Short answer: An AI visibility audit checks three things in order: whether AI crawlers can reach your pages, whether answer engines can read and quote them, and whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews actually name or cite you for the questions your customers ask. The first two are technical checks you can run for free in an afternoon. The third needs repeated prompt tests, which is where tools save time.
What does an AI visibility audit measure?
A classic SEO audit asks whether Google can crawl, index and rank your pages. An AI visibility audit keeps those questions and adds one: when someone asks an AI assistant about your category, does the answer mention you, and does it link to you?
The audit works in three layers. Each layer depends on the one before it, so the order matters.
| Layer | Question | Typical problem | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Access | Can AI crawlers fetch the page? | OAI-SearchBot or PerplexityBot blocked in robots.txt, firewall rules blocking bots | robots.txt and server responses |
| 2. Readability | Can an engine extract a clear answer? | Content loaded only by JavaScript, answers buried deep in the page, no headings | Raw HTML and page structure |
| 3. Presence | Are you named or cited in answers? | Competitors cited instead, brand described wrongly, no source link | Prompt tests across engines |
If layer 1 fails, nothing else matters: an engine cannot cite a page it cannot fetch. That is why a good audit starts with access and only then looks at content and answers.
How do you run an AI visibility audit yourself?
You can do a useful first audit without paying for anything. Set aside two to three hours.
Step 1: Check crawler access
Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and look for rules that block answer engine crawlers. The ones that matter most for being cited are OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search), PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot and Googlebot. Blocking training-only crawlers such as GPTBot or CCBot is a separate licensing choice and does not remove you from AI answers. Our free robots.txt checker separates the two groups for you, and the crawler list explains what each agent does.
Step 2: Check what the page looks like without JavaScript
Many AI crawlers do not run JavaScript. View the page source of your five most important pages and search for the main heading, the first paragraph and, on commercial pages, the price. If they are missing from the source, crawlers probably see an empty shell. We found this on our own pricing page, which showed "Loading price" in the server HTML until September 2026.
Step 3: Check how quotable your key pages are
Answer engines quote short, self-contained passages. For each important page, ask:
- Does the first paragraph answer the question the page targets?
- Are the section headings phrased the way people ask?
- Does each section make sense on its own, without the paragraph before it?
- Are facts, numbers and names written as text rather than shown only in images?
Our free page check runs these structure and answer-readiness checks on any URL and shows the evidence for each finding.
Step 4: Test the questions your customers ask
Write down 10 to 20 real questions from sales calls, support tickets or reviews. Ask each one in ChatGPT with search on, in Perplexity and in Google. For every answer, record three things: were you named, were you linked, and who was cited instead. Keep the list and repeat it monthly with the same wording, so results are comparable.
Step 5: Prioritise the fixes
Fix in layer order. A blocked crawler or an empty HTML shell comes before rewriting headings, and both come before chasing mentions on third-party sites.
What should an AI visibility audit report include?
Whether you run the audit yourself or buy one, the output should let you act without guessing:
- Evidence for every finding: the page, the value found and why it is a problem.
- Separate scores for classic SEO and AI visibility. A single blended number hides which layer is failing.
- A clear "not measured" state. A check that could not run is not a pass.
- The competitors cited in your place, because they show which pages you need to beat.
- A way to verify fixes on the live site, not only a list of problems.
When is a paid tool worth it?
A manual audit works well for a small site and a short prompt list. A tool starts to pay off when you have many pages to check, several markets or languages, or more than about 20 prompts to track every month, because repeating the prompt tests by hand becomes slow and inconsistent.
We build ProvenVisible, one of the tools in this category, so weigh this section accordingly. ProvenVisible crawls the site and runs 126 deterministic checks, all published on our check list, and reports SEO, AEO and GEO as three separate scores with evidence for each finding. Paid plans track a fixed set of prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews and record the competitors cited instead of you. Tracking runs automatically once a week, and you can also start it at any time. Plans start at $29 a month; see pricing.
What is the classic SEO counterpart?
Most of layers 1 and 2 is classic technical SEO: crawlable pages, content in the HTML, clear headings, structured data and fast pages. A site that is healthy in Google already has most of what answer engines need. The AI-specific parts are the crawler rules for answer engines, writing passages that can be quoted on their own, and measuring presence prompt by prompt rather than by ranking position.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an AI visibility audit take?
A first manual audit of a small site takes two to three hours. Repeating the prompt tests takes about an hour a month for 20 prompts.
How often should I run one?
Run the technical layers after any major site change, and the prompt tests monthly. AI answers change often, so a single snapshot says little on its own.
Is an AI visibility audit different from an SEO audit?
It includes most of an SEO audit and adds two things: crawler rules for answer engines and prompt-level measurement of whether you are named and cited.
Can I check my site for free?
Yes. Start with the robots.txt checker and the page check; both are free and need no account. For a longer list of free checks, see the best free AI visibility checks.