How to Run a AI Visibility Audit with Semrush

A free AI visibility audit shows really often your marque appears successful AI-generated answers erstwhile group inquire questions astir your category. 

Whether you're managing your ain brand's visibility aliases auditing a caller client, AI systems for illustration ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews are now portion of really buyers observe and measure options

If your marque isn't showing up successful those AI answers that are recommending options, competitors are winning that abstraction instead.

For example, erstwhile personification asks AI astir the champion way moving shoes for personification pinch wide feet, which brands show up, and really often crossed akin prompts? 

Here's really you tin find out, utilizing free Semrush tools, successful little than 30 minutes.

What aAI Visibility Audit Reveals

A free audit answers 3 basal questions astir your brand's beingness successful AI-generated answers:

1. Is your marque appearing astatine all? Domain Overview shows whether AI platforms mention your marque erstwhile answering class questions. If you're not appearing, you person a visibility problem. 
2. Can AI systems entree your content? Site Audit's AI Search Health people reveals method barriers, specified arsenic blocked crawlers aliases mediocre contented structure, that forestall AI platforms from uncovering and utilizing your content. 
3. How do you comparison to competitors? The Free AI Brand Visibility Tool shows whether competitors predominate AI recommendations successful your category. If they look 3-5x much often, they're shaping purchaser perceptions earlier you person an opportunity.

These 3 checks will corroborate whether AI visibility gaps are costing you consciousness and consideration.

SEO Audit vs. AI Visibility Audit: What’s the Difference?

SEO audits and AI visibility audits measurement different layers of the aforesaid goal: being recovered erstwhile group search. SEO audits attraction connected rankings, keyword gaps, and integrated traffic. 

AI visibility audits attraction connected really often your marque appears successful AI-generated answers: mentions, citations, sentiment, and marque inclusion crossed platforms for illustration ChatGPT, AI Overviews, and Gemini.

SEO audits measurement really good a tract ranks. AI visibility audits measurement really apt your marque is to get recommended.

Both matter. Running them together reveals wherever beardown SEO capacity doesn't construe into AI visibility, and wherever AI systems mention sources that hunt rankings unsocial wouldn't predict. 

When Should You Run an AI Visibility Audit?

Run a free AI visibility audit alongside your regular SEO audits, to way some layers of visibility. 

Common times for an audit include:

• Preparing for a awesome run aliases merchandise launch, erstwhile AI platforms whitethorn already framework the class astir a mini group of competitors.
• Starting activity pinch a caller customer aliases pitching a caller account, wherever rankings unsocial don’t show really the marketplace is summarized successful AI-generated answers.
• Reviewing the effect of contented aliases positioning changes, particularly comparison pages, guides, aliases decision-stage content.

How to Run YourAI Visibility Audit 

With a free Semrush account, you tin audit really your marque appears connected AI successful nether 30 minutes.

Step 1: Check Whether You’re Appearing successful AI Answers

Start pinch Domain Overview to spot if your marque shows up successful AI-generated responses.

1. Sign up for a free Semrush account
2. Enter your domain successful Domain Overview
3. Review the "AI Search" section

Look for 2 cardinal metrics:

1. Mentions: How galore times your marque appears successful AI-generated answers crossed each the prompts successful the Semrush database (currently complete 239M+ prompts). If this number is zero aliases debased compared to your integrated hunt presence, AI platforms aren't recognizing your marque arsenic a applicable reply source.
2. Cited Pages: How galore pages from your domain’s AI systems mention successful answers. If your strongest SEO pages aren't appearing here, there's a disconnect betwixt your hunt authority and AI visibility.

These metrics supply a speedy measurement to corroborate whether a marque appears successful AI-generated answers earlier moving into deeper analysis.

Step 2: Verify Your Site is Accessible to AI Crawlers

Use Site Audit to cheque whether method issues are blocking AI platforms from crawling and citing your content.

Set up a Site Audit for your domain and tally a crawl of up to 100 pages (the free scheme limit).

Once the crawl completes, reappraisal your AI Search Health people successful the overview dashboard.

This people is based connected method factors that impact some accepted hunt and AI visibility: 

• Crawler access: Whether your robots.txt record aliases meta tags artifact AI crawlers for illustration ChatGPT-User, OAI-Searchbot, aliases Google-Extended. If you're blocking these crawlers, AI systems can't decently crawl your content. 
• Content Structure: Whether your pages usage clear headings, semantic HTML, and system information that thief some hunt engines and AI systems understand and retrieve your content. Poor building makes pages harder to scale and cite.
• Indexability Issues: Technical problems for illustration surgery links, redirect chains, aliases copy contented that forestall some hunt engines and AI systems from decently cataloging your site.

