AEO Methodology: Understanding Your AI Visibility Score
The AI Visibility Score (0-100) measures how often your business appears in answers generated by ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Grok. It’s the metric that matters most for modern customer acquisition.
What Your Score Means
0-25: Invisible — Your business is not appearing in AI answers. Competitors own the conversation.
25-50: Emerging — You’re starting to appear, but inconsistently. Some queries show your name; most don’t.
50-75: Strong Presence — You’re regularly cited in AI answers. Customers are finding you through ChatGPT and Perplexity.
75-100: Market Leader — You’re the go-to recommendation in AI. You appear in 80%+ of relevant queries.
How We Calculate Your Score
We test 20-30 buyer queries that are relevant to your business across five platforms: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Grok. For each query, we track:
Citation Frequency: How often your business name appears in answers (not generic descriptions like “local contractors”)
Answer Position: Whether you’re the first recommendation, middle of the list, or last resort
Platform Spread: Which platforms are citing you (some businesses show up on Perplexity but not ChatGPT)
Query Relevance: Whether you appear for high-intent queries (“best contractor for kitchen remodel”) vs. low-intent ones (“what is remodeling”)
Temporal Consistency: Whether citations are stable week-to-week or fluctuating wildly
Your final score is weighted toward platforms and queries where your customers actually search.
The AEO Audit Process
Week 1: Baseline Assessment
We run 20-30 buyer queries on all five platforms and establish your current AI Visibility Score. We identify which platforms are citing you, which aren’t, and which queries are missing your name entirely.
Week 2: Entity & Data Audit
We audit your: website schema markup, Google Business Profile completeness, structured data for product/service categories, review distribution and freshness, social proof signals (testimonials, case studies), and third-party citation presence.
Week 3: Competitive Analysis
We analyze what your top 3-5 competitors are doing to get cited in AI answers. We reverse-engineer their entity structure, schema implementation, content strategy, and third-party citation sources.
Week 4: Recommendations & Strategy
We deliver a prioritized roadmap with 15-20 specific actions. Each action includes an expected impact on your AI Visibility Score and a timeline for results. Top recommendations are usually: schema markup fixes (quick wins), content additions, Google Business Profile optimization, third-party citation strategy, and review generation.
Expected Results Timeline
30 Days: Schema implementation and GBP optimization complete. You may see small upticks in Perplexity and ChatGPT citations.
60 Days: Content updates live and indexed. Citation frequency increases notably. Your AI Visibility Score typically climbs 10-20 points.
90 Days: Full compound effect. Third-party mentions and reviews are accumulating. Average improvement: 20-40 point increase in AI Visibility Score.
180+ Days: Market position solidifies. You’re now the default recommendation in your category for local queries.
What Affects Your Score Most
Schema Markup Quality (35% impact) — Structured data tells answer engines what you do, who you serve, where you operate, and why customers trust you.
Third-Party Citations (30% impact) — Independent mentions in blogs, publications, and industry directories give you authority.
Customer Reviews & Testimonials (20% impact) — Structured review data with real customer names and specific results influence AI recommendations.
Content Quality (10% impact) — Answer-engine-optimized content (40-80 word answers to buyer questions) helps answer engines cite you accurately.
Google Business Profile Authority (5% impact) — A complete, consistent GBP signals legitimacy to all answer engines.
Monitoring After Launch
Once your AEO is live, we monitor your AI Visibility Score monthly and report:
— Which queries are newly showing your name
— Which platforms are moving fastest
— Which competitor queries you’re winning
— What changed since last month (algorithm updates, new competitors, citation shifts)
— Next actions to push your score higher
Answer engine algorithms change monthly or quarterly, so ongoing monitoring is essential to stay ahead of competitors.
Get Your Free AI Visibility Score
Don’t guess at your current position. Take the free audit tool to see exactly where you stand in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Grok. You’ll get a one-page report with your baseline score and 3-5 quick-win optimizations.