How To Use Your AI Visibility Report

Prefer video? See how to run an AI visibility audit here:

If you're reading this article from an AI Visibility Report link, you've just taken a significant step towards growing your company's presence in ChatGPT and other AI platforms. But if you looked at all that data and weren't sure where to start, this guide is for you.

Spyglasses' AI Visibility Report is designed to give you an answer to six key questions:

1. Is what AI 'knows' about my brand accurate? Would someone asking about our brand in an AI chat get the same answer as they would by browsing our website?
2. Is our brand featured when users enter the types of prompts that indicate they're looking for our brand? This is also known as share of voice.
3. What searches do AI models perform to answer questions about my industry, and where do I have gaps vs competitors?
4. Which third-party sources are citing my competitors but not me? This is your PR outreach punchlist for earning AI citations.
5. How often should I be monitoring this data, and how long does it take to see results?
6. If there are errors in how AI portrays the brand or we're not being recommended, how do I fix that?

This guide walks you through how to read the report to answer all of these questions.

Brand Consistency

When you run a Spyglasses AI Visibility Report we use a crawler based on the same technology that ChatGPT and other tools use when they browse your site in a chat. We fetch your site's homepage, and we look for up to five other key pages. We use a tool to extract just the critical information from these pages, and generate a brand snapshot using the data we find. The brand snapshot covers:

• Tagline (if you have one)
• Pricing model (for online businesses this might be a subscription but for a local restaurant it would be "menu"
• Category (e.g. "Digital Marketing Agency, "Korean Restaurant", "Automaker")
• Target Audience
• Key Features
• Problems Solved
• Differentiators

We also report any specific pricing if we find it, and we identify up to 20 competitors (With a free Spyglasses account you can manage these).

We take this brand snapshot and query four AI providers to ask them what they know about the brand. Since all major AI providers; ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google Gemini, can browse the web as part of a chat, we query each of them twice; once with web browsing allowed and once without. This will tell you what the AI 'knows' about your brand in its training data vs. what it can learn in real time. If you are a newer company, don't be surprised if you are not in the AI training data yet! Mostly what you want to know is how accurately it communicates about your brand when it can browse the web to find information.

For each of these eight queries we do a comparison of the snapshot with what AI tells us. This generates a consistency score. Unlocked reports can see the specific details, but the score will always be visible.

For each AI, we average the score with and without web browsing to give you a platform average. We then average these to give you a brand consistency score. Higher scores mean your site is being described accurately in AI.

Discovery Queries and Share of Voice

Over 40% of people who use AI use it for product research, and that share is increasing rapidly. When they search for the service, solution, or products you provide, does AI mention you, or your competitors?

A Spyglasses AI Visibility Report can answer that question. Using your brand snapshot we generate five prompts that your prospects are likely to use when searching for your solution. If your company makes project management software, a Discovery Query might be "What software helps with managing project deadlines and team accountability?". For a Chinese restaurant in Santa Clara it might be "Top rated Chinese restaurants near Santa Clara, California, US". An AI Visibility report is guaranteed to have at least five queries from these categories:

• Best in Category ("What are the best [category] [service/solution/product] for [customer/use case]?"
• Use Case Exploration ("What [service/solution/product] helps with [use case]?")
• Budget Constrained ("Affordable [service/solution/product] under [budget range]")
• Comparison ("Compare different [service/solution/product] for [use case]")
• Segment Specific ("Best [business type] for [target customer segment"]
• Local Services ("[Business type] near [location]")
• Local Comparison ("Compare [business type] in [location]")
• Local Reviews ("Top rated" or "Best Reviewed"...)

We automatically generate these based on your brand snapshot, but with a free Spyglasses account you can customize these and run up to ten per report.

For each query we run it against our four AI targets. We track mentions of your brand and competitors in each, including where you are ranked compared to competitors:

We count mentions in each AI response to give you a share of voice for that query, and then we total these to give you an overall share of voice vs. competitors. A higher number of brand mentions and citations, as well as a higher share of voice, mean you're being featured more often in AI for these key prompts.

Google AI Overviews

For Google searches, we capture Google's AI Overview (if one appears) along with the top organic search results. This shows you:

• Whether an AI Overview appears for your discovery query
• If your brand is mentioned in the AI Overview
• Where you and your competitors rank in the organic results

This is particularly valuable because Google AI Overviews are becoming a major source of zero-click traffic, and understanding your visibility here helps you optimize for both traditional and AI-powered search.

AI Grounding Searches

One of the most actionable parts of your AI Visibility Report is the AI Grounding Searches section. When AI models like ChatGPT answer questions, they often perform "fan-out" searches to find current information. These grounding searches are the actual queries the AI runs against Google and Bing to inform its responses.

Why this matters: If you rank well for these grounding searches, you're more likely to be cited and recommended by AI. This creates a direct connection between traditional SEO and AI visibility.

Your report shows:

• Total Searches: The number of grounding searches AI performed across all discovery queries
• Gaps: Searches where your competitors rank but you don't — these are your biggest opportunities
• Top Impact Score: A prioritization score that helps you focus on the highest-value opportunities

For each gap opportunity, we show:

• The exact search query the AI performed
• Which discovery queries triggered this search (so you know the user intent)
• Your competitors' ranking positions in Google and Bing
• An impact score based on frequency and competitor coverage

How to use this data: Focus on the highest-impact gaps first. Create content that targets these specific searches. Since these are the exact queries AI models use to find information, ranking for them directly improves your AI visibility and share of voice.

