Your buyers are changing how they research. Instead of scrolling through ten blue links on the Google result page, plenty of them now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Copilot a question and read the answer on the spot. Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode do the same thing inside the search results page.
If your brand isn’t part of those answers, you’re missing conversations you’ll never know about. Nobody emails to say an AI tool recommended your competitor instead.
The good news is that you can check where you stand. This guide covers crawling, indexing, content gaps, expertise signals, internal links and brand mentions. We’ve also built a free audit template in Excel so you can score your site as you go.
What is AI search visibility?
It’s how often, and how accurately, your brand and content appear in answers generated by AI tools. That includes being cited as a source, named in a recommendation or summarised.
Here’s the reassuring part. Google has said there’s no special markup or secret file needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Pages need to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and normal SEO fundamentals still apply. Other AI tools work differently, but most also favour accessible, trustworthy content.
So this audit isn’t about tricks. It’s about removing the barriers that stop good content being found, understood and trusted.
Before you start
You’ll need:
- Access to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
- A crawler such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb
- A list of your 10 to 20 most important pages
- A list of 10 questions your ideal customers actually ask
- The audit template, to record your findings
Don’t audit thousands of URLs at once. Start with the pages that drive leads and revenue, then widen the scope.
Step 1: Audit crawling
If an AI system can’t reach your content, nothing else matters. Crawling is the first gate, and plenty of sites quietly fail it.
Check your robots.txt file
Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and read it properly. AI companies often run several crawlers, each with a different job:
- GPTBot is OpenAI’s crawler used for model training
- OAI-SearchBot helps sites appear in ChatGPT search results
- ChatGPT-User visits pages when someone asks ChatGPT to look at them
- ClaudeBot is Anthropic’s crawler, with separate agents for user requests and search
- PerplexityBot supports Perplexity’s search index
- Googlebot and Bingbot remain essential, as Google’s AI features use Google’s index and Copilot draws on Bing
Blocking a training crawler is a business decision, and many publishers do it. Just make sure it’s deliberate. We often find sites blocking every AI bot because of a blanket rule added years ago. If you want to appear in AI search answers, you generally need to allow the search related crawlers. Check each company’s current documentation, as bot names and policies change.
Look for accidental blocks
- A leftover “Disallow: /” from a staging site or migration
- Firewall or CDN settings that challenge unfamiliar bots
- Login walls or cookie pop ups hiding the main content
- Pages returning 403, 404 or 5xx errors to bots
Test your content without JavaScript
Many AI crawlers don’t render JavaScript the way a browser does. If your key content only appears after scripts run, they may see a nearly empty page.
A quick test: view the page source and search for a sentence from your main content. If it isn’t there, it’s probably injected by JavaScript. Search Console’s URL Inspection tool will also show you the rendered version.
Review your server logs
Logs are the closest thing to proof. Filter by user agent and see which AI bots visit and which pages they request. If a bot never touches your best content, you’ve found a problem worth solving.
Crawling checklist
- Robots.txt reviewed and intentional
- No site wide blocks left over from development
- Key pages return a 200 status
- Main content is present in the HTML
- XML sitemap is clean and submitted
- Firewall and CDN rules allow legitimate bots
Step 2: Audit indexing
Crawling means a bot can reach the page. Indexing means the page has been stored and is eligible to appear. They’re not the same thing, and the gap between them is where plenty of good content disappears.
Check indexation in Google and Bing
In Google Search Console, open the Pages report and look at what’s excluded and why. Common reasons include “Crawled, currently not indexed” and “Duplicate without user selected canonical”.
Don’t skip Bing Webmaster Tools. Bing’s index feeds Copilot and supports other AI products, so being absent there can limit your reach. You can import your Search Console data in a few minutes.
Hunt for noindex and canonical problems
Crawl your site and filter for:
- Noindex tags on pages that should be visible
- Canonical tags pointing at the wrong URL
- Parameter and filter URLs creating thousands of near duplicates
- Redirect chains longer than one hop
If you have 40 near identical location pages or old tag archives with two lines of text, merge, improve or remove them. A smaller site full of useful pages usually beats a bloated one.
