What should you ask before hiring an AI visibility consultant? Five questions.

Four things share one name.

"AI visibility" is used to describe at least four different things: appearing in AI-generated search results, being cited as a source in AI answers, being recommended by AI assistants when someone asks for a service provider, and being accurately described when an AI summarizes your business. These are related, but they are not the same, and improving one does not automatically improve the others.

Ask: "When you say AI visibility, what specifically are you trying to improve, and for which AI products?"

A consultant who can answer that question with precision, naming specific platforms and explaining how each one surfaces business information, is working from a real understanding of the landscape.

The Trust Trifecta, across six platforms.

I work within a framework I call the Trust Trifecta: Authority, Recommendability, and Citation. These are the three dimensions that determine how AI systems find, evaluate, and surface a business. They're connected, but each one requires different work to improve.

On the platform question: I actively track six AI products.

• ChatGPT (OpenAI)
• Perplexity
• Google AI Overviews
• Claude (Anthropic)
• Gemini (Google)
• Microsoft Copilot

Each one surfaces business information differently. What gets your business cited in Perplexity is not the same as what gets you recommended in ChatGPT. A consultant who can't name the platforms they monitor, and explain how each one works, is describing a general direction rather than a specific service.

Services vary widely.

Some consultants audit your existing content and business information, then hand you a report. Others write and publish content on your behalf. Some advise your team and train you to do the work yourself. A few do all of it, and some do very little of it while charging as if they do more.

Ask: "Walk me through what you'll actually do, and what you'll need from me to do it."

The question about what they need from you is equally important. A consultant who needs nothing from you is either working at a surface level or will produce content that doesn't reflect your actual expertise. Good AI visibility work depends on understanding your services, your customers' questions, and what makes your business credible. That information comes from you.

Two areas of work.

The first is AI visibility strategy: auditing your content and business information, identifying gaps in how AI systems understand and describe your business, and improving the signals that feed into Authority, Recommendability, and Citation.

The second is building Governed AI Operating Systems for businesses that want to use AI consistently and responsibly in their own operations. Not every client needs both, and I'm clear about which work applies to which situation.

What I need from you: your expertise. I can identify the gaps. I can't fill them with generic content and expect it to build real authority. The businesses that see the strongest results are the ones willing to share what they actually know.

Harder to measure, and they should say so.

This is the question that separates consultants who understand the field from those who are selling confidence. AI visibility is genuinely harder to measure than traditional SEO, and a good consultant will say so directly. What they should also be able to tell you is what they can measure, how often, and what those measurements actually indicate.

Ask: "What does progress look like, and how will you show it to me?"

There is no single dashboard that tracks AI visibility across all platforms. Be cautious of anyone who implies otherwise, and equally cautious of anyone who can't describe their measurement approach at all.

The right expectation: Progress in AI visibility often looks like better content, more consistent business information, and clearer answers to the questions your customers ask. It does not look like a guaranteed position in any AI product's output.

A monthly AI visibility report.

Every client receives a monthly AI visibility report. It tracks the questions your buyers are actually asking, monitors how your business appears across the six platforms I follow, and compares results month over month so you can see movement over time.

What the report can show depends on the access you give me. A complete report needs access to your Google Analytics, your Bing Webmaster Tools, and your Cloudflare account if your site runs on Cloudflare, which is preferable. Without that access, the report covers what is visible from the outside, and some measures will be missing.

I do not guarantee rankings. I do not guarantee citations. No one can, and anyone who tells you otherwise is making a promise that AI systems themselves don't support. What I can tell you is what changed, what we did, and what the data shows.

My reports are designed to show you what's happening in terms you can evaluate independently, not just take my word for.

Evidence of reasoning, not just activity.

Experience in AI visibility is recent by definition. But a consultant who has done the work should be able to show you something concrete: a before-and-after comparison, an example audit, or a description of what changed and what happened as a result. You're not looking for a polished portfolio.

Ask: "Can you show me an example of what your work looks like and what it produced?"

A consultant who is new to the field and honest about it is different from one who implies deep experience but can't produce a single example. What matters is whether they can explain their reasoning clearly enough that you can evaluate it.

Two specific examples.

I can point to two specific examples, shown below.

Both examples are recent, specific, and verifiable in their outcomes. That's what I'd look for from any consultant you're considering.

Read the agreement carefully.

Consulting agreements in a fast-moving field deserve careful reading. AI visibility is changing quickly enough that unclear deliverables can become a frustrating situation for both parties. Before you sign anything, get clear on the basics.

Ask: "What's included in our agreement, what's not, and what happens if I want to stop?"

Clear on deliverables and scope.

I keep my agreements clear on deliverables and scope. If it's not in the agreement, it's not included. Ownership is written down too: you keep your installation and everything it produces for your business, and the methods behind it stay mine. My AIOS Terms of Use spell it out.

Guaranteed results in AI search.

No consultant can guarantee that your business will appear in a specific AI product's output. Anyone who promises this is either misrepresenting how AI systems work or using the word "guarantee" loosely. Ask what they mean by it specifically.

No named AI tools.

If a consultant can't name the specific AI products they track and explain how each one surfaces business information differently, their familiarity with the landscape may be limited. There are meaningful differences between how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot handle business information. A consultant who treats them as interchangeable hasn't worked closely with any of them.

Vague language about "training the AI."

AI systems are not trained by individual businesses publishing content. What consultants can influence is the information those systems find and use. The distinction matters: it's the difference between a realistic service and an inflated promise.

Pressure to commit quickly.

A consultant who creates urgency around signing, citing limited availability or time-sensitive pricing, may be more focused on closing than on fit. A good working relationship starts with a clear-headed evaluation on both sides.

No separation between doing the work and evaluating it.

The consultant who does the work should not be the sole judge of whether it succeeded. Ask how results are reported and whether you'll have enough information to form your own view.