Can I measure AI visibility myself?

Yes. Put buying questions without your brand name to several AI platforms and note per answer whether you were retrieved, cited, mentioned or recommended. Done by hand it is laborious: eight questions across six platforms are 48 measurements, and for comparison you have to repeat them exactly later.

Why must my brand name not be in the question?

Because then you measure whether the system knows you when you point at it, not whether it names you of its own accord. Your customer does not type your name; they ask for a solution. Only a question without brand name measures that situation.

How often should I measure?

For a first picture one measurement suffices. If you want to know whether your work has an effect, repeat the same questions after a few weeks. Without identical repetition you cannot tell change from chance.

What is the difference between retrieval and citation?

Retrieval means your page was fetched. Citation means it was actually used as a source for the answer. A page can be fetched and then set aside.

Explainer · measurement method

How do you measure whether AI names, cites and recommends your business?

You cannot ask an AI. Ask “do you know my business?” and you get a polite answer that says nothing about what happens when a customer asks a real question.

Put buying questions without your brand name to several AI platforms and check only after the answer whether you appeared in it. Record four things per answer: was your page retrieved, was it used as a source, is your brand name in the text, and are you recommended. Repeat the same questions later to separate change from noise.

The four steps

Each step answers a different question. Skip one and you know that you are not mentioned, but not why.

Ask the question the way a customer asks it

Not “what do you think of company X”, but “which provider can do this for me”. Without brand name and without domain. Only then do you measure what an AI says of its own accord. A question with your name in it measures something else: whether the system knows you when you point at it.

Ask the same question on several platforms

We measured twice that well over four in five sources appeared on exactly one of six platforms. Measure one and you see between 3 and 46 percent of the picture, depending on which platform you pick. Measuring one platform is not a small sample; it is a different study.

Record four levels separately

Retrieved, cited, mentioned and recommended are four different outcomes. A brand can serve as a source without appearing in the answer. We saw that happen to ourselves: Perplexity cited our page without naming us. Anyone who only measures “are you mentioned” misses that difference.

Repeat with exactly the same questions

AI answers differ by moment. Without repetition with identical questions you do not know whether a change comes from your work or from the day. Also record which measurements were temporarily unavailable and do not count those as zero — it makes a considerable difference to the outcome.

The four measurement levels

The difference between two consecutive levels tells you where it goes wrong.

Level	What it means	What it tells you
Retrieval	Your page was fetched	Technically reachable and readable for the crawler
Citation	That page was used as a source	The content was found reliable enough
Mention	Your brand name is in the answer	Your name is tied to the content
Recommendation	You are actively recommended	Price, offer and evidence convince

Frequently asked questions

Can I measure AI visibility myself?: Yes. Put buying questions without your brand name to several AI platforms and note per answer whether you were retrieved, cited, mentioned or recommended. Done by hand it is laborious: eight questions across six platforms are 48 measurements, and for comparison you have to repeat them exactly later.
Why must my brand name not be in the question?: Because then you measure whether the system knows you when you point at it, not whether it names you of its own accord. Your customer does not type your name; they ask for a solution. Only a question without brand name measures that situation.
How often should I measure?: For a first picture one measurement suffices. If you want to know whether your work has an effect, repeat the same questions after a few weeks. Without identical repetition you cannot tell change from chance.
What is the difference between retrieval and citation?: Retrieval means your page was fetched. Citation means it was actually used as a source for the answer. A page can be fetched and then set aside.

Measure it yourself or have it measured?

The free check measures your technical AI readiness in about a minute. If you want the full measurement across six platforms, that costs €29, one time.

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The figures on source overlap come from two measurements on 29 August 2026, each with eight buying questions without brand name across six AI platforms. See the measurement →

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