What is AI visibility (AEO)?

For years, being found meant ranking on a search results page. That’s changing. More people now ask an AI assistant a question and act on the single answer it gives - no list of blue links, just a recommendation.

The shift to answer engines

When someone asks “what’s the best option for my situation?”, an assistant like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Perplexity replies with a short, confident answer. It might name a few brands, cite a few sources, and move on. If your brand isn’t in that answer, you’re effectively invisible for that question.

Being named vs. being ranked

Traditional SEO is about position on a page. AI visibility is about whether you’re in the answer at all - and how favorably. It’s a related but distinct discipline, often called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): getting mentioned, cited, and recommended by AI assistants.

Why it’s worth measuring

These answers happen privately, one prompt at a time, across many assistants - so you can’t just “check your ranking.” You need to sample the questions your buyers ask, across the engines they use, and see how you show up. That’s what Visibility AI does.

Related: How your visibility score works.