Validate your structured data
Structured data helps machines understand what a page is about. It doesn’t guarantee a citation, but it removes ambiguity.
- Add Organization schema to your homepage
- Add Article and Person schema to blog posts
- Add Service or Product schema where it fits
- Only mark up what’s visible on the page
- Test with Google’s Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator
You may also have read about llms.txt, a proposed file that points AI tools to useful content. Major search engines haven’t confirmed they use it, so don’t spend your week on it while bigger fixes are waiting.
Indexing checklist
- Priority pages indexed in Google and Bing
- No accidental noindex tags
- Canonicals are correct
- Duplicates and thin pages consolidated
- Structured data valid and accurate
- Redirects are clean
Step 3: Audit content gaps
AI tools answer questions. If your site doesn’t answer the ones your buyers ask, there’s nothing for them to use.
Start with real questions
Pull real questions from places where buyers are honest:
- Sales call notes and discovery meetings
- Support tickets and live chat transcripts
- Google’s People Also Ask boxes and autocomplete
- Reddit, Quora and LinkedIn discussions
List them, then map each to a page on your site. Any question without a matching page is a content gap.
Test the AI tools yourself
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot your 10 buyer questions. Note whether your brand is mentioned, which competitors appear, which sites are cited and whether the information about you is accurate. Answers vary between sessions, so treat this as sampling. Repeat it monthly to spot trends rather than reading too much into one result.
Check each page answers quickly
AI systems tend to pull from pages that give a clear answer without making the reader hunt. For each key page, ask:
- Is there a direct answer in the first 100 to 150 words?
- Do headings reflect how people actually phrase questions?
- Are there short paragraphs, lists or tables that are easy to lift?
- Is there a visible “last updated” date?
- Does it include something original, such as data, an example or a case study?
That last point matters more than most people realise. If your article says the same as 20 others, there’s little reason for an AI tool to pick yours.
Cover the commercial questions
Many sites publish plenty of top of funnel content and little else. Buyers also ask things like “how much does a B2B SEO agency cost?” or “what’s the difference between X and Y?”. Make sure you have pages for pricing guidance, comparisons, process explainers and FAQs.
Content gap checklist
- Customer questions mapped to URLs
- Direct answers near the top of key pages
- Comparison and pricing content in place
- Original data or examples included
- Dates and updates visible
- Competitor topics reviewed
Step 4: Audit expertise signals
Google’s quality guidelines talk about EEAT: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. It isn’t a single ranking factor, but it’s a useful lens, and the same instincts apply to AI search. Systems that generate answers need sources they can rely on.
Authors and credentials
- Every article has a named author
- Author pages show real experience, qualifications and roles
- Bios link to LinkedIn or other professional profiles
An unsigned post by “Admin” tells readers and algorithms very little. A post by a named strategist with ten years of experience tells them far more.
First hand experience
Experience is the “E” many sites forget. Show you’ve actually done the work:
- Include screenshots, results and lessons from your own projects
- Share what didn’t work, as well as what did
- Use case studies with real numbers, with client permission
Trust basics
- A clear About page with who you are, where you’re based and what you do
- Easy to find contact details
- Privacy policy and terms linked in the footer
- Genuine, named reviews and testimonials
- HTTPS across the whole site
- Sources for statistics and claims
Add Organization and Person schema too, with “sameAs” links to your official profiles such as LinkedIn and Crunchbase. It helps systems connect your website to your identity elsewhere.
Expertise signals checklist
- Named authors with bios
- Original insight and first hand examples
- Clear About and Contact pages
- Reviews and case studies displayed
- Claims backed by sources
- Organization and Person schema in place
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Step 5: Audit internal links
Internal links help crawlers discover pages, and they show people and machines how your topics fit together. Weak linking leaves good content stranded.
Find orphan pages and check depth
An orphan page has no internal links pointing to it. Compare the URLs in your crawl against your sitemap and analytics. Anything in the sitemap but missing from the crawl is probably an orphan.
