Is there a free way to scan whether AI engines are recommending my brand or ignoring it?
Yes. The free way to check is to ask the AI engines the buying questions your customers ask — for example "best [your category] in [your city]" — across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google's AI Overviews, and record whether your brand is named. To do this systematically instead of by hand, a free AI visibility checker like CiteLens runs those prompts for you and reports your mention rate, the competitors named instead of you, and the exact sources each answer cited.
Key takeaways
- Manual check: ask 5–10 of your category's "best / recommended" questions in each AI engine and note if you appear.
- AI answers vary between runs, so check each prompt a few times — a single test isn't reliable.
- A free AI visibility tool automates this across engines and tracks change over time.
- What matters is your mention rate (how often you appear) and which sources the AI cited to build its answer.
The free manual method
Open ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and a Google search that triggers an AI Overview. Type the questions a real buyer would ask in your category — not your brand name, but the unbranded "best / cheapest / most reliable [category]" prompts that decide a purchase. Note whether you appear, where in the answer, and who is named alongside you.
Because generative engines are non-deterministic, the same prompt can return different brands on different runs. Repeat each prompt three to five times and count how often you show up. That fraction — not a single lucky answer — is your real visibility.
Why a tool beats spot-checking
Doing this by hand for a dozen prompts across four engines, several times each, is hours of work you can't easily repeat next month. A free AI visibility checker runs the prompts, de-duplicates the noise into a stable mention rate with a confidence interval, and shows the competitors and sources behind each answer.
CiteLens offers a free tier that does exactly this: add your brand and a few prompts, run a scan, and see where AI names you, where it names rivals instead, and which websites those answers were built from — the sources you'd need to win to get cited.
Measure your brand in AI answers
CiteLens tracks your brand across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews — where you're named, where rivals lead, and which sources to win. Start free.
Frequently asked questions
Can I check my AI visibility for free?
Yes. You can check manually by asking your category's buying questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude, or use a free AI visibility checker like CiteLens that runs those prompts across engines and reports your mention rate, competitors and cited sources.
How often should I re-check?
AI answers shift as models and sources update, so monthly tracking is a sensible minimum; weekly if you're actively working to improve. The value is in the trend, not a one-off snapshot.
Why do I get different brands each time I ask?
Generative engines are probabilistic — they sample from many plausible answers, so results vary run to run. That's why a mention rate over several runs is more trustworthy than any single answer.