You've heard that AI assistants are recommending products and services to users. You've probably tested it yourself, asked ChatGPT or Perplexity for a recommendation and watched it name-drop brands you recognize.
Then you wondered: is my brand in those responses? For most businesses, the answer is no. Not because the product is bad, but because nobody thought about AI visibility as a channel worth optimizing.
This guide walks you through building an AI visibility strategy from zero. No prior experience needed. No giant budget required. Just a clear process you can execute step by step, even if you're doing this alongside everything else in your business.
Why you need an AI visibility strategy
Let's be clear about what's happening. When someone asks ChatGPT "What's the best invoicing tool for freelancers?" and ChatGPT responds with a list of three tools, those three tools just got a warm endorsement from the most trusted AI assistant in the world.
The businesses that show up in these responses didn't get there by accident. They have content, authority, and positioning that AI can understand and reference.
The businesses that don't show up? They're losing potential customers to competitors who are visible, and they may not even know it.
An AI visibility strategy is simply a plan to become one of the brands AI recommends. Here's how to build one.
Step 1: Understand your current state
You can't improve what you haven't measured.
Test your visibility manually. Go to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Grok, and Claude. Ask each one the high-intent questions your ideal customers would ask:
- "Best [your category] for [your audience]"
- "What [product type] do you recommend for [use case]?"
- "Top [category] tools for [specific need]"
- "[Your brand] vs [competitor]"
Run at least 10-15 different queries across all five platforms. For each one, note:
- Are you mentioned? On which platform(s)?
- Where do you appear in the response? (first mention vs last)
- How does the AI describe you?
- Who appears instead of you?
Record everything in a spreadsheet. This becomes your baseline, the "before" snapshot you'll measure progress against.
Not sure what content to create next? The free content opportunity finder analyzes what topics AI models explore in your niche and suggests gaps you can fill. For ongoing tracking, Mentionable automates visibility monitoring across all five AI platforms. But even a manual baseline is valuable if you're just getting started.
Step 2: Identify your target prompts
Not every AI query matters for your business. You need to focus on the ones that drive purchasing decisions.
Think about the buyer's journey. Someone asking "What is email marketing?" is curious. Someone asking "Best email marketing tool for e-commerce stores" is ready to buy. You want to show up for the second type.
Build your prompt list. Write down every relevant query relevant to your business. Think about:
- Different audience segments: "best [tool] for freelancers" vs "best [tool] for agencies"
- Different use cases: "best [tool] for email automation" vs "best [tool] for newsletters"
- Different buying criteria: "most affordable [tool]" vs "easiest [tool] to use"
- Competitor comparisons: "[your brand] vs [competitor]" and "[competitor] alternatives"
Prioritize. You can't win every query. Pick the 10-15 highest-value prompts, the ones that, if you won them, would drive real business. These are your priority targets.
Step 3: Audit your existing content
Take your priority prompts and ask: does my website have content that directly addresses each one?
For each prompt, evaluate:
Does relevant content exist? Many businesses discover they have no content at all for their most important relevant queries. They have blog posts about industry trends but nothing about "best [tool] for [audience]."
Is the content direct enough? AI needs clear, explicit answers. If your content sort of addresses the topic but never clearly states who your tool is for and why, AI won't extract a recommendation from it.
Is it deep enough? Thin content, 300 words and done, doesn't earn AI citations. AI prefers comprehensive, authoritative sources.
Is it structured well? Clear headings, FAQ sections, comparison tables, and numbered lists help AI extract information. Walls of text make it harder.
Is it current? Outdated content with old screenshots, wrong pricing, or dead links actively hurts your credibility.
Score each piece of content and categorize: strong, needs improvement, or missing entirely. This gives you a clear picture of your content gaps.
