A Practical Guide to AI Visibility

You've likely heard of AI visibility—sometimes called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) or GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). The pitch is straightforward: people are asking AI models for recommendations, and if you're not showing up, you're losing deals.

This is true. But our experience suggests the practice itself is simpler than it's often made to seem. The core mechanics are not exotic—they overlap substantially with general web presence and SEO fundamentals. If you expand your brand's footprint online, AI models become more likely to surface you, just as humans become more likely to find you.

This guide offers a practical framework for AI visibility. But before diving into tactics, it's worth clarifying what visibility is, what it isn't, and why the distinction matters.

Two Distinct Problems

AI brand management involves two separate challenges that are often conflated:

Visibility: Does AI know your company exists? When someone asks ChatGPT for solutions in your category, do you get mentioned? This is what AEO/GEO tools measure and optimize for. It's the top of the funnel.

Alignment: When AI does discuss your company, is it accurate? Does it understand your differentiation, or does it misrepresent you to potential buyers? This is what happens after visibility—in the comparisons, evaluations, and follow-up questions that shape purchasing decisions.

These problems require different approaches, and conflating them leads to incomplete strategies. Visibility is largely a function of your overall web presence—the same fundamentals that drive human discovery. Alignment is more nuanced, involving how AI models interpret and synthesize information about your brand.

This guide addresses visibility. It's the simpler of the two problems, and for early-stage companies without an established web presence, it's the logical starting point.

The Core Insight

AI models learn about brands primarily from content that's already indexed on the web. If you expand your brand's presence online, you increase the likelihood that AI models will surface you in relevant contexts—much the same way you'd increase the likelihood of humans finding you.

This isn't a novel insight, but it's worth stating plainly: the fundamentals of AI visibility overlap substantially with the fundamentals of general web presence. The tactics below are not exotic. They work.

Lever 1: SEO-Optimized Content at Scale

This accounts for roughly 80% of visibility impact. The goal is to maximize your presence across topics relevant to your domain.

Step 1: Keyword Research

You need to identify the queries and topics your potential customers care about. Two options:

Hire an SEO contractor. You don't need a content strategist or a full-time hire—just someone competent with keyword research tools who can produce a target list of topics. This can be relatively inexpensive.

Do it yourself. Tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or even free alternatives can get you started. Look for keywords with reasonable search volume in your category, then expand into adjacent topics.

Step 2: Content Production

Create a Claude Project (or equivalent) configured as your "Content Writer." Include in the project instructions:

• Your brand voice and writing style guidelines

• Your company's positioning and key differentiators

• Formatting requirements

• Any compliance or accuracy constraints specific to your industry

With this setup, you or your contractor can produce 5-6 quality drafts per day. Review, edit, and publish to your blog or resources section.

Step 3: Maintain Cadence

Consistency matters more than volume spikes. Establish a sustainable weekly publishing rhythm. Ten articles per week, every week, compounds quickly.

Lever 2: Earned Media and Public Directories

AI models frequently cite third-party sources. Strategic placement in the right publications increases your citation rate, particularly in niche categories.

Press and PR Placements

Press Cart and similar services let you purchase placement in various publications. Many placements don't appear as sponsored content. Focus on high-authority sources rather than high-readership ones—they tend to be more cost-effective and carry weight with AI models.

PR Newswire and similar distribution services are useful for product launches, funding announcements, and partnerships. AI models pick up content from these wires with some regularity.

Public Directories

Get listed on G2, Capterra, and similar directories relevant to your category. These matter for initial presence when AI models search for category solutions.

A note on optimization: the value is primarily in being listed, not in ranking highly within these directories. Don't over-invest in moving from position 10 to position 5. The alpha is in presence, not placement.

Niche-Specific Sources

Different categories have different influential sources. The only way to discover yours is to test manually:

1. Open ChatGPT in an incognito window

2. Ask 10-15 questions your potential customers would ask

3. Note which sources get cited in responses

4. Look for patterns—some sources will appear disproportionately often

One company in the death care software space discovered that a niche publication called "Funeral Vision" appeared in roughly 20% of relevant queries—far more valuable for their purposes than Reddit or general tech publications.

Lever 3: Measurement

You can't improve what you don't measure, but you also shouldn't over-invest in measurement infrastructure at this stage.

Option 1: AEO/GEO Tracking Tools

This is what the AEO/GEO tool market primarily offers—tracking how often you appear in AI responses to specific prompts. The space has become relatively commoditized, with many free or low-cost options available. Sign up for a few, compare their outputs, and use the aggregate to guide your content efforts.

We'll publish a directory of these tools separately.

Option 2: Manual Testing

The incognito ChatGPT method described above works for ongoing measurement too. It's less systematic but sufficient for early-stage companies. Run the same battery of questions monthly and track changes.

What This Guide Does Not Cover

Visibility answers one question: "Does AI mention you?"

It does not address:

• How AI compares you to competitors

• Whether AI accurately represents your key differentiators

• What happens when buyers ask follow-up questions about your product

• How AI positions you in direct evaluation contexts

These are questions of brand alignment—a distinct discipline that requires different methods. For companies with healthy funnels who want to ensure prospects arrive at sales conversations with accurate perceptions, alignment becomes the more pressing concern.

But for early-stage companies still building web presence, visibility is the right place to start. Get discovered first. Then worry about how you're being described.

A 30-Day Starting Point

Week 1

• Set up your Claude Content Writer project

• Hire an SEO contractor or begin keyword research yourself

• Create listings on G2 and Capterra

Week 2

• Publish your first 10 articles

• Run manual ChatGPT testing to identify influential sources in your category

• Sign up for 2-3 free visibility tracking tools

Week 3

• Set up a Press Cart account

• Identify 3-5 niche publications worth targeting

• Distribute your first PR Newswire release (if you have news worth announcing)

Week 4

• Review visibility metrics

• Adjust content topics based on what you're learning

• Establish your ongoing publishing cadence

This guide represents the highest-leverage tactics for AI visibility as of early 2025. The landscape will continue evolving, but the fundamentals—content, citations, and measurement—will remain core to how AI models discover brands.