from the answer next month. That's why serious operators re-run the same question set monthly and track the trend, not the snapshot.
The faster version
Everything above, automated: Bnarrativ's free AI visibility check runs real buyer questions through the engines and gives you mention rate, citation rate, share of voice, and the actual answer excerpts with your brand highlighted — in about sixty seconds. It also grades your site's technical AI-readiness (schema, FAQ structure, crawl basics), which is usually the first thing to fix. New to the topic? Start with What is AEO.
What to do with a bad result
Don't panic-buy anything. In order:
- Fix technical readiness — JSON-LD structured data, clear title/H1 with service + city, FAQ sections. Cheap, fast, foundational.
- Publish answer-shaped pages — one page per real buyer question, answer in the first paragraph.
- Build corroboration — reviews, consistent listings, independent mentions. Slowest, strongest.
- Re-measure monthly — you can't manage what you check once.
The full breakdown of these layers is in our AEO vs SEO guide.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I re-check my AI visibility?
Monthly. AI answers shift with model updates, source changes, and competitor activity — a quarterly check misses the swings that explain lead-flow changes.
Do I need to check every AI engine?
Start with ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews — they cover most consumer buying questions. Perplexity is the most useful diagnostically because it shows its citations openly.
What's a good mention rate?
In your home market, above 60% across your question set is strong; below 30% means AI is routing customers to competitors. Citation rate typically runs lower than mention rate — being cited is the harder, more durable win.