Frequently Asked Questions
AI recommendation work is new enough to attract inflated claims.
These are the questions I would want answered before investing in it.
Getting started
Can't I just ask ChatGPT about my brand myself?
Yes, and you should.
Asking, "What do you know about my company?" can reveal inaccurate or outdated information. But you have already supplied the company name. That tests whether the platform recognizes your brand, not whether it would recommend you to someone who has never heard of it.
A prospective customer is more likely to begin with a need. They may ask for an olive oil with enough flavor to finish grilled fish, a restaurant suited to an important client dinner or a winery producing Italian varieties in Sonoma.
My research tests whether your brand appears when the platform has to decide which names belong in the answer.
Which service should I begin with?
The free automated audit provides an initial indication of how an AI platform understands your brand.
The $500 AI Reputation Snapshot provides a focused first assessment. Businesses requiring a deeper competitive investigation can begin with an AI Visibility Diagnostic, starting at $3,500. The scope depends on the number of commercial priorities, competitors and sources involved.
Full details are available on the Services page.
What do you test in an AI visibility audit?
The audit is built around the questions most likely to lead to a purchase, reservation or inquiry.
A packaged food audit might test flavor, ingredients, dietary needs, use, gifting and retail availability. A restaurant audit might examine special occasions, private dining, neighborhood, wine program, atmosphere and dietary accommodations.
Those questions are tested without naming your brand. I record which companies appear, how prominently they are recommended and what reasons the platform gives for including them.
I also test whether the platforms recognize your brand when named and whether the information they provide is accurate. Recognition and recommendation are measured separately because a brand can perform well in one and poorly in the other.
How the research works
AI gives me a different answer every time. How can an audit be meaningful?
Variation is part of the research.
Prompts are run more than once so an isolated mention is not treated as established visibility. I compare the results by platform, buyer situation and repeated appearance.
The audit creates a documented sample of recommendation behavior at a specific point in time. It does not claim to record every answer an AI system could produce. Its value comes from revealing repeated patterns, platform differences and commercial questions where competitors consistently appear while your brand does not.
How is this different from SEO?
SEO remains important because search engines and indexed web content often contribute to what AI platforms can retrieve. The two practices overlap, but they measure different outcomes.
Traditional SEO usually examines whether a page ranks for a query. An AI platform may gather information from several sources, compare possible answers and present only a small number of brands in its final response.
A company can rank well in search and still be missing from AI recommendations. It can also appear in an AI answer because several sources collectively support its relevance, even when its own site is not the highest-ranking result.
My work focuses on whether your brand becomes part of the answer and whether the available evidence supports the reasons a customer would choose it.
Can you determine why an AI platform recommends one brand over another?
No outside consultant can see the complete internal decision process of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity.
When a platform provides citations, I examine the sources it retrieved. I also compare the language and associations in its answer with the content published by your brand, your competitors and relevant independent sources.
That analysis can reveal meaningful differences. One restaurant may provide room capacities, sample menus and a dedicated private dining contact while another says only that events are available. One olive oil brand may be repeatedly described through harvest date, origin and flavor while another relies on broad language about quality.
I distinguish documented evidence from informed interpretation. I do not claim access to a model's hidden formula.
A company can rank well in search and still be missing from AI recommendations. It can also appear in an AI answer because several sources collectively support its relevance, even when its own site is not the highest-ranking result.
Fit and expectations
My brand already has press, awards and strong search visibility. Isn't that enough?
Those assets matter, but they may support a different association from the one your business now needs.
A Michelin star can establish a restaurant's culinary standing without explaining whether it is suited to a private client dinner. National retail distribution can prove that a product is widely available without communicating its flavor, ingredients or most relevant use.
Established brands often have substantial authority surrounding them. The problem is sometimes that outside sources are carrying an incomplete or outdated version of the story.
The audit examines whether your existing reputation supports the specific questions that matter commercially, rather than treating general recognition as proof of recommendation visibility.
Will rewriting our website be enough?
Sometimes the clearest problems begin on the website. Important details may be vague, buried or missing entirely.
A restaurant may need stronger information about its chef, wine program or private dining experience. A product brand may need clearer language around provenance, flavor, ingredients or use.
Owned content is only part of the record. Retail descriptions, editorial coverage, directories, reviews and other independent sources can also influence how a brand is understood. If the outside record is weak or inconsistent, publishing more copy on your own site may have limited effect.
The work identifies which gaps belong on your website and which require credible outside support.
What happens after the Diagnostic?
You receive a prioritized action plan tied to the findings, along with a private tracker showing what should be completed first.
Your internal team or existing partners can implement the recommendations. A re-audit is available for $1,500, generally 60 to 90 days after implementation, to compare the new results with the original baseline.
For clients who want continued support, a retainer can cover content development, third-party authority work, structural improvements and ongoing measurement. Continuing into a retainer is optional.
What this cannot do
Can you guarantee that my brand will be recommended?
No.
AI companies control their models, retrieval systems and update schedules. Recommendations also vary by platform and wording. No consultant can promise permanent placement across systems they do not control.
I can identify where the brand is being excluded, strengthen the evidence supporting its relevance and measure changes against a consistent baseline. A guaranteed recommendation would be dishonest.
How does AI visibility connect to revenue?
AI platforms do not provide complete attribution data showing every recommendation that led to a sale, reservation or inquiry. I do not present a mention count as revenue.
The audit focuses on commercially meaningful questions rather than general brand chatter. Appearing when someone asks for a premium gift, a private dining venue or a product meeting a specific dietary need is more valuable than appearing in a broad informational answer.
The resulting visibility data can be considered alongside AI referral traffic, inquiry quality, reservation patterns and what customers report during the buying process. The audit measures whether the brand is entering relevant consideration sets. It does not pretend to assign revenue that cannot be verified.
Who is this work best suited to, and what will you need from my team?
The strongest fit is an established food, beverage or hospitality business with a credible product or experience and a meaningful gap between its real-world reputation and how AI platforms currently represent it.
The work is most useful when the business has a clear offer and credible evidence supporting the qualities it wants AI platforms to understand. It can strengthen how those qualities are represented, but it cannot create proof that does not yet exist.
For a Diagnostic, I need one informed point of contact who can explain the commercial priorities, confirm important facts and review the recommendations. I conduct the research, competitive analysis and interpretation. Your team provides the context required to make sure the audit is solving the right business problem.
Still have a question that isn't answered here?
A discovery call covers your category, your competitive set and whether there is a genuine fit. If the work would not help your business, I will tell you.