Choose what you want to learn
A brand may want to know whether a product is recommended. A publisher may want to know whether its reporting is cited. An agency needs to explain both to a client. A creator may need an accurate description of their work. These are different questions, so choose the outcome before choosing a score.
Keep a small, repeatable question set. Include questions about you and questions that never name you. For each, record the exact wording, assistant, date, search mode where visible, full answer and source links. Missing or failed answers belong in the record, too.
Use the DIY AI visibility tracking guide for a four-tab notebook, rules for missing answers and a way to decide when paid software is worth evaluating.
Read the answer before counting it
| Observation | What to record | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Mention | Your name appears in the answer. | That the answer endorses you. |
| Citation | A source link points to your page. | That the answer recommends you or sends a visitor. |
| Recommendation | The answer suggests you for the requested task. | Why the assistant chose you. |
In Gist’s CRM study, an assistant could cite one company’s content while suggesting another company’s product. Read the example and its scope before treating a citation as a commercial result.
Choose one action from an observed problem
| Observed problem | Work to do | Check after the change |
|---|---|---|
| A public guide is blocked | Review its exact URL and required assets in your crawler policy. | Fetch the page and inspect the applicable rules. |
| Your page gives an old product fact | Correct the visible fact and matching structured data, using an authoritative source. | Check the served page, then revisit the saved question. |
| A useful answer is buried or incomplete | Make the answer explicit and add the missing evidence on the existing page. | Confirm the text and sources are readable. |
| A relevant collection does not link to your article | Add a descriptive link from that owned collection. | Follow the link and verify its destination. |
An inaccessible page is an access problem until you can inspect it. An absent citation alone does not prove that the article is weak. Use the GEO audit checklist to separate those findings.
Measure again without promising a result
Keep the question set and collection method comparable. Report counts with denominators: for example, “named in 6 of 20 completed answers” is clearer than an unexplained visibility score. Keep citations, recommendations and website visits separate. Record other changes that could affect the result.
For Google’s AI features, pages must be indexed and eligible for a snippet. Google says no special AI file or schema is required, and inclusion is not guaranteed. Read Google’s eligibility guidance.
The Gist GEO platform adds ongoing tracking and a prioritized action plan. The free scan is a snapshot; neither makes future recommendations certain.