Short answer: Pick 10 to 25 questions your buyers actually ask, check them in Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity on a fixed schedule, and record three things each time: whether you are mentioned, whether you are linked, and who is cited instead. Add Google Search Console for the SEO side. That routine takes about an hour a month and tells you more than a dashboard you never open.
What exactly should a solo founder track?
Three layers, because they fail independently:
| Layer | Question | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Do people find my pages in search? | Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools |
| AEO | Is my page the direct answer to a question? | Featured snippets, answer boxes |
| GEO | Do generative engines mention or cite me? | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews |
A brand can be strong in one and absent in another. A founder with good rankings may still never appear when a buyer asks ChatGPT for recommendations, and the reverse happens too.
How do you choose the questions?
The quality of tracking depends almost entirely on the question list. Build it from real sources, not guesses:
- Sales and support conversations: the questions prospects asked before buying.
- Search Console queries: what people already type to find you.
- Comparison intent: "best X for Y", "X vs Y", "alternatives to Y".
- Problem intent: "how do I fix Z", written the way a non-expert would.
Keep the list stable. If you change the questions every month, you cannot tell whether a change in results came from your work or from the list.
How do you run the checks by hand?
Once a month, for each question:
- Ask it in ChatGPT (with search on), Perplexity and Google.
- Record: mentioned (yes or no), linked (yes or no), position if the answer is a list, and the other sources cited.
- Note the exact date. AI answers change, and a result without a date is not evidence.
A simple spreadsheet with one row per question per engine per month is enough. After three months you will see patterns: questions where you are never cited, competitors who keep appearing, and sources engines trust that you could be listed on.
What do you do with the results?
Each gap points to a different fix:
- Not mentioned anywhere: often an access or indexing problem. Check that answer-engine crawlers can reach your pages with our free checker, and that your key pages are indexed.
- Mentioned but not linked: the engine knows you but has no page of yours that answers the question. Write one, answer-first.
- Competitor cited instead: read the page that was cited. It usually answers the question more directly or contains a fact yours lacks.
- A third-party source keeps appearing: a directory, review site or comparison article. Being listed there accurately may matter more than another page on your own site.
When is it worth automating?
Manual tracking breaks down at around 25 questions across three engines, because that is 75 checks a month. Automating makes sense when:
- AI recommendations are a real source of customers,
- you want to see whether a specific change moved your citations,
- you want the same prompts run the same way each time.
ProvenVisible's paid plans track a fixed set of prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews and record mentions, links and competitors. Tracking runs when you start it, so costs stay predictable. Whatever tool you use, check that it shows the actual answer text as evidence, not only a score.
What is the classic SEO part of this routine?
Do not skip it. In Search Console, look at queries containing your brand name and your core product terms, and at pages that lost impressions. Branded search growth is also a signal that mentions elsewhere are working. The SEO checks cost nothing and catch the technical problems that make AI tracking look worse than it is.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I check?
Monthly is enough for most founders. Weekly checks mostly record normal day-to-day variation in AI answers.
Should I use a clean browser session?
Yes. Use a logged-out or fresh session where possible, because personalisation and chat history can change answers.
What is a good first target?
Being mentioned for your own category question, for example "tools for X", in at least one engine. It is specific, measurable and usually reachable.
Does being mentioned without a link count?
It counts as awareness, not traffic. Track mentions and links separately so you know which one you are improving.