How we measure AI visibility
How to measure AI visibility
We rank every AI visibility signal by what it can prove, and every report leads with the layer that holds up.
The evidence ledger
Every AI visibility signal, ranked by what it can prove.
First-party and verifiable at the top; everything else labeled for what it is.
- Load-bearingServer & CDN access logs
The proof, once it’s verified
- Source
- First-party
- What it proves
- A platform’s bot fetched the page. User-action fetchers such as ChatGPT-User and Claude-User fire when someone asks a live question.
- How we use it
- We lead every report on this, checked against each platform’s published IP ranges.
- SupportingBing AI Performance report
Copilot’s own citation count
- Source
- First-party (Microsoft)
- What it proves
- Copilot cited the page, how often, and a sample of the searches behind it
- How we use it
- Supporting. Covers Copilot and Bing only, and it’s still in preview.
- SupportingSearch Console AI reports
Google’s own AI impressions
- Source
- First-party (Google)
- What it proves
- Pages appeared in AI Overviews or AI Mode
- How we use it
- Supporting. Impressions only, no queries, and not on every site yet.
- SupportingGA4 AI Assistant channel
Real, with a real blind spot
- Source
- First-party
- What it proves
- Visits from ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude that arrive with a referrer
- How we use it
- Supporting. Google’s AI features count as organic search here, and apps often drop the referrer.
- SupportingSelf-reported attribution
Signal, with a known bias
- Source
- Third-party
- What it proves
- How customers say they found you
- How we use it
- Corroborates other layers; never the sole basis.
- DirectionalShare-of-voice tools
Directional only
- Source
- Third-party
- What it proves
- Rough trend across sampled prompts
- How we use it
- Color and context; never a headline number.
- OmittedIncrementality
Left out on purpose
- Source
- None
- What it proves
- We haven’t seen a validated method for AI search yet
- How we use it
- We don’t report it.
The through-line
One proof spine, several supporting angles.
- 1
Every report leads with what the server logs show.
- 2
Bing’s and Google’s own AI reports come next where a site has them, then GA4, with its blind spot stated.
- 3
Share-of-voice and self-report round it out as directional and supporting.
Nothing is presented with more confidence than its method supports.
The work
The services these signals measure.
The AI assistant side of the practice. The access-log and share-of-voice rows above are where it shows up.
The brand record platforms check before they name anyone.
Content built to be selected as the answer in Google's answer features.
Pages written at the passage level, which is what the GA4 assistant channel records when an assistant sends someone through.
The social side of the same work: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Reddit search.
FAQ
Questions about measuring AI search visibility
How do you know if my business is showing up in ChatGPT or Perplexity?
We start with server and CDN access logs. They show when OpenAI’s, Perplexity’s or Anthropic’s bots fetch a page, including the fetches that happen when someone asks a live question, and we check each one against the platform’s published IP ranges. Where a site has them, Bing’s AI Performance report and Search Console’s AI reports come next. GA4, share-of-voice tracking and self-reported attribution fill in the rest, each weighted by how much it can prove.
Why don’t you just show me one visibility score?
A single score hides which parts are provable and which are estimates. Share-of-voice tools sample a small set of prompts, and in a January 2026 SparkToro study two answers to the same prompt named the same brands less than 1 time in 100. One number makes that look settled. We show the layers so you can see what’s solid and what’s directional.
Can you tell me exactly how much revenue came from AI search?
No. Isolating incrementality, whether a customer would have bought anyway, is one of the hardest problems in marketing measurement, and we haven’t seen a validated method for AI search yet. We report what the layers show and leave that number out.
What’s the difference between being crawled and being cited?
Crawled means a platform’s bot read the page, which shows up in server logs. Cited means the platform used the page in an answer. A page can be crawled often and cited rarely. Logs prove the first. Bing’s AI Performance report shows the second for Copilot, and share-of-voice tools give a directional read on the rest.
Why does Google Analytics undercount this?
GA4 added an AI Assistant channel in May 2026, and Google has confirmed ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude in it. Visits only land there when they arrive with a referrer, and many app visits don’t. Clicks from Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode are counted as Google organic search. It’s real data, and it’s one part of the picture.
See these layers applied to your own presence.
Apply and this proof spine runs against your own presence as the first cycle. If you want that picture before committing to anything, the Context Map runs the same spine as a fixed-scope diagnostic.