The CEO of a mid-sized online retailer asks his Head of Marketing: “How visible are we on Google?” The Head of Marketing opens Search Console and shows rankings, impressions, clicks. Everything is in the green. What no one in the room asks: How visible are we in ChatGPT? In Perplexity? In Claude? When a potential customer asks AI which provider they should choose — do we appear there at all?
Most companies don’t know the answer to that question. And that is the problem.
Search engines have shaped buying behavior for more than two decades. During that time, SEO became a profession of its own. Companies invest heavily to be visible on Google. At the same time, a new channel has emerged. More and more research today no longer starts on Google, but with an AI model. Someone types a question, receives a direct answer — and that answer names specific providers. If you are not mentioned there, you do not exist for that user in that moment. The crucial difference from traditional search: on Google, a user gets ten results and clicks through them. With AI, they get one answer. That answer names two or three brands. Everyone else is left out.
ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI do not answer out of nowhere. Their recommendations are based on what is written about a company online — in trade media, blogs, forums, reviews, communities, and review platforms. That means AI visibility is not a technical issue. It is a reputation issue. Companies that are present in relevant sources, are mentioned positively there, and appear as providers in community discussions are more likely to be recommended by AI models. Companies that are barely written about barely appear. Regardless of how good their product is.
In 2005, hardly anyone in the mid-market believed in SEO. By 2015, everyone was catching up — too late and too expensively, because the early movers had already secured dominant positions. AI visibility is at a similar point today. Most companies don’t measure it. Most don’t know how they appear in AI answers. Competition for these positions is still low. This is a window of opportunity. And it is closing. For small and mid-sized companies, this is especially relevant: in traditional search, the top positions are fiercely contested. In AI search, many fields are still open. Companies that become visible today won’t have to catch up later.
If someone asks ChatGPT, “Which online retailer for outdoor gear would you recommend?” — are you mentioned? If someone asks Perplexity, “What is the best provider for [your product category]?” — do you appear? How often are you mentioned compared with your strongest competitor? In which topics are you visible — and in which are you not? These questions can be measured. Regularly, automatically, and in direct comparison with the competition. Most companies simply don’t ask them. Because the channel is new. Because there is no established practice yet. And because traditional marketing tools simply don’t cover this channel.
The first step is knowing where you currently stand. Which questions are your customers asking AI — and do you appear in the answers? Where is your competitor more present than you? Which sources cite them while ignoring you? This gap analysis shows where to start. AI visibility can be improved deliberately — through presence in the sources AI models consider reliable: trade media, community posts, reviews, mentions in industry-specific forums. This is not a classic SEO task. It is targeted reputation work in the right places.
AI visibility is the new channel your marketing is not measuring yet. Companies that become visible there early gain an advantage others will first have to catch up with. Companies that wait will repeat the mistake many made with SEO — only with less time to catch up. The first step is simple: find out how you appear today in AI answers — for your company and compared with your competitors.
