Methodology
How We Calculate Your Visibility Score
Your score is a weighted composite of 16 independent checks across 3 live data sources. Every number is grounded in real data - not estimates.
The short version
16
independent checks
3
live data sources
5
AI platforms tested
7
query variations used
Grade scale
Foundation checks
Steps 1–7Core signals that determine whether your business is discoverable online at all - before AI platforms enter the picture.
1
Website Presence
Is your website reachable, does it carry a page title and meta description, does it mention your phone number and city?
✓ Site loads, has all key tags, city is referenced✗ Site is down, missing tags, or has no local content
Data source: Direct page fetch
6%
of score
2
Search Query Coverage
How many real local search queries your site ranks in - tested across 5 long-tail probes relevant to your category and city.
✓ Ranks in 3+ queries with at least one top-10 result✗ Appears in 0–1 queries or no top-10 rankings
Data source: DataForSEO SERP API
11%
of score
3
Reviews & Ratings
Google star rating and review count. AI platforms heavily weight businesses with strong review signals when choosing whom to recommend.
✓ 4.5+ stars with 20+ reviews✗ Below 3.5 stars or fewer than 5 reviews
Data source: DataForSEO + Google Business Profile OAuth
8%
of score
4
AI Platform Visibility
Whether your business appears in AI-generated answers when a user asks about your service category in your city. Tested across 7 query variations on 5 platforms.
✓ Mentioned on 60%+ of platforms tested✗ No mentions, or mentioned on fewer than 2 platforms
Data source: Google AI Mode, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini APIs
14%
of score
5
Schema Markup
Whether your site includes LocalBusiness structured data with required fields: name, address, phone, URL, and business hours.
✓ LocalBusiness schema present with all required fields✗ No schema, or schema missing more than 2 required fields
Data source: Direct HTML fetch + JSON-LD parser
8%
of score
6
Competitor Landscape
Who your real local competitors are, their estimated keyword coverage, and how large your gap is relative to the top-ranked competitor in your category.
✓ 2+ competitors identified; gap ≤15 keywords✗ Cannot identify competitors, or gap >20 keywords
Data source: DataForSEO Labs API
3%
of score
7
Published Content
Whether published content (blog posts, GBP posts, FAQ pages) exists for this business. A content track record is an input signal for AI recommendation engines.
✓ 3+ published content items✗ 0 published items
Data source: Discov AI content database
3%
of score
AI answer engine checks
Steps 8–16Signals that specifically influence whether AI platforms include your business in generated answers, summaries, and recommendations.
8
AI Mention History
Aggregated historical mention volume across ChatGPT, Google AI, and Perplexity - including sentiment (positive/neutral/negative) and trend direction.
✓ Mentions across 3+ platforms, positive or neutral sentiment✗ Zero mentions or negative sentiment trend
Data source: DataForSEO LLM Mentions API
8%
of score
9
AI Bot Crawlability
Whether major AI crawlers (GPTBot, Google-Extended, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot) are allowed to index your site, and whether JavaScript-only rendering would block them.
✓ All major AI bots permitted; no JS-only rendering; >90% image alt text✗ 3+ AI bots blocked, or JS-only pages, or >10 images with no alt text
Data source: robots.txt RFC 9309 parser + DataForSEO instant_pages
6%
of score
10
Topic Coverage
How many topic clusters your site covers vs. your top competitor - and whether you cover all three intent types (informational, commercial, transactional).
✓ Keyword count within 20 of competitor; all 3 intent types present✗ Gap >20 keywords vs. competitor; only one intent type present
Data source: DataForSEO ranked keywords API
4%
of score
11
Answer-Ready Content
Whether your pages are structured for AI extraction: Q&A headings, self-contained answer passages, EEAT signals, FAQ schema, and content freshness (updated within 90 days).
✓ 70+ score across: direct answers, self-contained passages, EEAT signals, FAQ schema, freshness✗ Missing Q&A format, no EEAT indicators, stale content, no FAQ schema
Data source: Direct HTML fetch + JSON-LD parser
6%
of score
12
Citation Authority
Your domain authority rank (0–100), number of referring domains linking to you, and the sentiment of web mentions found about your business.