Step 4: Create and improve content
Based on your audit, you'll have three types of work:
Fix what's fixable
Content that exists but needs improvement is your highest-ROI target. Common fixes:
- Add a clear, direct answer near the top of the page
- Expand thin content with examples, data, and specifics
- Restructure with clear headings that match user questions
- Update outdated information
- Add FAQ sections
Fill the gaps
For prompts with no content at all, create new pieces. Each piece should:
- Directly address the specific relevant query
- Provide a clear recommendation or answer
- Include enough depth to be genuinely useful (1,500+ words for guides)
- Be structured for easy AI extraction (headings, lists, tables)
- Be honest, including competitor acknowledgment where relevant
Build comparison and alternative content
This content type is especially high-value for AI visibility:
- "[Your brand] vs [Competitor]" pages
- "Best [category] for [audience]" roundups
- "[Competitor] alternatives" pages
- Use-case specific pages ("Our tool for [audience]")
Be honest in comparisons. AI can detect (and users will spot) one-sided content. Acknowledge competitor strengths while clearly explaining where you're different.
Step 5: Build external authority signals
Your website content is only part of the equation. AI also considers what the rest of the web says about you.
Reviews. Get listed and reviewed on platforms relevant to your industry. For SaaS, that's G2, Capterra, Product Hunt. For services, Google Reviews, Trustpilot. For e-commerce, Amazon reviews and industry-specific review sites. Actively ask happy customers for reviews.
Third-party mentions. Pursue guest posts, podcast appearances, and press coverage. Each mention on an external site strengthens the signal that your brand is credible and relevant.
Backlinks. Quality links from authoritative sites in your industry remain one of the strongest trust signals. Create content worth linking to: original research, comprehensive guides, useful tools.
Social presence. Maintain an active presence on relevant social platforms, especially X (for Grok visibility) and LinkedIn (for professional credibility). Share useful content about your industry, not just promotional material.
Consistent branding. Make sure your brand name, description, and positioning are identical across every platform: your website, social profiles, business directories, review sites. Inconsistency confuses AI.
Step 6: Track and iterate
AI visibility isn't a project with an end date. It's an ongoing practice.
Monitor regularly. Check your AI visibility monthly at minimum. Which prompts are you winning? Which are you losing? Has anything changed?
Watch competitors. Who's appearing in your place? What are they doing that you're not? Competitor movements often reveal what AI platforms are currently prioritizing.
Update content. Refresh key pages quarterly. Update statistics, fix outdated claims, add new examples. Fresh content signals relevance.
Experiment. Try different content formats, angles, and approaches. When something works, do more of it. When something doesn't, investigate why and adjust.
Mentionable handles the tracking automatically, monitoring your visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Grok, and Claude and alerting you when things change. This frees you to spend your time on the content and authority work that actually moves results.
Your monthly time commitment
Be realistic. This doesn't require full-time attention, but it does require consistent effort.
Month 1 (heavier lift): 10-15 hours total
- Baseline audit: 2-3 hours
- Prompt research and prioritization: 2-3 hours
- Content audit: 2-3 hours
- Initial content improvements: 4-6 hours
Ongoing monthly: 5-8 hours
- Content creation or improvement: 3-5 hours
- Review and authority building: 1-2 hours
- Monitoring and analysis: 1 hour
That's roughly one to two hours per week. For a channel that increasingly influences purchasing decisions, it's a worthwhile investment.
Common mistakes beginners make
Trying to be everywhere at once. Focus on 10-15 key prompts, not 100. Depth on a few queries beats surface presence on many.
Writing for AI instead of for people. AI recommends content that's genuinely useful to humans. Write for your audience first. Structure for AI second.
Expecting overnight results. Meaningful visibility improvements typically take 2-4 months of consistent effort. The work compounds, but it takes time.
Only optimizing your website. External signals (reviews, mentions, backlinks) matter as much as your own content. Don't neglect the off-site work.
Setting and forgetting. AI responses change as models update and competitors improve. Regular monitoring and iteration keep you competitive.
What to do right now
Open ChatGPT and ask it for a recommendation in your category. Note what it says.
Then do the same on Perplexity, Gemini, Grok, and Claude.
You just completed the first step. You know where you stand.
The next step is building the plan: identify your target prompts, audit your content, and start filling the gaps. Every piece of content you improve, every review you earn, every mention you build adds to your AI visibility.
Start small, stay consistent, and track your progress. That's all it takes.