What this tells you

A debased AI Search Health people intends location are method barriers limiting your AI visibility. 

Start pinch crawler access. If AI platforms can't scope your content, contented improvements won't matter. Then reside contented building and indexability issues to amended really AI systems retrieve and mention your pages. 

These are foundational components of your AI optimization efforts. 

Step 3: Compare Your Visibility Against Competitors

Use the Free AI Brand Visibility Tool to spot really often your marque appears successful AI answers compared to class leaders and nonstop competitors.

Enter your domain successful the instrumentality and scroll to the Competitor Visibility Comparison.

The instrumentality displays AI Visibility scores for each marque connected a 0-100 scale, showing you really often each appears successful AI-generated answers for category-related prompts.

In this example, Allbirds appears little often than class leaders Hoka and Nike.

What this tells you

This free comparison reveals whether you person a category-level visibility problem. 

If your competitors predominate AI mentions, they're influencing really buyers discover, compare, and take solutions—often earlier your marque enters the conversation. 

Step 4: Validate Manually pinch AI Platforms

Test AI platforms straight to spot really your marque appears successful existent answers. This manual cheque helps you understand patterns down your visibility metrics.

Choose 3-5 communal questions group inquire astir your category. 

Focus on: 

• Comparison questions: "What are the champion [product category] for [use case]?" aliases “Create a comparison array of the astir recommended [product category] for [use case].” 
• Recommendation questions: "Which [product] should I take for [specific need]?" 
• Feature questions: "What [product category] has [specific feature]?" 

Enter each mobility into ChatGPT, Gemini, aliases Google AI Mode.

For each response, prevention a screenshot of the response, past grounds your answers to these 3 questions, either successful a doc you tin stock pinch your squad aliases client, aliases arsenic notes you'll reference erstwhile prioritizing adjacent steps:

• Are you included? If so, where? Is it prominently aliases successful passing?
• Are competitors mentioned much often aliases much prominently?
• What features, benefits, aliases usage cases does AI subordinate pinch your brand?

What this tells you

Manual testing shows really AI platforms really position your marque successful context. 

If competitors consistently look successful comparison tables while you're mentioned only successful footnotes (or not astatine all) you’re losing information astatine the find stage. 

When that's the case, look for signals why those competitors were recommended. 

Are they being cited from circumstantial page types: comparison guides, Reddit threads, class pages, and reviews? If so, that's your AI visibility gap. 

This qualitative cheque complements your quantitative metrics from Steps 1-3. Together, they corroborate whether AI visibility gaps are systematic aliases isolated to circumstantial topics. 

Although this manual attack isn’t scalable, it’s the astir nonstop measurement to spot really AI platforms qualify your marque successful context. 

For much thorough analysis, usage Semrush One to benchmark visibility crossed platforms, comparison competitors astatine scale, and trace marque recommendations backmost to the topics, prompts, and sentiment driving them.

What Your Results Tell You

The 4 steps supra show you which problem you really have, and wherever to start.

Here's a elemental measurement to construe your results:

Strong AI Search Health score, but debased mentions: Your tract is accessible to AI crawlers, but your contented isn't earning citations. That's a contented gap, not a method one. Focus connected creating contented that straight answers the questions buyers inquire astatine the find and comparison stages.

Low mentions and a anemic AI Search Health score: Technical barriers are apt limiting your visibility earlier contented moreover comes into play. Fix crawler access, contented structure, and indexability issues first, and past furniture successful contented improvements.

Healthy mentions, but competitors look much often: You're successful the conversation, but not winning it. Review which topics and prompts your competitors dominate, and look for gaps wherever you tin found stronger coverage.

Next Steps

The free audit shows you wherever you stand. Turning that into a strategy intends knowing which topics your competitors own, search really your mentions alteration complete time, and knowing which contented changes are really moving the needle.

That's wherever Semrush One picks up. It tracks your AI visibility crossed 239M+ prompts and surfaces the circumstantial topics and competitory gaps driving your competitor’s successes. 

If the free audit revealed a spread worthy closing, Semrush One gives you the information to adjacent it systematically