AI visibility: why ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot talk about your brand, or don’t
Luca Sole, lecturer at ESG UQAM
·
October 2026
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot which agency, software or consultant they recommend in your field. Is your brand part of the answer? For a growing number of your clients, that answer is replacing Google’s results page.
When people discover they’re not mentioned, their first instinct is to rework their website. That’s rarely the best place to start. AI assistants rely mostly on what others publish about you: news articles, best-of lists, reviews, videos, discussions. Your website matters, but not in the way you might think.
This page explains which assistants to watch, how they choose the brands they cite, what the studies published in recent months show, and how to measure your own visibility, without paying for a tool.
The essentials in 30 seconds
AI visibility is how often assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity or Claude mention or recommend your brand.
ChatGPT leads in Canada, but Gemini, built into Google, and Copilot, built into Windows and Microsoft 365, also matter.
An assistant answers from two sources: what it learned during training, and what it finds by searching the web when the question is asked.
86% of citations about brands point to websites they don’t own (Zatuchin, June 2026). For a business that the models barely know, it’s mostly third-party pages that put it on the map (Chen and Koudas, October 2026).
Media relations are therefore your first lever. Your website serves as the official source, as long as it answers your clients’ real questions.
You can measure your AI visibility yourself, in 5 steps.
1. What is AI visibility?
AI visibility is the place a brand holds in the answers of conversational assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity or Claude. It’s measured by how often the brand is mentioned, recommended or cited as a source when someone asks a question about its field.
The work of improving it is also called GEO (generative engine optimization) or AI search optimization. The idea is similar to traditional search engine optimization, but the goal is different.
Traditional SEO
AI visibility
The goal
A good position in Google’s results
Being named in the assistant’s answer
What the user sees
A list of links
A written answer, with a few sources
What you measure
Rankings, clicks, traffic
Mentions, recommendations, share of voice against competitors
What matters most
Your website and the links pointing to it
What others say about you
The two aren’t opposed, but they overlap less than you might expect: the pages assistants find are rarely among Google’s top results (see section 2).
2. Why it matters now
Generative AI is now part of daily life for a large share of Canadians. According to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority’s Canadian Internet Trends 2026 survey, 46% of Canadians used a generative AI tool in the past year, up from 33% in 2025.
At work, the shift is even clearer. According to Statistics Canada (July 2026), 35.9% of workers used a generative AI tool in their job over the previous 12 months. In professional, scientific and technical services, a sector that includes advertising and marketing agencies, the share climbs to 65.6%.
So your clients are already asking an assistant their questions. And what the assistant tells them doesn’t depend on your Google ranking.
A University of Toronto team tracked more than 158,000 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity to commercial questions over 90 days in the summer of 2026. 97% of the pages retrieved by ChatGPT are not in Google’s top 50 results, and neither are 93% of the pages cited by Gemini (Chen and Koudas, 2026). Ranking first on Google doesn’t guarantee being named by AI.
3. ChatGPT isn’t the only one: the assistants to watch
ChatGPT gets most of the attention, and for good reason: it’s by far the most used assistant in Canada. But it isn’t alone, and the others don’t find their sources the same way.
Assistant
Where your clients use it
How it finds its sources
ChatGPT(OpenAI)
The ChatGPT app and website
Its own web searches, with the OAI-SearchBot crawler. It cites few pages per answer, about 2 on average.
Gemini(Google)
The Gemini app, and directly in Google Search through AI Overviews and AI Mode
Google’s index, running several searches from a single question. It cites about 10 pages per answer, mostly third-party websites.
Copilot(Microsoft)
Windows, the Edge browser, Microsoft 365 (Word, Outlook, Teams)
The Bing search engine. It’s widely present in the workplace.
Perplexity
The Perplexity app and website
An answer engine that searches the web for every question and shows its sources, with the PerplexityBot crawler.
Claude(Anthropic)
The Claude app and website
Its own web searches, with the Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User crawlers.
