This is written for a lodge or safari operator, but every check works for any service business — swap the example prompts and the mechanics are identical. You need nothing installed and nothing paid for: three browser tabs and about fifteen minutes.
Free checklist
Test your own AI visibility in 15 minutes
The exact prompts to paste into ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, how to score what comes back, and the five technical checks that decide whether AI engines can find, read, and cite your business.
In short
AI visibility comes down to two questions: do the engines name you when a buyer asks, and can they read you well enough to try. Run three buyer-style prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini and score each answer — cited by name, mentioned generically, or invisible. Then check five things: AI-crawler access in robots.txt, a plain-text answer block on your homepage, structured data, a complete Google Business Profile, and reviews a machine can read. Fails are fixable, and most are quick.
Part 1
The three-engine test
Ask the engines the questions your buyers ask — not your business name. A buyer does not know you yet; they ask for a plan, a recommendation, a shortlist. Paste each prompt below, replacing the brackets with your details.
ChatGPT — chatgpt.com
If you run a lodge or safari operation
Plan a 7-day safari in Tanzania for under $4,000 per person. Which operators should I book with, and why?
If you run a professional-services firm
Recommend a good accountant in Nairobi for a small import business. Who would you shortlist?
Perplexity — perplexity.ai
If you run a lodge or safari operation
What are the best-reviewed lodges near [your park or city], and roughly what do they cost per night?
If you run a professional-services firm
Which accounting firms in [your city] handle tax and payroll for small businesses, and what are they known for?
Gemini — gemini.google.com
If you run a lodge or safari operation
I am planning a honeymoon safari in [your country]. Which companies do you recommend, and what makes them good?
If you run a professional-services firm
I need a reliable [your service] firm in [your city]. Who do people recommend, and what do reviews say about them?
One more prompt worth running in each engine: “What do you know about [your business name]?” If the answer is wrong, thin, or nothing, the engine has no reliable file on you — which is what Part 2 fixes.
Scoring
How to read the answers
Nine answers in total — three prompts across three engines. Score each one against the same three levels, and write down who gets named when you do not.
Cited by name
The engine names your business, with roughly correct details. This is the win — a buyer asking this question hears about you.
Mentioned generically
The engine describes your category or location without naming you — “there are several lodges near the park”. You exist, but the recommendation goes to whoever it can name.
Invisible
Your competitors get named and you do not appear at all. Every buyer who asks this question is routed past you.
The competitor names you collect are as valuable as your own score. Whoever is being cited has done something right — usually one of the five checks below — and their name appearing in your category’s answers is the gap, made visible.
Part 2
Five technical checks, in plain language
An engine can only recommend a business it can reach, read, and verify. These five checks cover each step. For every one: what to do, what a pass looks like, and what a fail means.
1. Can AI crawlers actually reach your site?
What to do
Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt in a browser. Look for lines naming GPTBot (ChatGPT), ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, or Google-Extended, and for any broad “User-agent: * / Disallow: /” rule. Also check whether your security plugin or CDN has a “block bots” setting switched on.
A pass looks like
No rule blocks the AI crawlers. They can fetch your pages, which means the engines can read you.
A fail means
A Disallow rule or bot-blocker turns the AI crawlers away. The engines literally cannot read your site — everything else on this checklist is theoretical until this is fixed. Removing the blocking line is usually a five-minute job.
2. Does your homepage answer real questions in plain text?
What to do
Right-click your homepage and choose “View page source”. Search the raw HTML for the sentence that says what you are, where you are, and what you cost — “a 12-room lodge 4 km from the eastern gate, from $280 a night including game drives”. This is the answer-first block an AI can quote.
A pass looks like
A plain, factual sentence exists in the raw HTML near the top of the page — not behind JavaScript, not inside an image.
A fail means
The page is photography, sliders, and adjectives. “Nestled in untamed wilderness” tells a machine nothing; every lodge in Africa is apparently nestled somewhere. An engine with nothing quotable quotes someone else.
3. Is structured data present?
What to do
Paste your homepage URL into validator.schema.org or Google’s Rich Results Test. You are looking for markup that states your name, business type, location, and contact details in the format machines read natively.
A pass looks like
The validator finds Organization, LocalBusiness, Hotel, or Service markup with real values — name, address, type — that match what the visible page says.
A fail means
Nothing found, or markup that contradicts the page. No schema means the engine guesses; contradictory schema teaches it your facts are unreliable, which is worse.
4. Is your Google Business Profile complete?
What to do
Search your business name on Google and open your profile. Check the category, hours, phone, website link, photos, and description. If you have never claimed the profile, that is the answer.
A pass looks like
Claimed and complete: correct primary category, current hours, real photos, a description that says what you do in plain words.
A fail means
Unclaimed, half-empty, or inconsistent with your website. AI engines cross-check businesses against sources like this; a missing or contradictory profile makes you hard to verify, and unverifiable businesses do not get recommended.
5. Are there reviews an AI can read?
What to do
Check Google, TripAdvisor, and — for safari operators — SafariBookings. Count recent, detailed reviews that mention what you offer and where you are. Note whether you reply to them.
A pass looks like
A steady stream of detailed reviews on at least one major platform, with responses from you. This is third-party text confirming you exist, where you are, and what dealing with you is like.
A fail means
No reviews, or a handful from years ago. To an engine, a business with no independent mentions is a rumour — it has nothing to cite except your own claims.
What to do with your score
If you passed most checks but the engines still do not name you, the gap is usually content: nothing on your site answers the specific questions buyers ask, so the engines quote whoever does. If you failed the technical checks, fix those first — they are prerequisites, and most take less time than the test itself.
Re-run the three-engine test monthly, same prompts, and track the trend. Assistants drift from day to day; the monthly direction is the signal.
Done by hand, or done for you
Want us to run the full test for you?
We query the engines the way your buyers would, screenshot every answer, and send you a one-page result within 48 hours — your score, who got named instead, and the gaps that explain it. Free, no lock-in.