⏰ The 30-second version
- The backbone is one move — drop your brand name and ask the AI about the customer's problem. Then see whether your brand appears in the answer and its sources.
- One or two questions won't tell you anything. You have to measure broadly, with 30 questions.
- Out of 30 questions, the number where your brand appears — that number is your AI search coverage.
- A mention isn't a citation. Your page has to be in the source links for you to earn a click.
Step 1 — Ask like a customer: leave your brand name out
Let's name the common mistake first: asking "How's brand ○○?", seeing it appear, and relaxing. That's a question from someone who already knows your brand. Most real customers don't know your brand — they describe their problem: "What should I put on combination skin?" or "Can a protein shake replace a meal?" And it's in the answer that they meet a brand for the first time.
Throw brand-free problem questions at all three — ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google (AI Overviews). Does your brand come up?
Step 2 — Measure coverage with a question list: numbers, not gut feel
Toss out one or two questions, see nothing, and give up, and you've learned nothing. You need to know which questions you're missing before you can decide what to do next.
In any category, customer questions roughly split into five axes — selection criteria / comparisons / side effects & cautions / how to use / price. Write 30 questions along those axes, throw each one at the AI, and you'll get a coverage number: "appears in N of 30." The raw material isn't far away — your reviews, customer inquiries, and search autocomplete are all you need.
Step 3 — Check the sources: a mention ≠ a citation
Google AI Overviews and Perplexity show source links beneath their answers. This is where it's really won or lost. Even if your brand gets mentioned, if the source is a competitor's blog or a community post, the traffic flows there. Who's writing the answer for your category? It's printed right there in the source list.
If you checked and you're not showing up: that's normal
At this point in time, most seller brands don't appear. That's not cause for despair — it's a map. The list of unanswered questions is your content priority.
The tool we built, Bulti's free audit, runs these three steps (generate questions → measure coverage → prescribe priorities) automatically. It builds 30 questions tailored to your category, measures how many of your pages answer them, and even tells you what to write this week. Try the manual version first, then run it — you'll see the difference.
FAQ
Q. Do I have to check manually every time?
The principle works fine by hand. But cycling through 30 questions × 3 surfaces on a regular basis is real work, so a tool is the realistic option for repeat checks.
Q. Different AIs give different answers — which one is the benchmark?
Start where your customers are. For e-commerce, ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews are the two to prioritize.
Q. How often should I check?
Every 2–4 weeks while you're publishing content. It takes time for AI to re-read the web and reflect it in answers, so there's no need to check daily.
Originally published at en.bultibulti.com. We run a free GEO audit there — it checks one of your pages against 30 buyer questions, no signup.
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