Start with an honest premise: there is no universal “AI rank”
Business owners increasingly ask whether ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AI search features are recommending them. It is a fair question, but it can lead to a bad measurement habit: treating one AI response as if it were a fixed search ranking.
It is not. AI-assisted answers can change with the platform, the wording of the question, the location implied by the question, the information available on the web at that time and the sources the system chooses to draw on. A response that names your business today is a useful observation. A response that does not name you is also useful. Neither is a final verdict.
That is why Arise SEO’s free AI Visibility Checker is designed as a starting point, not a dramatic score designed to create anxiety. It gives a New Zealand business a fast way to explore one commercially relevant question and decide what to investigate next.
The right question is not “What is my AI rank?” Ask: for the service-and-location questions that matter to our customers, is our business represented, what evidence is being surfaced, and what can we improve responsibly?
What the AI Visibility Checker actually measures
When you enter your website and a service plus city, the checker sends one live, Perplexity-based query based on that service and location. It then looks at the resulting response for whether the website domain you entered is referenced and records the businesses that appear to have been recommended instead.
The result is useful because it is tied to a real search scenario. A Christchurch roofing company, for example, can test a phrase such as “roof repair Christchurch”. A Wellington accountant can test “small business accountant Wellington”. This is much more meaningful than asking a vague question such as “is my business good?”
| The checker does | The checker does not do |
|---|---|
| Runs one live Perplexity-based query using the service and location you enter. | Claim to test every prompt, every city or every AI platform. |
| Checks whether the website domain supplied is referenced in that response. | Create a universal “AI rank” or guarantee future citations. |
| Shows a directional result and names competitors identified in the response where available. | Replace a technical audit, local SEO review, content audit or citation programme. |
| Emails a concise report with practical next steps when you request it. | Prove cause and effect from one answer alone. |
This scope is deliberate. A quick free tool should answer one clear question well. It should not pretend a single response can measure the whole of your reputation, search visibility or commercial opportunity.
Why it uses Perplexity - and why that matters
The free checker uses Perplexity because it produces live, web-grounded responses and makes it practical to test a service-and-location question in a repeatable way. That does not mean its result is a result from ChatGPT, Gemini or Google AI Overviews. Those products behave differently and may draw on different retrieval systems, interfaces and sources.
Separating platforms is essential. If a report says you are “visible in AI” but cannot show the platform, prompt, date and evidence behind that statement, it is not a useful report. Google’s own guidance for AI search continues to point website owners toward the durable basics: helpful, original content, accessible technical foundations and accurate business information rather than special shortcuts. Read Google’s guidance for generative AI search features.
For a complete programme, you would choose the platforms your customers genuinely use, keep those observations separate and compare like with like. The free checker is the first step in that process, not an attempt to compress every platform into one invented score.
How to choose a useful service-and-city query
The usefulness of the result depends heavily on the question you ask. Use the language a customer would use when they are looking for a provider, validating a choice or dealing with a real problem. Broad phrases create broad and often unhelpful answers.
Direct local service
Use a high-intent phrase such as “emergency plumber Christchurch” or “family lawyer Auckland”.
Problem-led question
Test the way customers describe an urgent need, such as “who can fix a leaking roof in Christchurch?”
Selection question
Ask a comparison-style question that exposes trust signals, for example “what should I look for in a Wellington accountant?”
Match your real market
Use the service and location you actively sell, rather than a city or service you only hope to target one day.
A good starting test is one of the service-and-location phrases that already produces high-quality enquiries. If you operate across more than one city or offer more than one important service, do not run dozens of ad hoc checks. Instead, make a small documented list and test it consistently. Our AI search visibility measurement framework explains how to create a useful query set.
How to interpret a result where your business is mentioned
If the checker reports that your website was referenced, that is encouraging. It suggests the current response contained a signal that connected your domain with the question you asked. However, do not stop at the green result.
- Read the wording: Was the business actually recommended, merely listed, or cited as a source for background information?
- Look at the query: Does this represent a service-and-location question that can create valuable leads?
- Record the evidence: Save the date, exact wording and any other businesses or sources mentioned.
- Protect the foundations: Keep business details accurate, service pages current, reviews genuine and technical SEO clean.
- Test related intent: A business cited for an educational question may not appear for a direct commercial question, and vice versa.
Being mentioned is a prompt to understand what is working. It may be a strong service page, a useful article, a reputable directory listing, reviews or a clear local business footprint. Treat that evidence as a clue for further work, not as permission to become complacent.
How to interpret a result where your business is absent
An absent result is not a diagnosis. The answer may have used a different phrasing, prioritised review platforms, surfaced established competitors, or simply not found enough clear evidence to include your business in that one response.
Use the result to ask better questions. Which businesses were named? Which websites or third-party sources appear to support them? Does your own website clearly explain the relevant service, city, process and proof? Is your Google Business Profile accurate? Are there credible reviews, local citations or customer evidence that help people and search systems understand why you should be considered?
| Observed pattern | Sensible next investigation |
|---|---|
| Your business is absent, but competitors have clear service pages. | Review the corresponding commercial page for clarity, specificity, proof, internal links and customer questions. |
| AI names directories or review platforms more often than business websites. | Audit the accuracy and consistency of Google Business Profile, NZ directories, reviews and business information. |
| Your educational content appears, but your service pages do not. | Strengthen links and calls to action from relevant guides to the commercial service page. |
| The result changes heavily across similar prompts. | Document a narrower, repeatable query set and compare it over time rather than reacting to noise. |
The work that follows may be Local SEO, technical improvements, better service-page content, authentic reviews, useful expert material or better business/entity consistency. The answer should be based on evidence, not a generic “buy more backlinks” prescription.
What a one-off check cannot tell you
It cannot tell you how often you are mentioned across all customer questions. It cannot confirm your visibility in platforms it does not query. It cannot prove that a particular change caused a mention. And it cannot replace the fundamentals of SEO: crawlable pages, accurate information, useful content and credible real-world signals.
Be wary of any provider that converts a one-off AI prompt into a large, unexplained percentage score. A number without the exact prompts, platform, date, locations and source evidence is difficult to verify and almost impossible to use intelligently.
A healthy response to a free check is curiosity, not panic. If the answer reveals a gap, inspect the evidence and choose the next logical improvement. If it reveals a mention, work out what supports it and whether that visibility relates to the leads you value.
From a quick check to ongoing AI-visibility measurement
Once you have explored one useful query, the next level is a documented monitoring approach. Start with 10 to 15 important questions, categorise them by intent, record the exact wording and track the same questions at a sensible cadence. Separate Perplexity, Google AI features, ChatGPT and Gemini rather than merging their very different outputs.
For hands-on preparation, use the AEO Readiness Checklist. For a broader explanation of citation tracking, read our guide to tracking your AI citation score. If you need a repeatable tool for ongoing citation tracking, CiteSpy was built by Arise SEO for that purpose; it should be used with clear query design and human review, not as a substitute for judgment.
Most importantly, connect the findings to work that a customer will recognise: clearer service information, genuine proof, stronger local business details, better customer answers and a site that is easy for people and search systems to navigate. That is where durable SEO and AEO meet.
Run the check, then use the result properly
The free checker is there to make the first question easier. Run it for a service and city that matter to your business, read the result in context and use it to choose a sensible next step. If you want help turning that starting signal into a prioritised SEO and AEO plan, see how Arise SEO works or talk to Pew directly.