Copy the formatted transcript to paste into ChatGPT or Claude for analysis
At this point, you know how important it
is to rank in AI search. But with all
these AI visibility platforms and newly
self-proclaimed AI SEO consultants vying
for a slice of that sweet, sweet
marketing budget, it can be hard to know
what's real and what's snake oil. Well,
in this video, I'm going to empower you
to cut through all that noise and
actually do an AI search audit for
yourself for free, not including the
very small cost of these AI assistants.
It's a manual exercise and a slightly
tedious one. But just like Mr. Miyagi
taught Daniel Son wax on wax off before
AI-generated overview
Matt Canyon from Backlinko presents a manual methodology for auditing brand visibility across AI search platforms without paid tools. The framework focuses on achieving two objectives: getting cited as a source and receiving direct brand mentions in AI-generated responses. Canyon recommends testing at least four major platforms (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, and Perplexity) using middle-to-bottom funnel queries rather than top-of-funnel informational searches. The audit process involves creating standardized query sets in both branded and unbranded categories, systematically collecting AI responses in temporary/incognito modes to reduce personalization variables, and analyzing results through CSV analysis using large language models. Key metrics include mention volume, sentiment analysis, recurring source identification, and competitive share of voice. Canyon emphasizes understanding how AI assistants retrieve and generate answers before investing in automated tracking platforms, positioning this manual approach as foundational knowledge for evaluating AI visibility tools.
In AI search, there are two distinct ways to achieve visibility: getting cited as a source in references or footnotes, and receiving direct brand mentions within the actual AI-generated answer, with both together representing optimal performance.
AI visibility audits are fundamentally more challenging than traditional SEO audits because AI assistants generate answers dynamically, meaning no two responses are identical, and personalization factors affect results without access to query databases from private companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
For AI search visibility optimization, middle and bottom-of-funnel queries generate both citations and brand mentions more effectively than top-of-funnel informational queries, which typically only yield source citations without direct brand references.
Testing AI search visibility requires standardizing variables by using temporary modes on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude, along with incognito browsers for Google, though significant variability remains between logged-in versus logged-out states and free versus paid plans.