AI Visibility · 4 min read

AI Visibility Check: 10 Prompts to Test How AI Sees Your Business

You can spend months guessing whether AI tools recommend your business — or you can spend twenty minutes finding out. The fastest way to understand your AI visibility is to become your own customer: open ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity and ask the questions your customers ask. Below are ten prompts to run, plus how to read what comes back. Do this today, and you'll know exactly where you stand.

Before you start: how to run the test

Run each prompt in at least two or three AI tools, because they draw on different sources and often give different answers. ChatGPT holds the largest share of the standalone AI assistant market, followed by Claude, Gemini, and others — and Google's AI now answers a large share of searches directly — so checking several gives you the fullest picture. Where possible, replace the bracketed placeholders with your real business name, service, and city. Keep notes on what each tool says.

The discovery prompts (are you even in the conversation?)

These reveal whether AI names you at all when a customer is looking for what you offer but doesn't know you yet.

• "What are the best [your service] businesses in [your city]?"
• "I'm looking for a [your service] near [your neighborhood or city] — who would you recommend and why?"
• "Who are the top-rated [your industry] providers in [your area]?"

What to look for: Are you named at all? Where in the list do you appear? Which competitors show up that you don't? If you're absent while competitors are named, that's the single most important gap to close.

The accuracy prompts (does AI describe you correctly?)

Being mentioned isn't enough if the information is wrong. These check whether AI has your facts straight.

• "Tell me about [your business name]."
• "What services does [your business name] offer, and what are their hours and location?"
• "What is [your business name] known for?"

What to look for: Wrong hours, outdated address, missing services, or a description that misses what makes you special. Research has found that a meaningful share of business details in AI answers don't match the business's own Google profile — so don't assume it's right until you've checked. Every error here is a customer being given bad information about you.

The reputation and comparison prompts

These reveal how AI frames your reputation and how you stack up against the competition.

• "What do customers say about [your business name]?"
• "How does [your business name] compare to [competitor name]?"
• "Is [your business name] a good choice for [specific customer need]?"

What to look for: Does AI reflect your actual reputation? Does it default to a competitor as the safer recommendation? Does it know enough about you to make the case for choosing you? If AI can't articulate why someone should pick you, your online presence isn't telling that story clearly enough.

The bonus prompt: ask AI how to improve

Try this one last: "Based on what you can find online, what would make you more likely to recommend [your business name] for [your service] in [your city]?" AI will often tell you, in plain terms, what's missing — more reviews, clearer service pages, presence on certain directories. It's imperfect, but it's a free, revealing starting point.

How to score yourself

• After running the prompts, rate yourself honestly across three questions:
• Presence: Does AI name your business when customers search for your service, without being told your name? If not, this is your top priority.
• Accuracy: Is everything AI says about you correct and current? Fix any errors at their source — your website and listings.
• Persuasion: Does AI give a compelling reason to choose you? If it's vague, your online story needs strengthening.

What the results are really telling you

If AI doesn't mention you, it's not personal — it means your business isn't showing up clearly and consistently enough across the sources AI trusts. If it mentions you with errors, your information is inconsistent somewhere online. If it mentions you but favors a competitor, they're simply telling their story more clearly where AI can read it. Every one of these is fixable, and most fixes involve information you already control: your website, your listings, and your reviews.

Run it regularly

AI visibility isn't a one-time check. As you improve your site and listings — and as AI tools update — your results will change. Re-run these prompts every month or two to track progress and catch new gaps. Most of your competitors aren't checking at all, which means simply paying attention puts you ahead.