Check whether AI sees your business
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Updated on 13 October 2026.
Start with the decision
A useful report explains which customer need deserves attention and what evidence supports a change. Define the country, language, system, exact questions and observation window. Separate questions about a category from questions that name a brand. They test different situations.
Keep the same scope when comparing reports. If questions, models or collection methods change, record the change before interpreting a higher percentage.
Separate three kinds of visibility
A mention names the brand. A recommendation presents it as suitable for a stated need. A citation links to a source. A linked source may belong to another publisher, and a name can appear without an endorsement.
For a mention rate, divide usable responses with a confirmed mention by all usable responses in the same scope. Read the context and check sources separately. An undocumented composite score may use a different formula.
Example data: how do you calculate a mention rate?
Let’s work through a bicycle repair shop example. A list contains 50 records: 40 usable responses, 3 blank texts and 7 unavailable full texts. Eight usable responses mention the shop. These example data explain the method and do not represent any brand’s results.
The mention rate is 8 ÷ 40 × 100 = 20%. Why divide by 40 rather than 50? Only usable responses enter the calculation. Blank and unavailable texts stay outside the denominator because their outcomes are unknown. The rate describes this example’s scope, not all AI conversations.
| Example data | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Listed records | 50 | All records in the example |
| Usable responses | 40 | Denominator |
| Blank texts | 3 | Excluded |
| Unavailable full texts | 7 | Outcome unknown |
| Responses with a mention | 8 | Numerator |
| Mention rate | 20% | 8 ÷ 40 × 100 |
Read search performance separately
Google Search Console reports impressions, clicks and positions for a defined search scope. Bing has its own reporting. These units are different from AI responses: do not add search impressions to mentions or infer visits from a citation.
A second example looks at search performance: 320 impressions and 16 clicks give a 5% CTR. This is a separate metric. It does not explain the shop’s AI mention rate. Check queries, country, device and period before changing a title. A missing export row does not automatically mean zero.
Google includes its AI search features in Search Console’s overall Web reporting. That reporting is not a count of ChatGPT recommendations. Website visits and completed business actions require their own analytics and attribution evidence.
Turn an observation into a task
Suppose an answer highlights another workshop’s weekend repairs. First check whether the shop in our example offers that service. If it does, clarify the hours on its existing service page. If it does not, leave that offer out.
The proposed task should name a page, a verified information gap, an owner and a review criterion. Check existing content and drafts before creating another article. A mention is a reason to investigate, not proof of why the system selected a source.
Make the report verifiable
Include question scope, dates, usable responses, blanks, unavailable outcomes and the definitions of each metric. Separate mentions, recommendations, citations, visits and commercial results. There is no universal visibility percentage that guarantees sales.
Use a separate before-and-after protocol to evaluate an update. One answer or a short increase cannot establish causation. Publish useful, checkable explanations rather than repeated pages or unsupported product claims.
For evaluating a change, read the before-and-after guide.
Google documentation: AI features
Google: creating helpful content
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