By the end of this guide you will know how often AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini mention your brand, which questions your competitors win instead, and what to change on your site to improve your chances of being cited. The measuring is done by AI visibility tools, which test sets of buyer-style prompts against AI search products and record who gets named.
If you want to get your brand mentioned in ChatGPT and AI search, the practice is called generative engine optimization (GEO), and no tool can guarantee a mention. This guide covers measuring, fixing and tracking, and compares seven tools from our Marketing and SEO category.
Key takeaways
- Start by listing the questions your buyers ask, measure whether AI answers mention you, fix technical blockers and content gaps, then track the results over weeks.
- The main decision is how you want to work: a self-serve tracker (Writesonic, PromptEden, Grocliq AI), an SEO platform with AI tracking (Surfer, Frase), a site audit (AuditZap), or a done-for-you audit (Cited By AI).
- Nothing guarantees a citation. Frase notes that rankings and AI citations build over weeks, so a short trial will not show them.
- Check what AI says about your business, because assistants can state wrong facts and a person must correct the sources.
What you need before you start
- A website with pages worth citing. Product, pricing, comparison and help pages that answer real questions.
- A list of buyer questions. The things customers ask before they choose a supplier like you.
- A competitor list. A few rivals to compare against.
- Access to edit your site. You will change content, and possibly technical files.
- Time. A first baseline takes under an hour. Seeing movement takes weeks.
- Difficulty. Moderate. Some fixes are technical, and content fixes need subject knowledge.
Which kind of AI tool fits this job
Pick by whether you want a dashboard, a platform that also writes, or a one-off audit.
Self-serve AI visibility trackers. Writesonic tracks prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, shows which prompts recommend competitors, and adds an AI article writer and site audits. PromptEden checks buyer-style prompts against ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, records brand and competitor mentions, and shows the sources the answers cite. Grocliq AI tracks mentions across several AI models, flags content gaps and shows how AI bots crawl your site, with free tools including an AI visibility checker.
SEO platforms with AI tracking. Surfer has an AI Tracker that follows how often a brand is mentioned, which sources are cited and where competitors appear, alongside a Content Editor. Frase scores drafts for both Google and AI search, and its AI Visibility feature tracks how your brand appears in AI answers.
A technical site audit. AuditZap crawls a site, scores 40 checks including nine AI visibility checks such as llms.txt, AI crawler access and citation schema, and writes plain-English fixes for your CMS.
A done-for-you audit. Cited By AI is a UK service that delivers an audit report across five AI platforms, with practitioner review, content fixes and a roadmap, rather than a dashboard.
Step 1: List the questions buyers ask
AI answers are built around questions, so start there.
- Write down the questions customers ask before buying, such as "which tool is best for X" or "how do I do Y".
- Group them by stage: learning, comparing and deciding.
- Add your brand name and your competitors' names to a second list.
- Keep the list short and real, based on sales calls, support tickets and search queries.
Check it worked by reading each question aloud: it should sound like something a customer would type.
Step 2: Measure your baseline
You need to know where you start before you change anything.
- Run your questions through a visibility tool. Grocliq AI offers a free AI visibility checker, PromptEden offers a one-time free AI visibility scorecard that needs no account, and Cited By AI offers a free instant citation-readiness score with a work email.
- Record which assistants mention you, which sources they cite, and which competitors appear.
- Also ask a few questions by hand in the assistants themselves, since answers can vary from run to run.
- Save the results with the date.
Check it worked by having a sheet showing, for each question, whether you were mentioned and who was.
Step 3: Remove technical blockers
If AI crawlers cannot read your pages, content fixes will not help.
- Check that your key pages are public and load without login walls.
- Review crawler access rules. AuditZap checks AI crawler access, and Grocliq AI shows how AI bots crawl your site and has a robots.txt generator.
- Add structured data where it fits. AuditZap checks citation schema.
- Consider an llms.txt file if you want one. Grocliq AI and AuditZap both include checks or generators for it, though how much weight assistants give it is not something our listings address.
Check it worked by re-running the audit and seeing the blocking issues cleared.
Step 4: Find the content gaps
The gaps are the questions where competitors are named and you are not.
- Sort your prompt results by the questions you lose.
- Look at the sources that answers cite. PromptEden shows cited sources, and Surfer's AI Tracker shows which sources are cited and where competitors appear.
- Compare those pages with yours. Ask what they say that your pages do not.
- Write a short list of pages to create or improve, ordered by business value.
Check it worked by having a list of pages with a reason attached to each.
Step 5: Improve or create the pages
Write pages that answer the question directly and factually.
- Lead with a plain answer, then add detail, examples and numbers you can support.
- Make your claims specific and consistent across your site, product pages and profiles.
- Use a tool to help draft and score if useful. Writesonic has an AI article writer, Frase rates drafts for Google and AI search, and Surfer's Content Editor scores against SEO and AI search guidelines.
