Purplefish AI Visibility Tool: FAQs

About the tool‍ ‍

1. What is the Purplefish AI Visibility Tool©?‍ ‍

The AI Visibility Score is a free audit tool built by Purplefish that tells brands how visible they are to AI platforms like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. It produces a score out of 100, a letter grade (A–F), and a prioritised set of recommendations for improvement. It takes around 20 seconds to run and requires no sign-up.

2. Why did Purplefish build it?‍ ‍

AI platforms are increasingly where buyers go first. Rather than Googling "best PR agency Bristol" and clicking through to websites, a growing number of people are simply asking ChatGPT or Perplexity and acting on whatever those platforms recommend. Most brands have no idea whether they are being recommended or ignored. The Purplefish AI Visibility Tool© gives brands a fast, accessible answer to that question.

3. Who is it for?‍ ‍

Any brand that wants to understand and improve its visibility in AI-generated answers. It is most relevant for: B2B brands where buyers are researching suppliers via AI Consumer brands in competitive categories where AI recommendations influence purchase decisions Marketing and communications teams who want to demonstrate AI readiness to their leadership. Brands currently investing in SEO and wanting to understand whether that investment is translating to AI visibility

4. Is it free?‍ ‍

Yes, completely free. No sign-up, no credit card, no commitment, just really useful and actionable insight.

How the tool works‍ ‍

5. What does the tool measure?‍ ‍

The score measures how likely a brand is to be discovered, cited and recommended by AI platforms when users ask questions relevant to that brand's sector. It is not a measure of website performance, social media reach or traditional SEO, it is specifically about AI visibility.

6. What are the six pillars of the tool?‍ ‍

The score is broken down across six areas:

Brand Authority (25%) How well-established and widely referenced the brand is. Third-party press coverage, directory listings, knowledge graph presence (Wikipedia/Wikidata) and Google Business Profile all contribute.
Content Signals (20%) The quality, depth and freshness of content on the brand's website. AI systems prefer long-form, question-answering content published regularly. Thin or infrequently updated websites score lower.
AI Discoverability (25%) Whether AI crawlers can actually access the website. This includes checking whether bots like GPTBot and ClaudeBot are permitted in robots.txt, whether the site uses HTTPS, and whether key technical signals are in place.
Social Presence (10%) Consistency and activity across social channels. LinkedIn is the strongest signal for B2B brands. Providing handles for multiple platforms scores higher than providing none.
Structured Data (10%) Whether the website uses JSON-LD schema markup this is code that tells AI systems explicitly what the brand does, where it is and what its content is about. FAQ Page schema in particular directly influences AI-generated answers.
Topical Relevance (10%) How well the brand's content maps to the actual questions buyers ask AI platforms. Brands with generic, inward-facing content score lower than those with specific, informational content.

7. What do the grades mean?‍ ‍

A — Excellent 75–100: Strong AI visibility; brand is being cited regularly across AI platforms

B — Good 60–74: Solid foundations; appearing in some AI results but inconsistently

C — Developing 45–59: Basic presence established; significant gaps in AI-specific signals

D — Low 30–44: Material weaknesses; unlikely to be cited without significant investment

F — Critical 0–29: Effectively invisible to AI platforms; urgent action needed

Most established businesses that have not yet thought about AI visibility score in the C–D range. This is not a failure — it reflects how new this discipline is. The opportunity to improve is significant.

8. What is the opportunity tag?

Alongside the grade, each result carries one of three tags:

High opportunity Score under 40. Significant room to improve; AI strategy investment will deliver clear, measurable gains
Medium opportunity Score 40–64. Targeted work on specific pillars will meaningfully increase citation rates
Strong base Score 65+. Good foundations; focus on competitive differentiation and maintaining advantage

The data behind the score

9. Is the score based on real data or estimates?

Both, and we are transparent about which is which.

These elements are checked live, automatically, every time the audit runs:

robots.txt we check the brand's actual robots.txt file to see whether AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot etc.) are permitted or blocked
Schema markup we check the brand's homepage for JSON-LD structured data and report exactly which schema types are present
Wikidata we query the Wikidata knowledge graph API to check whether the brand has a verified entity entry

Non-live checked elements are content quality, brand authority, topical relevance, social activity. These are assessed using AI inference based on the brand's name, website, industry and the information provided in the form. For well-known brands, this inference draws on the AI model's training knowledge. For newer brands, it is based primarily on the domain, sector and form responses.

We are explicit about this in our methodology document. The score is directional and indicative, it is not a forensic audit. For a more in-depth audit covering these areas please contact us.

10. How accurate is the AI inference?

Reasonably accurate for established brands with a web presence the AI model will have encountered in training. For newer or less well-known brands, the inference is based more heavily on industry norms and form responses, and should be treated as directional rather than precise.

The live data checks (robots.txt, schema, Wikidata) are always accurate, these are factual, not estimated.

11. Can the score vary if I run it twice?

Yes it can slightly. The live data checks always return the same result. But the AI-generated elements of the score may vary by approximately ±5 points between runs — this is normal for AI language model outputs and does not indicate an error. The grade and opportunity tag will typically remain consistent.

12. Does the tool actually visit my website?

For the robots.txt and schema checks, yes; the tool fetches your robots.txt file and your homepage to check for structured data. It does not crawl further than the homepage, does not index your content, and does not store any website data beyond the check results used to generate your score.

The form questions

13. Why do you ask about content publishing frequency?

Content freshness is one of the most significant, and most overlooked, factors in AI visibility. In 2026, AI platforms have a strong recency bias: content older than approximately three months is cited significantly less often than recently published material. By knowing how often a brand publishes, we can assess this signal more accurately and give more specific recommendations.

