Hi there, and welcome to issue #16 of the Outranked SEO newsletter.
In this issue, I’m showing you how to run an AI brand audit; analysing exactly what ChatGPT, AI Mode and other AI platforms know and say about your brand when someone asks the kinds of questions a potential customer might.
You’ll learn:
- The to ask ChatGPT and other AI platforms to surface what they know about your brand
- How to spot blind spots and red flags in your AI brand reputation
- What to do if the responses given aren’t what you want them to be
Let’s get into it.
Do you know what AI platforms are telling potential customers and clients about your brand?
If you were a potential customer and typed your brand name into ChatGPT or one of the other AI platforms today… what would you find?
I'm always surprised when speaking with marketers how few brands are actually checking this on a regular basis.
You see, more and more people are using AI tools as research assistants before making decisions.
And whilst there's no doubting we're very early in AI search and that Google still drives the lions share of traffic; let's not forget that there are more zero-click searches than ever, across multiple platforms.
There are types of queries that can easily be answered by AI-powered summaries, and we're only going to see consumers turn to these more.
And many of these queries relate to your brand's reputation.
Think about it...
Why would someone spend the time reading through multiple pages of reviews, press coverage and other sources when they're researching a brand, when they could read a single AI-powered summary?
In short, people are asking ChatGPT, AI Mode, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and others to summarise whether you’re credible, trustworthy, and worth choosing.
And if what they're told doesn't represent you properly, you could risk losing out on sales or enquiries, even if other channels have prompted someone to consider you as an option.
This is the side of AI search that not enough people are talking about.
How to audit your brand's AI reputation...
Here’s a simple set of prompts you can use to run your own AI brand audit.
Use these on the following platforms as a baseline:
- ChatGPT
- Google AI Mode
- Google Search (AI Overviews)
- Claude
- Perplexity
- Grok
- Gemini
Make sure you're not relying on the platform's personalised memory where possible ... you want a true representation of what the AI knows about your brand, not what's you've told it based on chat history.
In ChatGPT, you can do this by running a 'temporary chat.'
Basic Credibility
- "What do you know about [brand]?"
- “What does [brand] do?”
- “Is [brand] a reputable company?”
- “Can I trust [brand]?”
Risks & Concerns
- “Has [brand] ever been involved in controversy?”
- “What are common complaints about [brand]?”
- “What are [brand]’s weaknesses?”
Comparisons
- “How does [brand] compare to [competitor a]?”
- “Why should I choose [brand] over alternatives?”
- “What are the pros and cons of buying [brand]?”
Customer-Centric View
- “Would you recommend [brand]?”
- “What are common complaints about [brand]?”
- “What’s the typical experience a client has working with [brand]?”
Trust Signals
- “Has [brand] won any awards?”
- “Has [brand] been featured in the press?”
- “What do industry experts say about [brand]?”
Reliability & Service
- “Is [brand] good value for money?”
- “How responsive is [brand] to clients?”
- “Does [brand] deliver work on time?”
These aren’t necessarily the exact questions your customers are typing into AI platforms right now. That's not what the goal is here.
But they’re the kinds of prompts that help you surface what the AI already “knows” about your brand; and how it frames you when someone asks anything related to these type of questions.
The way these models answer “Is [brand] reputable?” or “What’s it like working with [brand]?” doesn’t just live in isolation. That same knowledge can:
- Shape how you’re described in other, broader responses (“What’s the best product for X?”).
- Influence how you’re positioned against competitors.
- Reinforce (or damage) trust in moments when a customer is looking for reassurance.
The goal of this audit is to understand what the AI platforms know, can find and can tell people about your brand.
It’s about understanding the building blocks of your AI reputation and whether they’re helping or hurting you.
Wanna see an example of what insights these prompts can surface?
I asked ChatGPT "What are common complaints about Simba Sleep?" (These aren't a client of mine nor am I affiliated in any way)
I also asked Google's AI Mode the same thing:
Running these prompts through the various AI platforms lets you build up a picture of what they know and can find about you.
Note down what's misrepresented or what's missing. Then go control the narrative.
How?
A combination of your own site's content, your own profiles (think Crunchbase), reviews, press coverage and mentions across platforms like Reddit.
If you don't know what AI says about you, you can't work to change it.
The takeaway…
These prompts aren’t about guessing what customers literally type into AI; they’re a way to uncover what these platforms already know, assume, and surface about your brand.
That knowledge doesn’t stay hidden.
It can (and will) show up in other answers, comparisons, and recommendations. If the responses don’t reflect the reputation you want, you’ve found a gap to close.
Reputation management matters more than ever; with AI surfacing things that were once easy(ish) to bury on Google's second page.
The good news if you find something that doesn't paint you in the best light?
We're early. Whilst AI platforms are gathering users at a rapid pace, Google is still where most searches happen for now.
Work on this now and change what AI knows about you.
-
If you learned something from this issue or it’s made you think about SEO a little differently, please consider forwarding it to someone else on your team.
I’m on a mission to make sure more SEO investment actually has an impact on real business metrics.
Appreciate you making it to the end; same time next week?
- James Brockbank
P.S. If you ever need support with SEO or digital PR and want to drive results that actually matter, I’d love to chat. Let’s talk.
💻 Upcoming webinars:
Join Digitaloft's Chloe Meadows and Charlotte McManus next Thursday, 4th September for our next webinar: Black Friday PR Planning: What to Pitch, When to Pitch It and How to Get Coverage.
And I'm joining Semrush on Tuesday 16th September for: How to Grow Your Brand on Quora and Show Up in Google’s AI Results
|
📌 This week’s bookmarks:
If I could only send three links to a fellow marketer this week, it’d be these…
|
|
|
👋 Hi, I'm James...
Managing Director & Founder at Digitaloft.
I've spent the last 10 years building an agency that's perfectly positioned to help ambitious brands to drive real business growth from SEO and digital PR.
You might have seen me speaking at events like BrightonSEO, SMX and the International Search Summit.
|