Article · · Updated: · 8 min read
Free AI visibility checker and other GEO tools: how to see if ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity name your business
In short
A free AI visibility checker shows in about a minute whether an AI assistant names your business for a customer's question and what to fix first. To measure AI visibility, check four things: whether assistants name you for your customers' questions, whether the facts about you are right, which sources they cite, and whether AI crawlers can read your site. A manual check or a free tool answers this for a small business; paid GEO trackers make sense when you need daily numbers across many questions. Google counts AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic inside the normal Search Console report.
GEO tools answer one question: do AI assistants name your business when a customer asks, and is what they say correct? There are five ways to find out, from a free ten-minute check to paid trackers that ask hundreds of questions a day. Here is what each one shows, what it costs in time, and which one a small business needs.
Related service GEO & AI search — from $1,000/moSEO services — from $500/mo
Figures and sources
-
1 report
Google: traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is included in the Search Console Performance report, under the "Web" search type; there is no separate report
Source: Google Search Central — AI features and your website
-
27 checks
in the free Veilvex AI visibility check: an AI answer to your customer's question, Google positions and the basics of the site, including blocked AI crawlers
-
3 bots
OpenAI alone uses three bots (OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, GPTBot), so a crawler log tells you which job each visit was for
In this article10
01What to measure
- Mentions: for how many of your customers' questions the assistant names you, and in which position.
- Accuracy: whether your name, services, prices, address and contacts are stated correctly.
- Sources: which sites the assistant cites when it names you or your competitors. These are the places worth being in.
- Access: whether the search bots of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google, Bing and Yandex can read your site.
- Traffic: visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and similar sites in your analytics.
021. A manual check (free, 10 minutes)
Write down five questions your customers really ask: "who does [service] in [city]", "how much does [service] cost in [city]", "[your brand] reviews". Ask each of them in ChatGPT with search on, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot, in a new chat without your account. Note who was named, in which order, and which sources were shown.
Repeat once a month with the same questions. Answers vary from run to run, so look at the trend across several questions, not at one answer.
032. A free automatic check
Our free AI visibility check does the manual check in about a minute: it asks an AI assistant your customer's question, shows whether your business is named and who is named instead, checks your positions in Google for the main queries and runs the basics on your site, including whether AI crawlers are blocked. You get a score out of 100 and a list of what to fix first, and you can share the report by link.
04Two kinds of free AI visibility checkers
Free checkers answer one of two different questions, so look at which one a tool answers before you trust its score.
- Site readiness: can AI crawlers reach and read your site — robots.txt, bot protection, page structure, structured data. A good score here means assistants are able to quote you, not that they do.
- Brand mentions: does an assistant actually name your business when asked a customer's question, who is named instead and which sources are cited. This is what customers see.
| What to check in a free tool | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Does it test mentions, readiness or both? | Readiness alone cannot tell you whether assistants recommend you |
| Can you enter your own customer question? | A generic prompt may not match how your customers really ask |
| Which assistants does it ask? | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews can name different businesses |
| Does it need an account or a work email? | Affects how quickly you can repeat the check next month |
| Can you repeat it and share the report? | GEO is judged by the trend over several runs, not one answer |
Our free AI visibility check covers both kinds in one report: an AI answer to your customer's question, your Google positions for the main queries and the site basics, including blocked AI crawlers.
053. Paid GEO trackers
Trackers ask an assistant hundreds of questions on a schedule and chart your share of mentions against competitors over time. Examples of products in this category: Otterly.AI, Peec AI, Profound, the AI features in Semrush and Ahrefs. They differ in which assistants and countries they cover and in price, so compare them on your own list of questions.
A tracker makes sense when you already work on GEO and need weekly numbers for many products or cities. For a single local business a monthly manual check usually gives the same picture.
064. AI crawler logs
Server logs show which bots read your pages: OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot, Googlebot, Bingbot, YandexBot. If a search bot never visits, the assistant cannot quote you. Some CDN and hosting dashboards, for example Cloudflare, show AI crawler visits without reading raw logs.
Check robots.txt and your bot protection at the same time: they are the most common reason why a search bot gets no access.
075. Traffic from AI assistants
In your analytics, look at referrals from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com and claude.ai. Google counts visits from AI Overviews and AI Mode inside the normal Search Console Performance report, under the "Web" search type, so they do not appear as a separate line.
Many people read the AI answer and then search for your name or call you, without clicking. So a rise in branded searches and calls after GEO work counts too.
08What your result means and what to do next
A check is only useful if you know what to do with the result. These are the seven results people get most often:
| What the check shows | Likely reason | First step |
|---|---|---|
| You are not named, and the assistant names nobody | Few sources on the web cover your niche or area, or the question is too narrow | Ask a broader version of the question; say on your site, in plain words, what you do and where you work |
| Competitors are named, you are not | The sources the assistant cites mention them and not you | Open the cited sources and check whether you are listed there with correct details (where AI answers come from) |
| You are named, but the facts are wrong (prices, address, services) | Old or conflicting details on your site, in maps and directories | Fix the facts on your site first, then the same facts in maps and directories |
| You are named only when the question includes your brand | The assistant knows the brand but does not link it to the service | One page per service: what, for whom, where, price from |
| The assistant confuses you with a company with a similar name | A similar name and few facts that tell you apart | The same full name, domain, service description and contacts everywhere |
| The check flags blocked AI crawlers | robots.txt or bot protection blocks OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or other search bots | Allow search bots in robots.txt and check the bot settings of your CDN |
| You are named correctly for most questions | The basics work | Repeat the same questions monthly and watch the trend |
If several rows apply to you, send us the link to your check report: we give an exact estimate after a 15-minute brief.
09Which tool you need
| Situation | Enough to start |
|---|---|
| One location, a few services | A manual check monthly plus the free check |
| Several cities or many products | A paid tracker with your own list of questions |
| Not sure the site is readable for AI at all | The free check and a look at robots.txt and crawler logs |
Measuring is the easy part. If the check shows gaps you do not want to fix alone, the work itself is described in How to get ChatGPT to recommend your business, and our GEO service starts at $1,000 a month. Send us your site and three questions your customers ask, and we will tell you what we see.
10Frequently asked questions
Is there a free tool to check if ChatGPT recommends my business?
Yes. Ask ChatGPT yourself in a new chat with search on, without logging in, or use our free AI visibility check: it asks an AI assistant your customer's question and shows whether your business is named and who is named instead.
Why do I get a different answer every time?
Assistants generate each answer anew and search the web at that moment. That is why GEO is measured over several questions and several runs, not by one answer.
Does Google Search Console show AI Overviews separately?
No. Google includes AI Overviews and AI Mode in the overall Performance report under the "Web" search type.
Do I need a paid GEO tracker?
Not to start. A tracker helps when you work on many products or cities and need weekly numbers. A small business can start with a monthly manual check and the free check.
What should I do if ChatGPT names my competitors but not me?
First make sure robots.txt and bot protection do not block OAI-SearchBot and the other search bots. Then compare what the web says about you and about the named competitors: on the sites, in maps, directories and reviews. Start where they have clear, checkable facts and you do not.
What is the difference between an AI readiness check and an AI mention check?
A readiness check tests whether AI crawlers can read your site. A mention check asks an assistant a real customer question and shows whether you are named. You need both: a readable site is the condition, a mention is the result.
What can a free AI visibility checker not show?
One run is a snapshot: answers change from day to day, between assistants and between cities. A free check shows where you stand and what to fix first; a trend needs the same questions repeated monthly, by hand, with the free check or with a paid tracker.
Want us to do this for you?
Tell us about the task: after a 15-minute brief we name the plan, timeline and price.