Your most valuable pages should also sit within three clicks of the homepage. If a key service page takes six clicks to reach, it’s sending a weak signal about its importance.
Review anchor text
- Use descriptive anchors such as “our B2B SEO services” rather than “click here”
- Vary the wording naturally
- Avoid stuffing exact match keywords into every link
Build topic clusters
A pillar page covers a broad subject, such as AI search visibility, and links to supporting articles on crawling, schema and brand mentions. Each supporting page links back to the pillar and to related pages. This shows you cover a subject in depth, which is exactly what a system looking for reliable sources wants to see.
Link blogs to commercial pages
Many agencies publish helpful articles that never mention their services. If someone reads your post and wants help, the path should be obvious.
Internal links checklist
- No orphan pages
- Priority pages within three clicks
- Descriptive anchor text
- Pillar and cluster structure in place
- Blogs link to relevant service pages
- Broken internal links fixed
Step 6: Audit brand mentions
Most traditional SEO audits ignore this area, yet it matters a great deal for AI search. AI tools learn about your brand from the wider web, not just your own site. If trusted places talk about you consistently, you’re more likely to be recognised and recommended.
Be consistent
Check that your brand name, description and services read the same across your website, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, industry directories, review platforms such as G2, Clutch or Trustpilot, and press coverage. Inconsistent details confuse people, and they can confuse machines too.
Look for trusted third party mentions
Search for your brand name and see where it appears. Useful sources include industry publications, podcasts, award listings, partner websites, sector roundups and discussions on LinkedIn or relevant forums. Quality beats quantity. Ten mentions on respected sector sites usually do more than a hundred in low quality directories.
Track unlinked mentions
Set up Google Alerts, or use a tool such as Ahrefs or Brand24, to find mentions that don’t link back. A short, polite email asking for a link is often all it takes.
Check how AI tools describe you
Ask directly: “What does [your company] do?” and “Who are the best providers of [your service]?” Note anything inaccurate, outdated or missing. If the facts are wrong, look at the sources those tools cite and fix the underlying problem.
Brand mentions checklist
- Brand name used consistently
Business profiles accurate and complete - Presence on respected industry sites
- Recent reviews on key platforms
- Unlinked mentions tracked
- AI tool descriptions reviewed monthly
How to score and prioritise your findings
Give every check a status of pass, needs work or fail, then set a priority. Here’s a sensible order of attack:
- Fix crawling and indexing blockers first
- Close the biggest content gaps, starting with questions close to a purchase
- Strengthen expertise signals on your highest value pages
- Improve internal links to support the pages you want found
- Build brand mentions steadily, as this is a longer game
Don’t expect overnight results. AI search is still evolving, and no one can promise a particular citation. What you can do is remove the obstacles, publish genuinely useful content and build a trustworthy presence, which helps in traditional search too.
Download the free AI search visibility audit template
We’ve built an Excel template that follows the six steps above. It includes:
- A scorecard that updates automatically as you work
- A separate tab for each of the six audit areas
- Dropdowns for status and priority
- Columns for owners and notes
- A short guide on how to check each item
Work through each tab and you’ll finish with a clear picture of where to focus. Repeat the audit every quarter, as AI tools change quickly.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on your goals. If you want to appear in AI search answers, allow the search related crawlers. Many businesses restrict training crawlers while still allowing search ones. Check each provider’s documentation, as policies change.
No, and be wary of anyone who says they can. AI answers vary by user, prompt and platform. You can improve your chances, but you can’t control the outcome.
Final thoughts
Auditing your website for AI search visibility doesn’t need to be mysterious. Make sure bots can crawl and index your pages, answer the questions your buyers are genuinely asking, show who’s behind the content, link your pages together sensibly and build a presence beyond your own domain.
If you’d like a hand, the team at Think Little Big can run the audit for you and turn the findings into a clear action plan across content, SEO, design and development. Get in touch to find out where your brand stands in AI search.
