For B2B marketers asking how they're showing up in AI search
AI search audit: Your AI baseline & action plan
You need to know if your business is showing up in AI search and what to do to improve your visibility. My AI baseline and action plan does exactly that.
First, I test the questions that your buyers are asking to find out who's appearing in AI answers. Next, I build a content strategy that highlights the type of content you need to stand out from your competitors. Finally, I create a prioritized action plan that tells you what to change.
I'm Paul Maplesden, a B2B content strategist and writer. I've been writing for complex B2B companies for more than ten years, including five at a global logistics company, where I audited AI search visibility and built AI action plans.
- $2,200Fixed price
- 3 weeksFrom start to finish
- Up to 40Buyer questions
- 3 AI enginesChatGPT, Gemini, and Google's AI Overviews
What the AI baseline and action plan gives you
Your report is a dated snapshot of where and how your business is appearing in AI search. I also give you a complete content strategy for the topics you want to appear for, and build an action plan so you can prioritize your efforts. Here's what's included.
-
Where you're appearing in AI answers right now
For each buyer question I'll tell you if an engine names you or uses your pages as a source.
-
Who's being recommended instead
I include every company that the AI engines name for each question so you can see exactly who you're competing with.
-
Why their pages are appearing
I score your page against the page each engine uses, including your competitors, so you can see where the gaps are.
-
A content strategy for AI visibility
Your content strategy will list your key areas and let you know when to defend your position, build pages, win topics, plan for the longer term, or leave things alone.
-
A practical, prioritized action plan
You'll get a series of focused, prioritized actions written as a brief so that I or your content team can close the gaps.
-
A one-hour walkthrough and next steps
We'll go through the report's findings, strategy, and action plan together, so you can decide on next steps.
You'll see every question, result, and score in the report's appendices, so you can dig into the detail or run the data through your own tools.
What is an AI search audit?
An AI search audit, or AI visibility audit, tests and measures if a company appears in AI search results. It works by asking AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Google's AI Overviews the types of questions that your buyers might ask. Then, it analyzes the answers to see who is recommended and why.
My AI baseline and action plan is a fixed-price AI search visibility audit. It includes a complete content strategy and a prioritized action plan. I've designed it for marketing leaders at B2B companies like yours, especially those with complex products or services. You can see an example report here.
Why your AI answers matter now
When your buyers ask ChatGPT who to talk to, it often provides a shortlist of vendors. Right now, you probably don't know if your business appears in those results. Research tells us that 94% of B2B buyers are using AI at some point in their buying process. If that's where your buyers are, it's where you need to be too.
SEO is a great start to appearing in AI answers, but it's not enough by itself. Studies show that 37% to 43% of pages shown in AI Overviews are also ranked in Google's top 10, but there are several other factors that can help you appear.
The competitors you're tracking may not be who AI is recommending
One of the more surprising insights that's come out of my baseline analyses is the sheer variety of companies that are recommended in AI answers. If you're already tracking your competitors in Semrush or a similar tool, that's helpful for organic search. But the picture for AI search can be very different.
For example, in a baseline that I ran for a client, three of their four closest organic competitors were recommended less often than my client was. In contrast, three companies that they weren't tracking at all were being recommended in AI search more than my client was. In total, across 26 buyer questions, AI answers named more than 300 companies in the results, with more than 170 showing up in multiple answers.
That's important because choosing where to put your marketing dollars is partly based on who you're competing against. Getting that overview helps you focus your budget where it really matters.
“Paul’s AI work has helped us understand how our website appears in both organic and AI search. It’s really foundational to our website improvement work, which Paul also led.”
How we’ll work together
Here’s the process from start to finish.
- Book a free discovery call. I'll explain what the audit involves and how it can help. You can tell me what's most important to you and what you've already tried.
- I'll send you a summary of the call. I'll cover next steps and include a sample report so you can decide if you want to go ahead.
- You'll sign an agreement and pay the invoice. I do ask for full payment up front, but if you cancel before the intake starts, you'll get a full refund.
- You complete your intake. I'll fill in what I've already learned about your business, buyers, and competitors. You check and correct the intake, close any gaps, and add details. We can do this in writing or on a call.
- You approve the buyer questions. A report can check up to 40 buyer questions. I'll provide you with a proposed list, and you can swap out any that you like.
- I run the report. I'll send you the report within three weeks.
- We walk through the findings. We'll discuss the results, the content strategy, the plan, and next steps.
If you'd like help putting the content strategy and action plan into practice, that's what my AI visibility program is for.
How I analyze AI answers for you and your competitors
To understand your brand’s visibility in AI answers, I ask every buyer question across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini. I capture all of the companies and brands that are named in the results together with any website pages mentioned for you and your competitors. I then score those pages using a scoring rubric. The rubric is based on what research tells us could help pages to appear in AI answers. I share all of these factors in the report so you can see how your pages do against rival businesses, and what you can do to improve your scores. I've included details of the scoring rubric in the FAQs below.