- Have a person review every draft for accuracy and originality before it goes live.
Check it worked by confirming that each new page answers one of your target questions in its first paragraph.
Step 6: Check what AI says about your brand
Being mentioned is only useful if the mention is correct.
- Read the answers that name you. Look for wrong prices, features, locations or claims.
- Use an accuracy check if you have one. Cited By AI's audit includes an AI Accuracy Audit that flags false facts about a brand.
- Fix the sources you control, such as your site and profiles, so the correct facts are easy to find.
- Note anything you cannot fix directly and track it.
Check it worked by listing every incorrect statement and the source you will correct.
Step 7: Track results and repeat
AI answers change, so measure on a schedule.
- Re-run your prompts at a regular interval. PromptEden's Starter and Pro plans refresh monitoring once a day, and Writesonic lists daily tracking of prompts and answers.
- Watch the traffic that reaches you from AI assistants if your analytics allow it. Grocliq AI attributes AI-model traffic to pages, and PromptEden shows tracked visits from AI engines.
- Expect slow movement. Frase notes that rankings and AI citations build over weeks.
- Update the questions list as products and competitors change.
Check it worked by seeing your baseline sheet updated with new dates and comparable results.
Tools for this job compared
| Tool | Good fit for | Pricing | Stated limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writesonic | Visibility tracking plus an article writer and site audits, on web and API | Free trial, paid from $79/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026) | Starter covers 1 user, 1 project and 50 prompts; sentiment analysis starts on Growth; annual plans non-cancelable after a 7-day refund window |
| PromptEden | Tracking ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and AI Overviews mentions | Paid, from $49/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026) | No free product plan; usage capped by projects, prompts, responses and credits; no API on Starter |
| Grocliq AI | Brand mentions, bot crawl tracking and free GEO tools | Paid | Growth plan lists 100 tracked prompts per model, 20 articles a month and 1 project; billed quarterly |
| Surfer | SEO content scoring with an AI Tracker | Paid, from $49/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026) | Keyword research starts on Standard and topical maps on Pro; page tracking capped by plan |
| Frase | Research, drafting and GEO scoring in one loop | Free trial, paid from $39/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026) | No permanent free plan; Starter has 1 seat and 1 site; citations build over weeks |
| AuditZap | Technical audits with AI visibility checks | Freemium, paid from $29/mo (checked 24 Oct 2026) | Free accounts get 3 audits per rolling 30 days and a 10-page crawl; fix instructions are AI estimates to review |
| Cited By AI | A UK done-for-you audit across five AI platforms | Paid, from £49 one-time (checked 24 Oct 2026) | Audit report with no self-serve dashboard; pricing in pounds sterling; free score needs a work email |
Prices and plan limits change, so confirm the current terms on each vendor's site before you subscribe.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Expecting a guaranteed mention. No listing promises citations, and assistants decide for themselves. Fix it by treating this as improving your chances and measuring over weeks.
- Optimizing for one assistant. Different assistants may cite different sources. Fix it by tracking several, as most of these tools do.
- Publishing thin AI-written pages. Generic text gives assistants little to quote. Fix it by adding specific facts, examples and clear answers, and have a person review everything.
- Ignoring technical access. Blocked crawlers or missing structured data can keep good pages out of reach. Fix it by running a site audit first.
- Never checking accuracy. An assistant may state wrong facts about you. Fix it by reading the answers and correcting the sources you control.
How we put this together
This is an evidence-based guide built from each tool's listing in our directory, which is compiled from the vendor's own site and pricing page. It is not a review based on using the tools. We don't rank tools, and nobody paid to be included. Some outbound links may be affiliate links; see our disclosure.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free way to check if my brand is mentioned in AI search?
Yes, to a degree. Grocliq AI has a free AI visibility checker, PromptEden offers a one-time free scorecard without an account or card, Cited By AI offers a free instant score with a work email, and AuditZap's Free plan gives 3 audits per rolling 30 days. You can also ask the assistants yourself.
Can I pay to be mentioned in ChatGPT?
Nothing in our listings describes buying a mention in an assistant's answers. The tools here help you measure visibility and improve your content, and the assistants decide what to cite.
How long does it take to get mentioned in AI search?
It varies, and no tool gives a standard timeline. Frase notes that rankings and AI citations build over weeks, so plan to track and adjust over time rather than expect a quick change.
Is GEO different from SEO?
They overlap. GEO focuses on how often and how favorably AI answers mention a brand, while SEO focuses on search rankings. Several tools here, including Surfer, Frase and Writesonic, handle both.
Which tool is good for agencies?
Writesonic has a separate agency page with white-label client workspaces, and Cited By AI offers white-label reports. Frase includes white-label reports on its Enterprise plan only. Check each vendor's site for current terms.
Compare more options in our Marketing and SEO category. For the content side, see how to write SEO blog posts with AI.
