AI Search Visibility Checklist
A checklist for whether your firm is set up to be found by buyers who research through AI assistants: access, clarity, evidence and checking.
Free, and you do not need to give an email address.
What it checks
- Access: your robots.txt file read and understood, a decision made about each provider's crawlers, and key pages readable without signing in, with their text present when the page loads
- Clarity: each key page opening with what you do, for whom and where, in the words a buyer would use, and your firm named the same way everywhere
- Evidence: whether a trade body, publication or directory describes you as you describe yourself, and whether your published work names its author and date
- Checking: asking assistants the buyer's question and noting whether you appear, how you are described and who appears instead
- A record of checks that dates each answer, so the first line is a baseline and the later lines are your only trend
- Sources: the providers' own documents on crawlers and AI features
First sitting
- 01
Read robots.txt before anything else
Know what it allows and blocks for each provider's crawlers. A block you did not choose is the cheapest problem to fix.
- 02
Ask in the buyer's words
Put the question a buyer would ask for each service you want to be known for to a few assistants. Read what comes back and which pages are linked.
- 03
Write the first line of the record
Date, assistant, question, whether you were named, and the action you took. Repeat on a schedule.
What it cannot promise
Assistants change from one product and week to the next, and no checklist can promise that you will be named. It reads only what you report, and the provider documents it cites may have changed since it was issued. To score the same areas, use the AI Search Visibility Assessment.
On this page
A decision about each crawler
The checklist does not tell you to open everything. It asks that every setting be a choice.
Allow a crawler when
- The content is meant to be public and you want it described in answers
- The pages explain what you do and for whom, and you stand behind them
Block it when
- The content is licensed, gated or paid for, and quoting it would give it away
- Someone with authority has decided the organization will not be used in answers, and recorded it
Blocking a crawler that retrieves pages for answers removes you from those answers. That can be right. It should never be an accident left over from an old file.
What do people ask before running the AI search visibility checklist?
What should I check first on the AI search visibility checklist?
Your robots.txt file. Read what it allows and blocks for each provider's crawlers, and confirm each setting is a decision you made. A block you did not choose is the cheapest problem to fix, and blocking a crawler that retrieves pages for answers removes you from those answers.
How do I find out whether AI assistants name my firm?
Ask them. Put the question a buyer would ask, in the buyer's words, to more than one assistant for each service you want to be known for. Note whether you appear, how you are described, who appears instead and which pages are linked.
Why does the checklist ask me to keep a dated record?
A buyer who does not see your name leaves no trace, so asking is the only evidence you have. The first line is a baseline, and later lines are the only trend you will get. Assistants change between products and weeks, so repeat the check on a schedule.
Can the checklist get my firm named by AI assistants?
No, and nothing can promise that. It shows whether your pages can be read, say plainly what you do, and are backed by other sources, and whether you appear when buyers ask. To score the same areas, use the AI Search Visibility Assessment.
Wondering whether buyers can find you?
Describe what you are weighing in a few lines. A senior practitioner replies with a suggested first conversation.