Methodology

We do not count a name drop as a citation.

AI visibility is not one thing. Outloud records what the answer said, which sources it showed, and how the customer and competitors appeared—then reports those signals separately.

Question design

Three prompt groups answer three different questions.

01

Neutral discovery

Would a buyer discover the company without supplying its name?

“Best skills assessment platform for a high-volume hiring team”

02

Competitor-led

Does the company appear when a buyer compares known options or asks for alternatives?

“Alternatives to [competitor] for skills-based hiring”

03

Branded controls

Can the system identify the company accurately when asked directly?

“What does [company] do and who is it for?”

TWO MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS

Organic search and AI answers overlap. Their outcomes should not be blended.

SEO establishes whether pages can be discovered, indexed and found through search. Outloud adds a controlled view of whether those pages and supporting sources are being used inside AI-assisted buyer research.

FOUNDATION / SEO

Search visibility

  • Crawl and indexing status
  • Search impressions and clicks
  • Queries and landing pages
  • Technical and content issues

Observed through site checks, Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools where access is available.

ADDED LAYER / OUTLOUD

AI answer visibility

  • Neutral and comparison prompts
  • Verified domain citations
  • Brand mentions and recommendations
  • Competitor and source coverage

Observed through a documented, dated prompt sample with the raw evidence preserved.

Evidence ladder

Visibility becomes more valuable as the evidence strengthens.

These are related signals, not interchangeable labels.

  1. 01

    Retrieval triggered

    The platform searched or retrieved external material.

  2. 02

    Source selected

    A page or domain appeared in the platform's source set.

  3. 03

    Verified domain citation

    A visible citation resolves to the customer's domain.

  4. 04

    Brand mention

    The answer names the company, with or without a direct citation.

  5. 05

    Recommendation

    The company is presented as an option for the buyer's need.

  6. 06

    Supported claim

    The answer makes a relevant claim and provides traceable supporting evidence.

Working loop

Measure, diagnose, improve, repeat.

  1. 01

    Audit

    Run a dated, documented prompt set and preserve the raw outputs.

  2. 02

    Analyse

    Separate content gaps, entity ambiguity, technical barriers and source gaps.

  3. 03

    Implement

    Make the highest-value site and authority improvements first.

  4. 04

    Repeat

    Re-run comparable questions and explain what changed.

Important limitations

A snapshot is evidence, not a permanent truth.

  • Answers can vary by platform, model, location, date and browsing behaviour.
  • A sampled prompt set cannot represent every question a buyer may ask.
  • “Share of voice” means share within the documented sample—not the whole market.
  • AI visibility cannot be inferred from organic rankings alone, and prompt sampling does not replace SEO reporting.
  • A citation can be present without producing a useful or accurate recommendation.
  • Improvement work raises the quality of discoverable signals; it cannot guarantee an output.

See your evidence

See the method applied to your company.