14. Why do you ask about Cloudflare?

Cloudflare is a widely used web security service. In 2024–2025, Cloudflare changed its default settings to block AI crawlers, including GPTBot (ChatGPT), ClaudeBot (Claude) and PerplexityBot (Perplexity), as standard. Many website owners are unaware this has happened.

If a brand uses Cloudflare with default settings, it may be completely invisible to one or more major AI platforms regardless of how good its content is or how strong its brand authority is. The block operates at the network level, before crawlers can even reach the website. This is why we ask: it is a significant, specific risk that we can flag and that has a clear fix.

15. Why do you ask about a Google Business Profile?

A verified Google Business Profile confirms a brand's existence, location and trading details to Google's systems including Gemini, which draws directly on Google's knowledge graph. It also signals to other AI platforms that the brand is a legitimate, verified entity. It is one of the easiest and highest-impact improvements a brand can make, and it is free.

16. Why do you ask about Wikipedia or Wikidata?

Wikidata is a structured knowledge graph that underpins a significant proportion of what AI systems know about organisations. Having a Wikidata entry means AI platforms can reliably verify the brand's identity, founding date, industry, location and key facts — making them far more likely to cite it confidently. Brands without a Wikidata entry are relying on AI systems inferring all of this from unstructured web content, which is a weaker signal.

We also check Wikidata automatically using the brand name provided, so even if a brand is unsure whether it has an entry, we find out for real.

17. Why do you ask for social channel handles?

Social platform presence is a secondary but meaningful signal. Providing handles allows the AI to make more informed inferences about social reach and activity. LinkedIn is the most significant signal for B2B brands. Providing handles for three platforms scores higher than providing one or none. We do not access the accounts directly — the handles are used for inference only.

18. Why do you need my email address?

We collect email addresses to enable us to follow up with more detailed guidance and to let you know about developments in AI visibility relevant to your sector. Your data is handled in accordance with our privacy and data policy and you can unsubscribe at any time. We do not share your data with third parties.

What the results mean

19. What should I do with my score?

Start with the high priority recommendations, these have the greatest expected impact on your score and your actual AI visibility. The most common high-impact actions are:

Check and update your robots.txt to ensure AI crawlers are permitted
If you use Cloudflare, check your bot settings and disable the AI crawler block
Implement JSON-LD schema markup, particularly Organisation and FAQPage schema
Create or verify a Wikidata entry for your brand
Verify or create a Google Business Profile
Begin publishing regular, question-answering content at least monthly

20. My score seems low, does that mean my brand is doing badly?

Not necessarily. Most established brands that have not yet thought specifically about AI visibility score in the C–D range. This is because AI optimisation is a new discipline the signals it relies on (schema markup, AI crawler permissions, Wikidata entries, question-answering content) are not things brands have traditionally optimised for. A low score reflects an opportunity, not a failure.

21. My score seems high, does that mean I don't need to do anything?

A strong score is a good sign, but AI visibility is not static. The AI landscape is changing rapidly with platforms updating how they rank and cite sources, new competitors optimise their own visibility, and content freshness means yesterday's strong position can erode quickly. We recommend re-running the audit every three to six months and treating AI visibility as an ongoing programme, not a one-time fix.

22. The recommendations mention things I've already done, why?

The AI inference elements of the score are based on what the AI model knows about your brand and what you have told us in the form. If you have recently added schema, updated your robots.txt or created a Wikidata entry but did not mention these in the form, the recommendations may not reflect that. Re-run the audit to get an updated score.

23. Can I use my score in presentations or reports?

Yes. The score is yours to use. We ask only that you note it as the Purplefish AI Visibility Tool© (purplefish.agency) and acknowledge that it is an indicative assessment rather than a forensic audit.

AI visibility as a discipline

24. How is AI visibility different from SEO?

Traditional SEO optimises for search engine rankings i.e. getting to the top of a Google results page. AI visibility optimises for citation which means getting recommended by name when someone asks an AI platform a question.

The two disciplines overlap but are distinct.

25. Which AI platforms does this cover?

The score is designed to reflect visibility across the major general-purpose AI platforms: ChatGPT (OpenAI), Google Gemini, Claude (Anthropic), Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. These platforms have different architectures and different methods for selecting sources, but the signals that drive visibility i.e. brand authority, content quality, technical accessibility, structured data - are consistent across all of them.

26. How quickly can AI visibility improve?

Some improvements are immediate. Fixing a robots.txt block, adding schema markup or creating a Wikidata entry can be done in days and will be reflected the next time AI crawlers visit the site. Content improvements take longer, new articles need to be crawled, indexed and incorporated into AI retrieval systems, which typically takes two to eight weeks. Brand authority improvements (press coverage, directory listings, third-party citations) take months to accumulate.

27. How often should I re-run the audit?

Every three to six months, or after making significant changes to your website, content strategy or technical setup. The score gives you a baseline to measure progress against re-running it after an AI optimisation programme is the most straightforward way to demonstrate the impact of that work.

Working with Purplefish

28. Can Purplefish help us improve our AI Visibility?

Yes. Improving AI visibility is a core part of what we do. We offer:

Full AI visibility audits: a more comprehensive assessment than the free tool, including technical crawl analysis, content gap mapping and competitor benchmarking
AI-first content strategy: developing the question-answering, long-form content that AI platforms cite
Technical implementation: schema markup, robots.txt optimisation, Wikidata and Google Business Profile setup
Ongoing AI visibility programmes: monitoring citation rates, tracking score progress and adapting strategy as platforms evolve

29. How do I book a call with Purplefish?

You can book a call directly at meetings-eu1.hubspot.com/purplefish/lucy-mckerron-

30. Where can I learn more about AI visibility?

Download our free GEO and AI Visibility guide at purplefish.agency/content-download-geo-aio