I recently ran an AI search visibility audit for a client, and one finding was too interesting not to share: ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google rely on completely different sources.
Here’s a quick way to see how your company performs across all three:
Step 1: Decide on a prompt set you’ll use to measure your visibility.
Here are 5 prompts I recommend starting with:
Best [category] for [audience]?
What should [audience] use to [solve problem]?
Alternatives to [competitor]
[brand] vs [competitor] for [use case]
What does [brand] do?
Prompts 1-3 tell you if a buyer who has never heard of you can find you. Prompt 4 tells you if you appear in a comparison. Prompt 5 tells you if the AI describes you accurately.
Step 2: Run each prompt in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google (look for the AI Overview).
Track mentions, citations, and accuracy in a spreadsheet. Repeat this every month.
Step 3: Use the citations to inform your strategy for each AI search engine.
I’ve seen ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google pull from completely different sources.
Here’s an example from a client’s category: ChatGPT relied heavily on vendors’ own websites—particularly product, category, and pricing pages. Perplexity went almost entirely to third-party listicles. Google mixed Reddit threads, review-platform alternatives pages, and listicles.
Step 4: Do the work each engine already rewards. Improve your category, product, and pricing pages for ChatGPT. Earn inclusion in roundups and “best tools” posts for Perplexity. Complete your review-platform profiles and participate genuinely in relevant communities for Google.
Step 5: Profit!
If you try this, hit reply and let me know what you found out. I’d genuinely like to compare notes.
– JP