✓ Domain rank >30; 10+ referring domains; positive sentiment dominant✗ Domain rank <20; <10 referring domains; negative sentiment dominant
Data source: DataForSEO backlinks overview API + web mentions API
4%
of score
13
AI Monitoring
Weekly AI mention velocity, current sentiment label, and how many of 5 tested queries produce a Google AI Mode result that includes your business.
✓ 1+ weekly mentions; positive sentiment; 3+ queries with AI Mode coverage✗ Zero mentions; negative sentiment; no AI Mode coverage
Data source: DataForSEO LLM Mentions API + Google AI Mode SERP
7%
of score
14
Personalization Resilience
Whether your content serves all three buyer personas: the urgent-need searcher, the comparison shopper, and the researcher. Also checks intent distribution balance.
✓ 30%+ informational intent; local schema present; all 3 personas detectable✗ <20% informational intent; no local schema; fewer than 2 personas served
Data source: DataForSEO AI keyword data API
3%
of score
15
Content Chunk Quality
Whether your pages are structured so AI can extract useful text chunks: heading count, average paragraph length, presence of a summary section, and Q&A heading structure.
✓ 5+ headings; avg paragraph <80 words; summary section present; 3+ Q&A headings✗ <3 headings; avg paragraph >120 words; no summary; no Q&A headings
Data source: Direct HTML fetch + heading/paragraph parser
4%
of score
16
Multi-Modal Signals
Image alt text coverage, ImageObject schema markup, video presence with VideoObject schema and transcript - signals that AI platforms use to enrich answers.
✓ 70%+ alt coverage; image schema present; or video with schema + transcript✗ <50% alt coverage; no image schema; no video signals
Data source: Direct HTML fetch + image/video schema parser
4%
of score
How the final number is calculated
Each of the 16 steps produces a score from 0 to 100. The final Visibility Score is a normalised weighted average- each step's score is multiplied by its weight, all weighted scores are summed, then divided by the total weight.
Score = Σ(step_score × step_weight) ÷ Σ(step_weights)
Result is clamped to [0, 100] and rounded to the nearest integer.
Result is clamped to [0, 100] and rounded to the nearest integer.
Weights are normalised dynamically - adding or removing a check automatically adjusts the contribution of every other check proportionally. The same set of inputs always produces the same integer score.
Where the data comes from
📡
DataForSEO
Real-time SERP data, local business ratings, keyword rankings, backlink authority, LLM mention tracking, and AI Mode results. Used in 11 of 16 checks.
🔍
Direct page fetch
We fetch your website directly to check schema markup, heading structure, paragraph lengths, image alt text, robots.txt, and page metadata. Used in 7 of 16 checks.
🤖
AI platform APIs
We send test queries to Google AI Mode, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to detect whether your business appears in AI-generated answers. Used in Steps 4 and 8.
How often does the score update?
On-demand
Run an audit from your dashboard any time. Paid plans: 4–unlimited audits/month.
Competitor data
Cached for up to 4 days to avoid unnecessary re-fetches on unchanged data.
Review data
Cached for 7 days. Live GBP data is used when your Google account is connected.
AI platform checks
Live every audit run - tested fresh against 5 platforms using 7 query variations.
What the score does and doesn't tell you
✓ What the score tells you
- How visible your business is to AI platforms right now
- Which specific signals are dragging your score down
- How you compare to top local competitors
- Which fixes will have the biggest impact on your score
✗ What the score doesn't tell you
- Exact revenue impact - there is no universal conversion rate from AI mentions to calls
- Future AI platform behaviour - LLM ranking signals change without notice
- Brand reputation factors outside structured data (word-of-mouth, offline)
- Paid placement - AI Overviews sponsored results are not in scope
On confidence: AI platform checks are directional, not exhaustive. We test 7 queries per audit - there are thousands of possible queries a user could ask. A score of 80 means you perform well on the queries we tested; it does not guarantee you appear in every AI result for every variation. Treat the score as a relative benchmark and trend indicator, not an absolute ceiling.
See your score - it takes 60 seconds
Free audit. No credit card. We run all 16 checks and show you exactly where you stand vs. your top local competitors.
Get my free score →