Takeaways:
- Some buyers now ask an AI assistant who to consider early in their research, and your own records may not show that step.
- Checking what those tools say about you is research, not a ranking report.
- AI answers change by tool, by wording and by day, so look for patterns across many questions, not one answer.
- When the facts about you are wrong or missing, fix them at the source, starting with your own website.
- For Google’s AI search features, Google’s own guidance points to the usual search fundamentals, with no special markup and no guaranteed inclusion.
A buyer can ask an AI assistant which firms to consider for a project like yours and get a short list in seconds. Your website analytics and customer records may not capture that step. Some buyers will mention it, and some will reach you through a referral you can trace. The ones who read that list and never called, you won’t hear from at all.
My recommendation? Treat what AI reports about your company the same as any other market research. It’s evidence worth gathering before making decisions, not a scoreboard.
What an AI Visibility Assessment Actually Is
In plain terms, this assessment is a structured look at what AI assistants say when someone asks about your industry, your company and your competitors. Four questions sit at the center of it:
- Are you mentioned when buyers ask the questions that lead to a shortlist?
- When you are mentioned, is the information accurate and current?
- Who else is listed, and how are they described compared to you?
- Which sources do the answers cite: your website, directories, reviews, articles?
You don’t need to understand how AI tools work. Just objectively review the information to determine opportunities and potential gaps.
Why It’s Worth an Hour of Leadership Attention
The value is practical. If someone described a service you stopped offering three years ago, or mistakenly credited a competitor, you’d correct the errors, especially if a prospect said them on a sales call. What AI reports about your company requires the same oversight.
It also tells you something about your positioning. In my book, The B2B Marketing Revolution®: A Battle Plan for Guaranteed Outcomes, Battle 5 of the 12 Battles™ Framework is “You Own an Opening in the Brandscape.” Your brandscape is the map of your brand’s territory, online and offline, against every competitor. If an AI answer can’t tell you apart from the firm down the street, it’s worth asking whether your own messaging does.
What It Isn’t
It isn’t a ranking, and it can’t be a guarantee. AI answers change depending on the tool, the exact wording of the question and when you ask. Try the same question twice and you may get two different lists. A handful of answers is a sample size, not a verdict on your whole market.
For its own AI search features, Google’s guidance is plain and clear. The documentation explains there’s no special AI markup to add, that no page is guaranteed to be included, and that the answers and links people see can vary. It points back to the same fundamentals behind good search results: helpful, reliable content that people can find and understand. That guidance covers Google’s features, not every AI assistant. Still, helpful, original and accurate content about your company is a sensible place to start.
So be wary of anyone who promises to put you at the top of AI answers. What you can do is make sure the facts about you are correct, topical and easy to find.
How to Run a First Pass Yourself
You don’t need special software for a first look. Here’s a simple exercise. Treat it as an illustration of the thinking, not a scientific score.
1. Write down the questions your buyers actually ask
Ask your sales team what prospects ask in the first conversation, and pull from customer interviews if you have them. Aim for 10 to 15 questions, such as “Which firms specialize in [your service] for mid-sized manufacturers?” or “What should I look for in an [your industry] partner?”
2. Ask more than one tool, more than once
Run each question in two or three AI assistants, on different days. Note the date and the exact wording, because both can change the answer.
3. Record what comes back
For each answer, document whether you were named, whether the description was accurate, which competitors appeared and which sources were cited, if any. A simple spreadsheet is enough to keep track of the results.
4. Look for patterns, not one-offs
One odd answer tells you very little. The same wrong fact showing up across tools and questions tells you a lot. So does a competitor who shows up again and again for a strength you’d claim as your own.
Fix the Facts. Don’t Game the Answers.
When you find gaps, the fix starts at the source:
- Make sure your website correctly describes what you do, who you serve, where you work and what you can prove.
- Update outdated pages, retired services and old descriptions of your company.
- Check the information on directory listings, profiles and other places that describe you for accuracy and consistency.
- State your real differentiator in words a buyer would use, and back it with proof.
What you shouldn’t do is try to trick the tools: stuffing pages with keywords, publishing thin pages written only to be quoted, or chasing every answer that changes from week to week. That isn’t strategy, and it does nothing to make the facts about you more accurate.
Treat It as Research
An AI visibility check is one more way to see your company the way a buyer might before they ever speak to you. Run it, document what you find and fix what’s wrong. Then run it again in a few months and see what changed. Own an opening in the brandscape, and make sure every place that describes you tells the same, accurate story.
By Lori Turner-Wilson, RedRover CEO/Founder, Internationally Best-Selling Author of The B2B Marketing Revolution®: A Battle Plan for Guaranteed Outcomes
Taking Action
The above insights are part of hundreds of best practices found in The B2B Marketing Revolution®: A Battle Plan for Guaranteed Outcomes — the playbook that middle-market B2B CEOs and marketing leaders lean on to scale. Backed by a groundbreaking research study, this book offers time-tested best practices, indispensable KPIs for benchmarking, insights on where your dollars are best spent, and, above all, the proven 12 Battles™ Framework for generating guaranteed marketing outcomes. The B2B Marketing Revolution® is a battle-hardened approach to becoming an outcomes-first leader who’s ready to shake up the status quo, invest in high-payoff market research and optimization, and — yes — even torch what’s not serving your endgame. Download more than 50 templates, scripts, and tools from the book on the Battle Reader Hub.
If you’d like to talk about how to build a marketing engine that delivers predictable results — whether you want to build it yourself or tag in our team to lead the way — we’d be delighted to help you get started.
