Prepared by Knownstone, a Hutcheson Labs company · November 1, 2026

AI Visibility Audit — SAMPLE

1. Summary

26AI answers captured
5AI engines
92%Subject brand mention rate
8/26answers citing subject-brand.com

Across 6 buyer-style questions, Subject brand was named in 92% of answers, behind Competitor A at 100%. The brand is consistently recommended, usually in the top two positions, but its own site is cited as a source in only 8 of 26 answers. Engines lean on the leading competitor's pages, video, Reddit threads and third-party review/listicle sites for evidence. The biggest opportunities are (1) earning citations on the third-party pages engines already trust, (2) giving engines quotable, answer-first pages for comparison and "best for" questions, and (3) closing gaps in Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, where the brand was absent from 1 in 6 answers.

2. Method

Questions were sent as fresh sessions (no login, US location where supported) to: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overview. Each answer's text was scanned for 14 tracked CRM brands (first-mention order = rank) and every cited link was recorded. One run per question per engine in this sample; paid audits use 30 questions and 2 runs each. Claude has 2 answers in this sample because our test run hit a tool usage cap; Perplexity and Grok were not captured in this run (see notes).

#Buyer question tested
1What CRM do small marketing agencies use to manage clients and deals?
2What is the easiest CRM for managing a sales pipeline?
3Subject brand vs Competitor A: which CRM is better for a small business?
4Which CRM should a 10-person sales team use to track leads and deals?
5What is the best CRM for a small B2B sales team?
6What is an affordable CRM for a B2B startup?

Google AI Overview queries were sent as shorter keyword versions of the same questions.

3. Mention rate by brand (all engines)

BrandShare of answers naming the brand
Competitor A
100%
Subject brand
92%
Competitor B
65%
Competitor C
42%
Competitor D
31%
Competitor E
27%
Competitor F
23%
Competitor G
19%
Competitor H
19%
Competitor I
15%
Competitor J
12%
Competitor K
12%

4. By engine

EngineAnswersSubject brand mention rateAvg. position when namedAnswers citing its siteMost-named brand
ChatGPT6100%1.76Subject brand (100%)
Claude2100%1.00Subject brand (100%)
Gemini6100%1.80Subject brand (100%)
Google AI Mode683%1.81Competitor A (100%)
Google AI Overview683%1.61Competitor A (100%)

5. Sources AI engines cited most

These domains supplied the evidence behind the answers. Getting accurately represented on the third-party ones is usually the highest-leverage off-site work.

DomainAnswers citing itType
competitor-a.com12Competitor (owned)
youtube.com9Video / community (UGC)
subject-brand.com8Subject brand (owned)
reddit.com8Video / community (UGC)
competitor-b.com7Competitor (owned)
competitor-f.com5Competitor (owned)
competitor-e.com4Competitor (owned)
kayako.com4Third-party review, listicle or blog
zapier.com4Third-party review, listicle or blog
gilzor.com3Third-party review, listicle or blog
competitor-c.com2Competitor (owned)
competitor-d.com2Competitor (owned)
blog.salesflare.com2Third-party review, listicle or blog
techradar.com2Third-party review, listicle or blog
dupple.com2Third-party review, listicle or blog

6. Site readiness check (owned site)

CheckFindingStatus
AI crawler access (robots.txt)No blocks for GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot or Google-Extended; only API/preview paths disallowed. Sitemap declared.Good
Structured data (homepage)JSON-LD present: Organization, FAQPage (5 Q&As), DefinedTerm. No SoftwareApplication/Product schema with pricing and ratings found on the homepage.Improve
llms.txtPresent (~9 KB, well-structured brand summary). Note: no major AI engine has confirmed using llms.txt; we treat it as low-cost, optional.Present
Pricing page accessReturned HTTP 403 to our automated fetch. If AI crawlers see the same, engines may quote pricing from third-party pages instead.Verify
Owned-page citationsOwn site cited in a minority of answers; engines prefer the leading competitor's guides plus third-party listicles and Reddit.Gap

7. Prioritized fixes (30/60/90 days)

WhenActionWhy (evidence level)
30Publish answer-first comparison and "best CRM for [team type]" pages with a 2-3 sentence direct answer at the top, a comparison table, current pricing, and dated sources.Engines quote concise, specific passages; the GEO study (Aggarwal et al., 2023) found statistics, quotations and citations raised visibility up to ~40% in tests. (Moderate)
30Make sure the pricing page is fetchable by AI crawlers and add SoftwareApplication/Offer schema matching visible prices.Engines can only cite what they can fetch. Schema alone showed little citation lift in Ahrefs' 2026 test, so treat it as hygiene, not a lever. (Hygiene)
60Get accurate, current coverage on the third-party pages engines cited above: correct pricing and features on review sites, outreach to listicle authors, helpful (disclosed) participation in relevant Reddit threads.Ahrefs' 75K-brand study found branded web mentions correlated most with AI Overview visibility (0.664). Correlation, not proof. (Moderate)
60Entity consistency: identical one-line description, category, pricing and founding facts across site, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, G2/Capterra and Wikidata.Reduces contradictory facts engines may repeat. (Best practice)
90Re-run the same prompt set; compare mention rate, position and owned-citation share against this baseline.Engines re-crawl and update on their own schedules; measure, don't assume. (Measurement)

