How to Audit Your Brand's AI Presence

You can't improve what you don't measure. Before building an AEO strategy, you need to understand your current state: how AI platforms mention your brand, how you compare to competitors, and where gaps exist.

This guide will walk you through conducting a comprehensive AI brand audit—manually or with tools—so you know exactly where you stand.

Why Audit Your AI Presence?

An AI brand audit reveals:

• Visibility: Are you mentioned at all in relevant queries?
• Accuracy: Does AI describe your product correctly?
• Sentiment: Is the tone positive, neutral, or negative?
• Positioning: How do you compare to competitors?
• Coverage: Which platforms know about you and which don't?

Without this baseline, you're flying blind. You might be losing deals to competitors in AI responses without even knowing it.

The 5 AI Platforms to Test

Your audit should cover all major AI platforms:

1. ChatGPT (OpenAI) - Largest user base
2. Claude (Anthropic) - Growing professional audience
3. Perplexity - Research-focused with web citations
4. Grok (xAI) - Real-time, X-integrated
5. Gemini (Google) - Google ecosystem integration

Each platform has different training data and retrieval methods, so they'll describe your brand differently.

Step 1: Prepare Your Test Queries

Before testing, prepare a list of queries organized by type:

Direct Brand Queries

• "What is [Your Brand]?"
• "Tell me about [Your Brand]"
• "What does [Your Brand] do?"

These test if AI knows your brand exists and can describe it accurately.

Category Queries

• "Best [product category] tools"
• "Top [industry] solutions for [use case]"
• "[Category] for [customer type]"

These test if AI mentions you when users research your category.

Comparison Queries

• "[Your Brand] vs [Competitor]"
• "Compare [Your Brand] and [Competitor]"
• "Should I use [Your Brand] or [Competitor]?"

These test how AI positions you against competitors.

Use Case Queries

• "How to [solve specific problem]"
• "Best tool for [specific use case]"
• "[Industry] solution for [pain point]"

These test if AI recommends you for specific scenarios.

Feature Queries

• "Tools with [specific feature]"
• "[Category] with [integration/capability]"
• "Best [product] for [technical requirement]"

These test if AI knows your feature set.

Pro tip: Create 3-5 variations of each query type. AI responses can vary based on exact wording.

Step 2: Test Each Platform

For each AI platform, systematically run your queries and document the results.

What to Record

For each response, note:

1. Mention Status

   • ✅ Mentioned
   • ❌ Not mentioned
   • 📝 Mentioned incorrectly

2. Position (if mentioned)

   • #1, #2, #3, etc.
   • First paragraph vs later in response

3. Description Quality

   • Accurate features?
   • Correct pricing tier?
   • Proper use cases?
   • Any errors or outdated info?

4. Sentiment

   • Positive: Recommended, praised
   • Neutral: Listed without judgment
   • Negative: Criticized, warned against

5. Competitor Comparison

   • Which competitors mentioned?
   • How are you positioned relative to them?
   • Who gets more detail/emphasis?

Example Documentation

| Query | Platform | Mentioned? | Position | Sentiment | Notes | |-------|----------|------------|----------|-----------|-------| | "Best project mgmt tools" | ChatGPT | ✅ Yes | #4 | Neutral | Listed after Asana, Monday, Trello | | "Best project mgmt tools" | Claude | ✅ Yes | #2 | Positive | Called "intuitive for small teams" | | "Best project mgmt tools" | Perplexity | ❌ No | - | - | Only mentioned enterprise tools | | "Notion vs Asana" | ChatGPT | ✅ Yes | Equal | Neutral | Fair comparison, accurate | | "Notion vs Asana" | Grok | ✅ Yes | Favorable | Positive | Emphasized Notion's flexibility |

Step 3: Analyze the Results

After testing all platforms, look for patterns:

Coverage Analysis

Calculate your mention rate:

• Total queries tested: 25
• Queries where you were mentioned: 18
• Mention rate: 72%

Benchmark: Strong AEO typically means 85-95% mention rate for relevant queries.

Platform Comparison

Compare performance across platforms:

| Platform | Mention Rate | Avg Position | Sentiment | |----------|--------------|--------------|-----------| | ChatGPT | 80% | 3.2 | Neutral | | Claude | 75% | 2.8 | Positive | | Perplexity | 65% | 4.1 | Neutral | | Grok | 70% | 3.5 | Positive | | Gemini | 85% | 2.1 | Positive |

This reveals which platforms need the most AEO work.

Competitor Positioning

For each major competitor, calculate:

• How often they appear alongside you
• Their average position vs yours
• Sentiment comparison

Example finding: "Competitor X appears in 90% of the same queries as us, but averages position #2 vs our #4."