Pages cited per answer: Chen and Koudas, 2026. Market share measurements vary widely from one tool to another; the figures in the chart are an order of magnitude.
Other assistants exist (Meta AI, Grok, DeepSeek), but their use remains marginal in Canada.
Two takeaways for you:
being visible in one assistant guarantees nothing in another. Test at least ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot;
the levers are the same. They all rely on their memory and on live searches, and they all give a large place to what others publish about you.
4. How an AI assistant finds its answer
You don’t need to understand how a language model works technically to grasp the essentials. Whether it’s ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot, an assistant relies on two paths, often at the same time.
Path 1: the model’s memory
Before it’s made available to you, a model is trained on a huge amount of public text: articles, books, forums, encyclopedias, web pages. It doesn’t memorize sentences word for word. It retains associations: which brands come up often on a given topic, in what context, with what reputation.
A brand mentioned regularly, by varied and credible sources, ends up becoming part of what the model “knows.” A brand that is only talked about on its own website stays almost invisible: that website is just one text among billions.
This memory stops at a certain date. Anything published since isn’t in it, hence the second path.
Path 2: live search
For a recent, specific or local question, the assistant runs its own web searches. Google describes this mechanism for its AI features: from a single question, the system runs several searches on subtopics, gathers the pages it finds, then writes a summary that cites its sources. OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity use their own crawlers to read pages when they need them; Copilot relies on Bing.
For a question like “Which marketing agency do you recommend in Quebec City?”, the pages found are often news articles, best-of lists, directories and review pages. Your website can be one of them, but it’s rarely alone.
The two paths reinforce each other
These two paths aren’t independent. The model’s memory shapes its searches.
The University of Toronto team measured it: when ChatGPT already knows a brand, it writes its name into the searches it runs to answer in 67% of cases, compared with 11% for a brand it doesn’t know. Nearly half (47%) of its citations come from websites it names without even searching. And in controlled tests, simply revealing brand names changed the ranking of identical products (Chen and Koudas, 2026).
In other words, a brand that people talk about a lot is both better known to the model and searched for more often. A brand nobody talks about has to rely on the third-party pages that name it to be found.
5. What the data says: third-party sources dominate
Most cited sources aren’t owned by the brands
A study published in June 2026 analyzed 167,551 citations about 128 brands, across 12 markets and 13 languages.
86% of these citations point to websites the brand doesn’t own: media, encyclopedias, directories, forums, videos. Wikipedia is the most cited website in 11 of the 12 languages studied (Zatuchin, 2026).
But it all depends on the assistant and on how well known you are
The University of Toronto study adds an important nuance.
Depending on the assistant. Gemini cites third-party websites 83% of the time. ChatGPT, on the other hand, mostly cited providers’ websites (64% of citations) in a market of well-known brands, home internet in the United States, where every provider publishes its plans and prices.
Depending on how well known you are. The researchers replicated the study in a market of small B2B software vendors that the models barely know. There, visibility depends more on the third-party pages that name them (Chen and Koudas, 2026).
That’s the situation of most small businesses, agencies and freelancers in Quebec: the models barely know them, and it’s up to others to put them on the map.
Your website matters when the assistant finds it
Another study, published in September 2026, analyzed nearly 35,000 answers from ChatGPT and Gemini to questions that don’t name any brand. When the brand’s website doesn’t appear among the sources, the brand is mentioned in only 3% to 4% of answers. When its website is cited, that rate rises to 49% to 58%. And a brand already mentioned, whose website is still cited, is mentioned again more than 80% of the time on the next run: visibility builds on itself (Tannenbaum, 2026).
So your website is far from useless. But for it to be found, the assistant has to think of searching for you, or other pages have to lead it to you.
Big brands start with a head start
According to a June 2026 study of more than 100,000 answers, major global brands are mentioned in 73% of answers to questions about their industry, regional brands in 44% and small brands in 11%. The same study shows that “best of” lists account for about 21% of all citations, more than any other format (Kumar, 2026).