8. Answer-level detail

EngineQuestionBrands named, in orderCited domains
ChatGPTWhat CRM do small marketing agencies use to manage clients and deals?Competitor A, Subject brand, Competitor I, Competitor B, Competitor Ecompetitor-a.com, subject-brand.com, competitor-i.com, competitor-b.com, competitor-e.com, productive.io, tasksession.com, onfolio.com
ChatGPTWhat is the easiest CRM for managing a sales pipeline?Competitor A, Subject brand, Competitor G, Competitor E, Competitor Bcompetitor-a.com, subject-brand.com, competitor-g.com, competitor-e.com, competitor-b.com
ChatGPTSubject brand vs Competitor A: which CRM is better for a small business?Subject brand, Competitor Asubject-brand.com, competitor-a.com
ChatGPTWhich CRM should a 10-person sales team use to track leads and deals?Subject brand, Competitor A, Competitor B, Competitor C, Competitor Dsubject-brand.com, competitor-a.com, competitor-b.com, competitor-c.com, competitor-d.com, spotsaas.com, gilzor.com, blog.salesflare.com
ChatGPTWhat is the best CRM for a small B2B sales team?Subject brand, Competitor A, Competitor B, Competitor J, Competitor Csubject-brand.com, competitor-a.com, competitor-b.com, competitor-j.com, competitor-c.com, gilzor.com, dupple.com, techradar.com
ChatGPTWhat is an affordable CRM for a B2B startup?Competitor A, Competitor B, Subject brand, Competitor C, Competitor F, Competitor Dcompetitor-a.com, competitor-b.com, subject-brand.com, competitor-f.com, competitor-d.com, stackbytrade.com, dupple.com, rankite.com
GeminiWhat is an affordable CRM for a B2B startup?Competitor A, Competitor B, Subject brand, Competitor F, Competitor Dcompetitor-a.com, zoflowx.com
GeminiWhich CRM should a 10-person sales team use to track leads and deals?Competitor C, Subject brand, Competitor A, Competitor Bhackceleration.com, withallo.com
GeminiWhat is the easiest CRM for managing a sales pipeline?Subject brand, Competitor G, Competitor C, Competitor A, Competitor Ekayako.com, slack.com, uschamber.com, baserow.io
GeminiWhat CRM do small marketing agencies use to manage clients and deals?Competitor A, Competitor I, Subject brand, Competitor F, Competitor E, Competitor B, Competitor Ccompetitor-f.com, onepagecrm.com
GeminiWhat is the best CRM for a small B2B sales team?Subject brand, Competitor A, Competitor K, Competitor B, Competitor Hkayako.com, youtube.com, competitor-k.com
GeminiSubject brand vs Competitor A: which CRM is better for a small business?Subject brand, Competitor Azapier.com, sales-surge.io, flozic.ai, business.com
Google AI ModeWhat is the best CRM for a small B2B sales team?Subject brand, Competitor A, Competitor H, Competitor D, Competitor B, Competitor Cbaserow.io, reddit.com
Google AI ModeWhich CRM should a 10-person sales team use to track leads and deals?Competitor C, Subject brand, Competitor A, Competitor H, Competitor Breddit.com, twilead.com
Google AI ModeWhat CRM do small marketing agencies use to manage clients and deals?Competitor F, Competitor A, Subject brand, Competitor I, Competitor E, Competitor Hcompetitor-f.com, fluidcrm.io
Google AI ModeWhat is the easiest CRM for managing a sales pipeline?Competitor A, Competitor D, Competitor K, Competitor Eyoutube.com, reddit.com, google.com
Google AI ModeSubject brand vs Competitor A: which CRM is better for a small business?Subject brand, Competitor Acompetitor-a.com, hackceleration.com, youtube.com, subject-brand.com, google.com
Google AI ModeWhat is an affordable CRM for a B2B startup?Competitor F, Subject brand, Competitor B, Competitor C, Competitor Aspiich.ai, reddit.com, competitor-f.com
Google AI Overviewbest CRM for small B2B sales teamSubject brand, Competitor D, Competitor A, Competitor B, Competitor K, Competitor Hyoutube.com, zapier.com, gushwork.ai, pcmag.com, salestarget.ai, instantly.ai
Google AI OverviewCRM for small marketing agenciesCompetitor A, Competitor I, Competitor Breddit.com, competitor-b.com, netsuite.com, functionfox.com, competitor-a.com, zapier.com, youtube.com
Google AI Overvieweasiest CRM for managing a sales pipelineSubject brand, Competitor A, Competitor G, Competitor Dreddit.com, competitor-a.com, uschamber.com, onesuite.io, kayako.com, youtube.com, pipeline.zoominfo.com
Google AI OverviewCRM for 10 person sales team to track leads and dealsSubject brand, Competitor A, Competitor E, Competitor Breddit.com, onesuite.io, twilead.com, youtube.com, interakt.shop, competitor-a.com, instagram.com
Google AI Overviewsubject brand vs competitor A for small businessSubject brand, Competitor Areddit.com, youtube.com, subject-brand.com, zapier.com, avoma.com, competitor-e.com, larksuite.com, competitor-a.com
Google AI Overviewaffordable CRM for B2B startupCompetitor A, Competitor B, Competitor C, Subject brand, Competitor G, Competitor F, Competitor Jcompetitor-f.com, youtube.com, jetpack.com, instantly.ai, competitor-b.com, competitor-k.com
ClaudeWhat is the best CRM for a small B2B sales team?Subject brand, Competitor A, Competitor C, Competitor B, Competitor G, Competitor D, Competitor Jsuperoffice.com, coevera.com, clarify.ai, kayako.com, blog.salesflare.com, fluidcrm.io, salesgenie.com
ClaudeSubject brand vs Competitor A: which CRM is better for a small business?Subject brand, Competitor Acompetitor-e.com, vedain.com, business.com, sales-surge.io, layer3labs.io

9. Notes and limits