Citation Intelligence: Your PR Outreach Punchlist

Beyond what AI "knows" in its training data, AI models cite third-party sources to support their answers. When ChatGPT, Perplexity, or other AI tools recommend a product or service, they often back up that recommendation by citing news articles, listicles, and industry publications.

Your AI Visibility Report includes a Citation Intelligence section that identifies where competitors are being cited — and where you're not. This creates a targeted outreach list for your PR and communications team.

Understanding Citation Types

The report categorizes citations into actionable groups:

• Listicles & Rankings: "Best of" lists, comparison roundups, and ranking articles. These are often the easiest wins because authors actively update them and are open to including new entries.
• Major Media Outlets: High-authority news sites and industry publications. Harder to get into, but extremely valuable for AI visibility.
• Review Sites & Directories: Platforms like G2, Capterra, and industry-specific directories that AI models frequently cite.

How to Use This Data

For each citation gap, the report shows:

• The specific publication or website citing your competitors
• The type of content (listicle, news article, review, etc.)
• Which competitors are being mentioned
• A direct link to the content for easy outreach

Your action plan:

1. Start with listicles — Contact the authors of "best of" lists where competitors appear. Provide compelling reasons for inclusion: unique features, customer success stories, or exclusive insights.
2. Build media relationships — For major media outlets, develop newsworthy stories and expert commentary that journalists can reference.
3. Claim directory listings — Ensure your profiles on review sites and directories are complete, accurate, and optimized for the keywords AI uses.

How often should I monitor this data?

Measuring your AI visibility too often isn't useful and can be a giant waste of money. You should treat this data as directional and use an AI Traffic Analytics tool as your measure of how effective your AI SEO efforts are. Run an AI Visibility Report when:

1. You make a significant change to your website content and want to know how your rankings have changed. Use Spyglasses Recrawl Frequency feature to see how often search engines pick up your content so you know how long after your update to expect to see improvements.
2. When AI companies update their underlying models. This happens about every six weeks. Here you'll be looking for indications that AI is describing you more accurately even without web browsing (or describing you at all).

By only running these reports when you need them you'll be able to track improvements to your site without adding another expensive subscription to your budget.

How do I improve my scores?

Your AI Visibility Report includes actionable recommendations organized by the team best positioned to implement them. Here's how to approach each area:

For Your SEO Team: Target Grounding Search Gaps

Your AI Grounding Searches section shows you the exact queries AI models use to find information. The gap opportunities are where competitors rank but you don't — these are your highest-priority SEO targets.

For each high-impact gap:

1. Create comprehensive content that directly answers the search query
2. Optimize for traditional SEO — AI models pull from Google and Bing's top results
3. Build authoritative backlinks to that content
4. Monitor your rankings — as you climb into the top 10, you'll see increased AI citations

This is often the fastest path to improving AI visibility because you're targeting the specific searches that AI already uses to inform its responses.

For Your PR/Comms Team: Work the Outreach Punchlist

The Citation Intelligence section identifies third-party sources where competitors are cited but you're not. These are your PR targets:

1. Start with listicles — Authors of "best of" lists are often open to including new entries. Contact them with compelling reasons for inclusion.
2. Pursue major media — Develop newsworthy angles for high-authority outlets. Expert commentary, original research, and industry insights get coverage.
3. Claim your directory listings — Complete your profiles on G2, Capterra, and industry-specific directories that AI frequently cites.

The key insight: AI models cite these sources to back up their recommendations. Getting mentioned on listicles and in news articles directly improves how often AI recommends you.

For Your Marketing Team: Fix Brand Consistency

Your brand consistency score measures how accurately AI describes your company. If AI is getting details wrong, your marketing team should:

1. Audit your website content — Ensure your homepage and key pages clearly communicate your category, value proposition, and differentiators
2. Update third-party profiles — Inconsistent information across LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and other platforms confuses AI models
3. Build consistent mentions — Create content and earn coverage that reinforces your correct positioning

For Your Development Team: Fix Technical Issues

Make sure none of your content needs JavaScript enabled to render (AI crawlers do not use JavaScript), and your load times are fast. Priority fixes include:

1. Schema markup — Implement Organization, Product, and FAQ structured data
2. Page structure — Use clear headings and lead with direct answers
3. Performance — Ensure fast load times and mobile responsiveness

Our AI Visibility Optimization Implementation Guide has a complete checklist you can follow.

Platform-specific improvements

Each AI platform has a different user base and different strengths and weaknesses. They also have very different user counts, so if you aren't in a position to optimize for all of them, focus just on ChatGPT which has about 85% of the AI chat market.

Use the below details to identify the platforms that are relevant to your audience. Each platform links to a dedicated implementation guide.

• ChatGPT: Best for businesses looking to get in front of the broadest number of B2B and B2C buyers
• Google AI Overviews: Google is still the king of traditional search, and Gemini is baked into Google's Business products
• Claude: Best for developer-focused products and workflows
• Perplexity: Valuable for research-heavy industries
• Microsoft Copilot: For B2B companies using Microsoft 365