Big brands don’t have better websites: people talk about them everywhere. That’s precisely why a small business needs people to talk about it somewhere other than its own website.
A word of caution about these figures. These studies observe links between certain factors and visibility, without always proving cause. Several are written by authors linked to companies that measure AI visibility (Rankfor.AI, Ranqo, Aiso); the University of Toronto study is academic. They all point in the same direction, though, which makes them hard to ignore.
6. Media relations: your first lever for AI visibility
If assistants rely mostly on what others publish, the question becomes: how do you get others to talk about you? That’s the job of media relations, in the broad sense.
Get quoted in the media
An article that names you, an interview, a quote in a feature: every mention in a credible outlet feeds both the models’ memory and the results of live searches.
Don’t aim only for the major dailies. Regional and industry media (professional associations, trade publications, newsletters in your industry) are easier to reach, and often better targeted. One mention isn’t enough: it’s repetition, over time, that establishes a brand.
Produce data others will pick up
Journalists look for numbers. A survey of your clients, an analysis of your own data or a small study of your industry gives them a concrete reason to cite you, and those mentions last longer than an ad.
Get into best-of lists and comparisons
Lists like “the best agencies for…” or “the best tools for…” are the format assistants cite most (Kumar, 2026). Find the ones that exist in your field, check that you’re on them, and apply when you can.
Invest in video and podcasts
YouTube is the most cited source after company websites, ahead of Reddit, media outlets and Wikipedia (Kumar, 2026). An interview on a partner’s channel, a podcast appearance or a filmed talk gives you a presence in a format that assistants read a lot.
Join the conversations
Forums, professional groups and platforms like Reddit are among the cited sources. Answering helpfully, without selling, is also part of what others say about you.
For Wikipedia, the most cited source in almost every language, the rule is strict: you don’t write your own page. You can, however, be cited as a source in an existing article, thanks to a mention in a recognized media outlet.
Take care of reviews and directories
Google reviews and the platforms specific to your industry are third-party sources too. Encourage satisfied clients to leave a review, and respond to the ones already there.
7. The role of your website: the official source
Your website doesn’t create your AI visibility on its own, but it confirms it. When an assistant wants to check who you are and what you do, that’s where it looks. Four things matter.
Pages that answer real questions. It’s the only content factor that stands out clearly in the University of Toronto study: within the same website, pages whose title and paragraphs use the wording of the questions people ask are cited much more often. One page per major question your clients ask, with the answer in the first sentence.
The same information everywhere. The same name, the same description, the same services on your website, your Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, the business registry and the directories you appear in. Contradictions blur the picture the assistant forms of you.
Crawlers set up correctly. The crawlers used for search (OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, Claude-User, PerplexityBot) need to be able to read your website, or you can’t be cited in those answers. They’re separate from the crawlers that collect text for training (GPTBot, ClaudeBot), which you can block separately if you wish. Also check that your website is indexed in Google and in Bing, which Copilot relies on.
Realistic expectations about technical tweaks. FAQ blocks, structured data, summary boxes, page speed: the Toronto study finds no effect of these practices on citations when comparing pages within the same website. They remain good practices, but they’re not what will get you cited. Google makes the same point: its AI features have no technical requirements of their own.
8. Measure your AI visibility in 5 steps
You don’t need a paid tool to know where you stand. One hour a month is enough.
Step 1: pick 10 to 20 questions
Write down the questions your clients actually ask, without naming your brand. Cover three intents:
Intent
Example for a small business
Example for an agency
Example for a freelancer
Learn
“How can an online store shorten its delivery times?”
“How do you measure the return on a LinkedIn campaign?”
“How much does a website redesign cost in Quebec?”
Compare
“What are the best bike shops in Sherbrooke?”
“Which B2B marketing agencies are well regarded in Montréal?”
“Should I hire a freelancer or an agency for social media?”
Choose
“Where can I buy an e-bike in Sherbrooke?”