Options for tracking your brand visibility on AI search engines
You have several ways to measure how your business is appearing in AI answers. You could use an AI monitoring tool, get an AI audit from a marketing agency, or use my AI baseline and action plan. Here's how they compare.
| Compare | AI monitoring tool | AI audit from an agency | My AI baseline and action plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it looks at | AI answers for a defined series of prompts, tracked over time | AI answers to prompts plus your content and the technical setup of your website | AI answers to buyer questions and a comparison of your pages vs. your competitors |
| Where the questions and prompts come from | Prompts from the tool or ones that you enter | Typically built from keywords and sometimes with input from sales | Buyer questions sourced from your sales team, your website, and your market |
| Which competitors are tracked | The ones you set up | The competitors you name | Every company that is named in an AI answer |
| What you'll learn | Your visibility score and how it changes | Where you appear, how you can compete, and gaps with best practice | Who AI search engines recommend instead of you, including a page analysis for each question |
| What you will need to do next | Mostly left up to you | Follow a prioritized roadmap | Follow a plan that's ranked by impact |
| What it costs | Low monthly subscription | One-off agency fee | $2,200, delivered within three weeks |
Swipe sideways to see all three columns.
An example AI baseline and action plan report
Want to see what a report looks like? Here's a full example. I ran this report on freelance-editing.com. It's a small, professional services business that I know well. The report runs to more than 60 pages and covers 40 buyer questions. It uses the exact approach that I'll use for your report.
Frequently asked questions
Is an AI search audit the same as GEO or AEO?
No, they're different. My audit measures where you stand right now and the content strategy and action plan explain what to change. Some people describe the work that follows as generative engine optimization (GEO), answer engine optimization (AEO), or AI SEO. I do offer similar services as part of my AI visibility program, but the audit is a necessary and preliminary piece of work.
How is an AI audit different from an SEO audit?
An SEO audit analyzes how well your site ranks on Google and other search engines. My audit explores whether AI engines name your business when buyers ask about what you sell. I'll also tell you who they name instead and why. SEO and AI audits overlap, because ranking well for organic search can raise your chances of appearing in AI answers, but they are different disciplines.
What is an AI visibility score?
An AI visibility score is a number that AI monitoring tools show to summarize how often you're mentioned in AI engines. My report doesn't provide an overall visibility score. AI engine answers can vary from day to day, so overall visibility scores can be unpredictable. I also believe that it's more helpful to see your results and who is recommended instead for every buyer question. That's a better basis for building your content strategy and action plan.
How are pages scored?
I run several checks and scores on you and your competitors' pages. First, I'll check that the AI engines can access your pages. Next, I'll score each page based on nine factors to get a total score out of 20:
- Facts and figures: specific information and numbers that tell a buyer exactly what they'll get, including certifications and accreditations.
- Answers the whole question: whether you show pricing, proof you've delivered the product for others, and the process that a buyer goes through.
- Search ranking: how well the page organically ranks on Google for the question.
- Clear structure: how easily and directly the page answers the question.
- Current: a visible date on the page.
- Sources and named experts: facts that are backed by named outside sources and an author.
- Industry lists: appearing on lists that the engines use.
- Directories: profiles on directory and review sites.
- Independent coverage: articles that mention you for the area of the question.
Scores show where pages are strongest and weakest and are not predictions that pages will be recommended.
Why only measure AI answers across three engines?
Because it's those engines that drive the majority of AI search to websites. In the US, ChatGPT and Gemini send around 88% of visits from all AI search engines. Google AI Overviews sit at the top of Google's organic results, so that's also an important indicator. I measure those three engines thoroughly, rather than spread the same effort thinner across more engines. (StatCounter)
Do AI answers change frequently?
Yes, even if you ask the same question twice in a short period. The sources that AI engines use only overlap by around 34% to 42% from one day to the next. It's why I ask each question three times on each engine, and only count a result if it shows up at least twice. (Schulte and others)
Do you need access to our analytics or systems?
No. Everything I measure is public information: the AI answers, Google's results, and the pages the engines use. Your analytics, lead data, and internal information remain confidential to you.
Do you use AI to create the report?
Yes. I use AI tools that I've developed to scan, measure, analyze, suggest, and draft the report and analysis. I make all of the decisions in the report and read everything before it reaches you.
What happens after the audit? Do I have to buy anything else?
No. The content strategy and action plan are yours to use however you wish, whether that's with your own team, your agency, or me. If you'd like to hire me to do the work in the action plan, then my AI visibility program puts everything into practice. I'll re-measure your visibility after each three months of work so you can see what's changed.
Will your content strategy and action plan improve our visibility in AI answers?
Not necessarily. I can't guarantee whether AI engines will name you, even after following the content strategy and action plan. Although I build them around what the research tells us could help, the AI engines have not shared what gets pages to rank. What I will give you is a clear, dated picture of how you're doing and a plan built on the evidence.
Do you want to find out where you stand in AI search?
Your next step is to book a free discovery call with me. You can tell me about your business, and I'll tell you if the AI baseline and action plan is right for you. Get in touch via my contact page and we'll kick things off.
Paul Maplesden, B2B content strategist and writer. Writing professionally since 2006. About me.
Page last updated: October 2026.