Optimizing your AI visibility today can feel like the Wild West. There aren't tried-and-tested rules or strategy, and while the pressure is on to act, many are doing so under tricky conditions:

• The pressure to show ROI (without supporting data)
• Making decisions before understanding how you show up (and why)
• Zero guiding benchmarks
• Outdated or unclear KPIs and metrics
• Low internal resources
• High barrier to bring team members up to speed on GEO

Currently, there's no such thing as decades of experience in GEO or AEO. It's a brand-new frontier. In fact, AI search blossomed in just the last year, as evidenced by our own data here at Botify:

What we do have experience in — decades of it — is optimizing for discoverability on the web. You know what works for organic search, and you have mountains of data that shows exactly what your customers want; after all, even as search systems change, consumer intent remains the same.

This is a new frontier for everyone. Opportunity is being democratized. Your brand has a chance to capitalize on an entirely new way to reach consumers, one that compresses the buyer journey into the length of an AI chat. Figuring out how to be found and recommended in these chats is now the key.

At Botify, we're researching the science of AI search daily. We also listen closely to our clients and community. What we've heard is that things are hard: there's much to do, much to learn, fewer resources, and even less clarity.

That's why we created our newest resource, aimed at giving every team a clear, repeatable blueprint they can use to implement an AI visibility strategy for their brand — one that relies on resources and expertise you have on hand, builds on your existing strong SEO foundations, and gains momentum as you go, transforming the results you measure into the data and insights that are your strategic bedrock.

Below, you'll find an excerpt from our new ebook, Build Your 2026 GEO Flywheel: An evergreen action plan for AI visibility growth. If you find it helpful, we invite you to download the full PDF (it's free!) and share the insights with your team. Happy reading!

Build Your 2026 GEO Flywheel

Know where you stand in AI search

Before you build your plan, you need to know where you stand. That begins with an AI visibility audit, both for your brand and for top competitors. Your team can run this manually, or you could use a solution like Botify's AI Visibility to assess your performance at scale and monitor it over time.

First, assess your own brand’s visibility

Where does my brand show up?

Identify the AI platforms that find your brand today (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Mistral Le Chat, Claude, Google AI Overviews, etc.) Take note of where you’re not present as well.

How frequently do answers reference my brand or URLs?

Determine how often answers to high-intent or category-relevant prompts mention your brand, products, or URLs.

What percentage of answers link to my website or top citation sources?

Quantify the percentage of answers that cite, link to, or draw from your site or key content sources.

What’s the sentiment?

Review whether the references are positive, negative, or neutral. Flag incorrect, outdated, or harmful responses.

Where are we visible across the customer journey and various intents?

Identify your presence across different customer intents and the customer journey (from awareness to consideration to conversion.) Note where visibility is thin or absent.

Next, compare your brand's visibility with competitors

Which competitors appear more often? Where?

Study which brands the major AI platforms reference most frequently.

Whose content gets cited or linked?

Evaluate who is earning the majority of citations across different intents.

Who owns specific intents or stages of the journey?

Identify which competitors dominate awareness prompts, category research, product comparisons, or conversion-ready queries.

Where are competitors supplying data you aren’t?

Look for gaps in product details, FAQs, authoritative resources, reviews, or thought leadership.

What misinformation or competitive framing is influencing summaries?

Take note anytime an AI platform positions your competitors more favorably, or inaccurately represents your offerings.

These audits give you and your team a clear visibility baseline. You’ll learn where you show up, where you’re invisible, who’s winning, and why. Importantly, you’ll also identify exactly which platforms, prompts, and intents to prioritize as you build out your GEO strategy.

Get your copy of the 2026 GEO Flywheel ebook

We cover what it takes to build an evergreen, repeatable GEO flywheel step-by-step. Your team gets the flexibility to customize your plan and actionable clarity for every point along the way.

You can download the rest of the guide here. We hope this resource empowers you to take control of your AI visibility strategy today. Let us know what you think — we're excited to shape the future of brand visibility together!