AEO
How to read your AI search visibility report
Use this report to see how your business appeared in a defined set of AI answers. Read the question, engine, market, language, answer, and checked date together before you act on a score.
Reviewed by LocalCMO Editorial Team Last reviewed
Before you start
- Choose the business and location you want to review.
- Know which customer questions, AI engines, market, and language the report checks.
- Use a saved report with a visible checked date so you can return to the same evidence.
Steps
Confirm the report scope
Check the business, location, tracked questions, AI engines, market, language, and checked date. A result from a different scope is not a like-for-like comparison.
Open one tracked question
Read the exact wording of the question and the saved AI answer. Do not judge the result from the overall score alone.
Separate mentions, recommendations, and citations
Note whether the business is merely named, actively recommended, or supported by a cited source. These are different signals and should not be combined into one claim.
Review the businesses shown first
Record which competitors appear, how they are described, and which sources support the answer. Treat this as evidence from that answer, not proof of why the engine chose them.
Choose a factual gap to investigate
Check whether the business information or supporting page is missing, unclear, out of date, or hard to verify. Base the next task on that evidence instead of rewriting content just to chase a score.
Recheck under the same conditions
Use the same question, engine, market, language, and business location on the next check. Record the new date and compare the saved answers, not only the headline number.
EXPECTED RESULT
What you should see when you finish
- Each result is tied to a business, location, question, engine, market, language, and checked date.
- You can open the saved answer and distinguish a mention, recommendation, citation, and competitor appearance.
- The next action names a specific factual or source gap and the conditions for a later recheck.
If something does not look right
The score changed but the answer looks similar
Check whether the tracked question set, engines, market, language, or report date changed. Compare individual saved answers before treating the score change as meaningful.
The business is missing from an answer
Confirm that the question is relevant to the selected location, then review the businesses and sources the answer did use. One missing answer does not prove a long-term ranking problem or lost customers.
How to read your AI search visibility report FAQ
What does an AI search visibility report measure?
It records how the selected AI engines answered the tracked questions for the chosen market, language, location, and checked date, including observed business mentions, recommendations, competitors, and citations.
Does a higher AI visibility score guarantee more customers?
No. The report describes the checked answers. It does not prove future visibility, website traffic, store visits, or revenue.
How should I compare two AI visibility reports?
Use the same business location, questions, engines, market, and language, then compare the saved answers and checked dates.