Classic SEO measures whether you rank on Google. But AI answers are quietly eating the ten blue links, and that raises a different question with different signals: when someone asks ChatGPT, Claude or Google AI for a recommendation, can the model actually understand, trust and cite your business?
I wanted real data instead of vibes, so I ran a controlled audit of 100 businesses — 25 local, 25 national, 25 international, 25 niche B2B/SaaS — scoring how well each site gives AI systems what they need to recommend it. (Audit date: 2026-05-31.)
Full disclosure up front: I build a tool that does this scoring (GetVisus). But this post is the data and the takeaways, not a pitch — you can act on every finding here without any tool.
The surprising part: brand size didn't save anyone
Bold Street Coffee, Mowgli, a local charity → 100/100
