What is AI search visibility?
AI search visibility is how often AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude name your company when buyers ask for recommendations.
Last updated 29 October 2026
How to measure it
- Write a fixed list of questions your buyers ask, such as "best tool for…" or "alternatives to…", without your company's name in them.
- Ask each assistant every question on a regular schedule, with web search on, so you see the answers buyers get.
- For each answer, record whether you're named, in what position, which competitors are named and which pages are cited.
- Your share of AI answers is the number of answers that name you divided by all answers. Track it per assistant and over time.
- Treat it as an estimate. The same question can get a different answer from one request to the next, so watch the trend rather than a single run.
What Google Search Console shows
Since 31 August 2026, Search Console's generative AI performance report has been available to sites worldwide. It counts how often links to your site appeared in Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country, device and date.
It covers Google only and shows impressions, not who else was named. To see whether ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude recommend you, and who they recommend instead, you still have to ask them.
What tends to raise it
- Pages AI search crawlers can reach and index: check robots.txt and make sure your pages can be indexed.
- Original, specific content with facts and first-hand experience others don't have, not a summary of what's already out there.
- Clear structure, with headings and sections that make each answer easy to find.
- Genuine mentions on blogs, videos and forums, which Google's AI features draw on. Google says seeking inauthentic mentions isn't as helpful as it might seem.
- The 2023 research paper that introduced GEO found its methods could raise visibility in generative engine answers by up to 40%, with results varying by subject.
See how BeforeQuery's AI employees do this work, with a person approving anything that matters.
Start free- Source: Aggarwal et al., "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization" (arXiv, 2023)
- Source: Search Console Help: Generative AI performance report (Search)
- Source: Google Search Central Blog: Introducing Search generative AI performance reports in Search Console (June 2026)
- Source: Google Search Central: Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search
- Source: OpenAI API docs: Advanced usage (reproducible outputs)
Questions
Is AI search visibility the same as GEO?
They go together. Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the work of earning mentions; AI search visibility is the result you measure. Our page "What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?" covers the practices.
Can I see it in Google Search Console?
Partly. The generative AI performance report shows impressions for your pages in Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. It doesn't cover other assistants or show which competitors were named.
Why does my share change from day to day?
Assistants can give a different answer to the same question each time, so a single check is a snapshot. The trend over weeks tells you more.
How does BeforeQuery measure it?
The AI Marketer's GEO Agent asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude up to 15 of your buyers' questions with web search on: every day on paid plans, and as a weekly 3-question snapshot on the free plan. It records whether you're named, your position, the competitors named and the sources cited, and sums it up in a GEO score.
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