Key takeaways
- Build a fixed list of 10 to 20 questions your customers actually ask, and check them on a schedule.
- Track four things: whether you're mentioned, how you're described, who's named instead, and which sources get cited.
- Google Search Console now has dedicated reports for impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, and ChatGPT tags its referral links so you can see the visits.
- AI answers vary from run to run. Look for trends over months, not single answers.
Most businesses know roughly where they rank on Google. Very few know what ChatGPT says when a customer asks for a recommendation in their industry. Do you come up? Does a competitor? Is the description of your business even accurate?
You can't improve what you don't measure. The good news is that tracking your AI visibility doesn't require expensive software to get started. It requires a consistent method. Here's the one we use.
Step 1: Build your question list
Start with 10 to 20 questions your customers genuinely ask. Mix three types:
- Discovery questions: "Who's the best [service] in [city]?" or "Recommend a [service] near [area]."
- Problem questions: "Who should I call for [problem]?" or "How do I fix [problem]?"
- Brand questions: "What is [your business]?" or "Is [your business] any good?"
Write them down and keep the wording fixed. If you change the questions every month, you can't compare results.
Step 2: Ask every engine, every month
Ask each question in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google (to see whether an AI Overview appears). Use a logged-out or fresh session where you can, so your own history doesn't color the answers. Check from the area your customers are in, since location affects local recommendations.
Step 3: Record four things
- Mentioned? Yes or no, and where in the answer: first, in a list or at the bottom.
- How you're described. Are your services, location and strengths correct? Outdated or wrong descriptions are a signal that the sources AI relies on need updating.
- Who's named instead. List the competitors that appear. These are the businesses AI currently trusts in your space.
- Which sources are cited. This is the most useful column. If competitors keep getting recommended because of a particular news site, directory or review platform, you've just found out where you need to be.
That last point matters because, as Muck Rack's research on more than one million AI-cited links found, the large majority of what AI cites is earned, non-paid coverage. The cited sources show you exactly which coverage is moving the needle in your industry.
Step 4: Use the free data you already have
Google Search Console
In June 2026, Google introduced dedicated generative AI performance reports in Search Console, and as of August 31, 2026, they're available to all websites. The reports show how often URLs from your site appeared in generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, which pages appeared, and breakdowns by country, device and date. It's impression data, so it tells you about visibility rather than clicks, but it's the first official view of how often Google's AI features show your site.
Your analytics
OpenAI says ChatGPT automatically includes the parameter utm_source=chatgpt.com in referral links, so visits from ChatGPT search show up clearly in tools like Google Analytics. Watch that number over time, and also look for referrals from Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot.
Your crawler access
If AI engines can't reach your site, nothing else matters. Perplexity, for example, recommends allowing its PerplexityBot crawler so your site can appear in its search results. Check your robots.txt and any firewall settings once a quarter.
Step 5: Read the trend, not the snapshot
AI answers aren't fixed. Ask the same question twice and you may get a different list. Models are updated, new sources get indexed, and answers shift. So:
- Don't panic over one answer. A single miss is noise.
- Track the share. Out of your 20 questions across four engines, how many answers mention you this month compared with three months ago?
- Connect changes to actions. Did mentions rise after a press campaign went live? Did a cited source change after you fixed your business listings?
What to do with what you learn
- Not mentioned anywhere: start with the foundation. Make sure your site can be crawled and clearly says what you do. (See SEO isn't dead. It's how AI finds you.)
- Mentioned but described wrong: update your website, Google Business Profile and listings so every source tells the same story.
- Competitors cited from news sites: earn the same kind of coverage. That's what press campaigns are for.
- Mentioned, but not first: keep building. More credible, recent coverage strengthens your position over time.
Let us do the tracking
AI visibility tracking across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews is included in every AImpact plan, with a monthly report alongside every live link from your campaigns. If you'd like a baseline today, request a free AI visibility check and we'll run your first set of questions for you. New to the topic? Start with how ChatGPT decides which businesses to recommend.
Our team plans and writes press campaigns, builds cloud stacks and runs AI visibility tracking for businesses every month. We check every claim in our articles against the sources listed below.
Sources
- Google Search Central Blog: Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (June 3, 2026)
- OpenAI Help Center: Publishers and developers FAQ — ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral links
- Perplexity: Perplexity crawlers
- Muck Rack (via MarTech Series): Earned Media Still Drives Generative AI Citations as Press Release Visibility Grows, December 2025