Gap Analysis

Identify specific weaknesses:

• Missing categories: Which query types never mention you?
• Outdated info: What incorrect details appear repeatedly?
• Weak use cases: Which scenarios favor competitors?
• Feature gaps: Which capabilities does AI not know you have?

Step 4: Compare to Competitors

Don't just audit yourself—audit your top 3-5 competitors using the same queries.

This reveals:

• Who has the strongest overall AEO
• Which competitors dominate specific query types
• What language AI uses to describe market leaders
• How you're positioned relative to the category

Key insight: If a competitor is mentioned 95% of the time and you're at 65%, that's a 30-point AEO gap to close.

Step 5: Document Opportunity Areas

Based on your audit, create an AEO opportunity map:

High-Priority Fixes

• Queries where you should be mentioned but aren't
• Factual errors that appear repeatedly
• Categories where competitors dominate

Medium-Priority Improvements

• Queries where you're mentioned but ranked low
• Use cases where positioning could be stronger
• Platforms with below-average performance

Low-Priority Enhancements

• Queries where you already perform well
• Refinements to already-accurate descriptions
• Sentiment improvements where you're already neutral/positive

Step 6: Create Your Baseline Dashboard

Set up a simple tracking dashboard to monitor over time:

Metrics to Track Monthly:

• Overall mention rate across all platforms
• Average position when mentioned
• Sentiment breakdown (% positive/neutral/negative)
• Mention rate by platform
• Comparison vs top 3 competitors

Example Dashboard Layout:

MONTH: January 2026

Overall Metrics:
- Mention Rate: 72% (↑ 5% from Dec)
- Avg Position: 3.4 (↓ 0.3 from Dec)
- Positive Sentiment: 45%

Platform Performance:
- ChatGPT: 80% mentions, #3.2 avg
- Claude: 75% mentions, #2.8 avg
- Perplexity: 65% mentions, #4.1 avg
...

Competitor Comparison:
- Us: 72% mention rate
- Competitor A: 88% (gap: -16%)
- Competitor B: 65% (gap: +7%)

This makes it easy to spot trends and measure improvement.

Automating Your Audit with Tools

Manual auditing is time-consuming and hard to scale. For comprehensive monitoring, consider tools like Orbilo that:

• Run tests automatically across all platforms
• Track changes over time
• Alert you to significant shifts
• Monitor competitor performance
• Generate sentiment scores
• Identify new brand discoveries

Time savings: Manual audit = 8-12 hours per month. Automated monitoring = continuous, real-time insights.

Common Audit Findings

Here's what typical audits reveal:

Finding #1: Platform Inconsistency

"ChatGPT knows us well, but Perplexity rarely mentions us."

Why: Different training data and retrieval methods. Perplexity relies more on real-time web content.

Fix: Improve your web presence and earned media coverage.

Finding #2: Outdated Information

"AI describes our old pricing model from 2 years ago."

Why: AI training data has a lag. Older information may be more prevalent in training sets.

Fix: Create authoritative, up-to-date content that AI can reference.

Finding #3: Strong Category, Weak Use Cases

"We're mentioned for general 'project management' but not for our specialty: 'remote team collaboration.'"

Why: Limited association between your brand and specific use cases.

Fix: Create content explicitly connecting your brand to those use cases.

Finding #4: Competitor Always Mentioned First

"When AI lists tools, Competitor X is always #1, we're always #4."

Why: Stronger information ecosystem and brand authority signals.

Fix: Build authoritative content, earn quality media mentions, strengthen category leadership.

What to Do After Your Audit

Armed with audit results, you can:

1. Set AEO Goals

   • Target mention rates by platform
   • Desired positioning vs competitors
   • Timeline for improvements

2. Prioritize Improvements

   • Focus on high-impact, low-hanging fruit first
   • Address factual errors immediately
   • Build long-term content strategy for weak areas

3. Build Your AEO Strategy

   • Content creation plan
   • PR and media outreach
   • Information ecosystem development
   • Monitoring and measurement cadence

4. Track Progress

   • Re-run audit monthly or quarterly
   • Measure improvement against baseline
   • Adjust strategy based on results

Your Audit Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure a thorough audit:

• [ ] Prepared 15-25 test queries across 5 types
• [ ] Tested all 5 major AI platforms
• [ ] Documented mention rate, position, sentiment for each
• [ ] Analyzed patterns and identified gaps
• [ ] Audited top 3-5 competitors
• [ ] Created baseline metrics dashboard
• [ ] Documented specific improvement opportunities
• [ ] Set AEO goals and priorities

Next Steps

Now that you understand your current AI brand presence:

• How to Improve Your Brand's AI Mentions - Actionable tactics for better AEO
• AEO for SaaS Companies - Industry-specific strategies
• What is Answer Engine Optimization? - Understand the fundamentals

Want continuous AI brand monitoring without the manual work? Start tracking with Orbilo to get automated audits across all major platforms.