“Which agency do you recommend for a B2B LinkedIn campaign?”
“Can you recommend a web copywriter in Quebec City?”
Step 2: ask each question three times, in several assistants
Use a logged-out session or a temporary chat, with web search turned on. Ask each question three times: answers vary from one run to the next, and the cited sources change from week to week. Test at least ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot, and add Perplexity or Claude if your clients use them.
Step 3: record the results
For each answer, note:
whether your brand is mentioned;
whether it’s recommended, and in what position;
how it’s described (accurate, incomplete, wrong);
which sources are cited;
which competitors appear.
The cited sources are the most valuable information: they tell you where you need people to talk about you.
Step 4: calculate your mention rate
Divide the number of questions where you appear by the number of questions asked, assistant by assistant. Do the same for your two or three main competitors: that gives you your share of voice.
Step 5: repeat every month
A single test proves nothing. What counts is the change from month to month, especially after a media relations push. In Google Analytics 4, also track visits coming from the assistants (chatgpt.com, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com, perplexity.ai). OpenAI automatically adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to links clicked from ChatGPT.
9. Five myths about AI visibility
“All you need is to optimize your website.” For ChatGPT, page characteristics explain less than 3% of the differences in citations between pages of the same website, compared with 32% for what the assistant finds in its searches (Chen and Koudas, 2026). What matters is being found, and that mostly happens through others.
“If I rank first on Google, I’m visible in AI.” 97% of the pages retrieved by ChatGPT are not in Google’s top 50 results (Chen and Koudas, 2026).
“An FAQ and structured data will get me cited.” These practices have no measurable effect on citations when comparing pages within the same website. A page that truly answers the question beats a page that is merely well tagged.
“ChatGPT is the only one that matters.” It leads, but Gemini appears directly in Google, and Copilot is built into the work tools of millions of people. The sources cited differ from one assistant to another.
“One test is enough to know where you stand.” Answers vary from one run to the next, from one person to another and from one week to the next. You need to repeat the same questions over time.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to be cited by ChatGPT or Gemini?
It depends on the path. An article published today can appear in answers that use live search as soon as it’s indexed. To get into a model’s memory, you have to wait for its next training, which can take months. Either way, it’s repeated mentions over time that establish a brand, and a brand that has already been cited has a good chance of being cited again.
Can a small business be visible in AI?
Yes, but it starts with a real handicap: small brands are mentioned in 11% of answers about their industry, compared with 73% for major brands (Kumar, 2026). Since the models barely know them, their visibility depends mostly on the third-party pages that name them. Hence the importance of regional media, directories and best-of lists in their industry.
Does media relations work for Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity too?
Yes. All assistants rely on their memory and on live searches, and all give a large place to third-party sources. Gemini cites even more third-party websites than ChatGPT: 83% of its citations (Chen and Koudas, 2026).
Should I block AI crawlers on my website?
Not the ones used for search, if you want to be cited: OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, Claude-User or PerplexityBot. You can, however, block training crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot) without preventing your pages from appearing in answers that use search.
How do I know if AI assistants cite my brand?
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot the questions your clients ask, without naming your brand, with web search turned on, and record the results. The 5-step method on this page gives you a mention rate to track every month.
Does AI visibility replace traditional SEO?
No, it adds to it. Traditional SEO helps your website be found in Google and in Bing, which Copilot relies on. But assistants often find pages other than those at the top of Google, and AI visibility also requires people to talk about you elsewhere.
Does this work in French as well as in English?
Yes. Assistants answer in French and cite French-language sources when they exist. A study covering 13 languages shows a similar picture from one language to another: third-party sources dominate, and Wikipedia comes first almost everywhere (Zatuchin, 2026). Mentions in local media and directories help assistants associate you with your market.
Luca Sole
Digital marketing lecturer at ESG UQAM and executive director of Charity Rocket.
Keep thinking this through.
Le Réflexe IA comes out once a month with an in-depth topic and a roundup of AI news relevant to small businesses.