AI visibility explained

Mentioned vs recommended: what it really means when AI names your business

By Freddie Sharland Vaval, Founder, Citable London · 29 September 2026

"ChatGPT mentions us!" is a great feeling. But a mention and a recommendation are very different things, and if you're making decisions based on one screenshot, you may be measuring the wrong thing.

A business owner shows me a screenshot: "Look, ChatGPT knows us." And it does. The name is there, in the fourth paragraph, in a list of eight businesses, with a note that it "may also be worth considering".

That's a mention. It isn't a recommendation, and the difference matters for your bookings.

Three levels of AI visibility

1. Absent. You don't appear at all. For that question, as far as the AI is concerned, you don't exist.

2. Mentioned. Your name appears, but as one of many, with little or no endorsement. Useful, but the customer probably won't pick you.

3. Recommended. The AI puts you forward as a good answer to the person's actual question, often first, often with a reason ("open late, strong reviews for emergency appointments").

Only the third one reliably turns into enquiries. When you measure AI visibility, keep them separate.

Why one screenshot proves very little

AI answers are generated fresh each time. The same question can produce a different answer depending on:

• the exact wording ("best dentist" vs "emergency dentist open now")
• where the person is, and what the tool knows about their context
• which tool they use (ChatGPT, Google's AI answers, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot)
• which sources the tool pulls in that day

So a single "we're in ChatGPT!" screenshot can be real and still be misleading. It's one sample. You need to see the pattern.

How to measure it honestly

Here's the method we use, and you can do a simple version yourself:

1. Write down 10 questions your real customers ask, in their words, not your marketing words.
2. Ask each question in several AI tools. Note the date and the tool.
3. Record three things each time: were you absent, mentioned or recommended? Who was recommended instead?
4. Repeat it more than once. Look at how often you appear, not whether you appeared once.
5. Re-check monthly, on the same questions, so you can see real change rather than noise.

The most useful output isn't your own score. It's the list of who the AI recommends instead of you, and what those businesses have that you don't: clearer pages, more specific reviews, more mentions elsewhere, a complete Google profile.

Be wary of anyone who promises a position

Because answers vary, nobody can honestly guarantee that an AI will recommend you, or "rank you number one in ChatGPT". What can be done is improving the signals that make you easier to vouch for, and measuring the pattern over time with dated evidence.

That's the whole approach behind our free AI Visibility Snapshot: real questions, recorded on a date, with mention and recommendation counted separately, and a clear list of what to fix.

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