How to Audit Your Brand for AI Search
This article was published on January 29, 2026
Categorized in: SEO, AI Marketing
There’s no doubt that search has changed over the past few years, and businesses are feeling it. As a result of this, our ideas of what visibility and search look like are also changing. AI has been part of that. We not only need to remain visible organically in traditional search results, but we need to be visible inside AI results, such as those present in AI answers on traditional browsers, or within the AI engines themselves.
In order to carve a place in this new world, we need to understand how AI discovers brands, and we need to work this into our existing SEO strategies. Then, we can weave this understanding into our strategies. Before we can add new components to a strategy, though, we need to assess where things are at. Here’s a look at how to audit your brand for AI discoverability:
Evaluate How Strong Your Brand Is
Brand strength really helps you in this new era, where AI is part of search. That is because AI systems rely heavily on clarity. If your brand positioning is vague, fragmented, or inconsistent, AI will struggle to understand who you are and what you offer. It might still deliver information about you, but that information will be confused and detrimental to your brand.
The process starts by reviewing your website thoroughly, and then continues while you evaluate how your brand is positioned online. Search on social media, third-party business profiles, press releases, and more. People may not realize if their information is outdated because most businesses naturally evolve and change, and many of these old pages could still be present online.
Take a Look at Your Content
How does your content look online? Are you positioned as a thought leader? When auditing your brand online, be sure to audit your content, as well. AI favors content that goes deep and loves brands that are positioned as thought leaders. Are you perceived as a thought leader? Does your content have a clear purpose, deliver helpful information, and maybe even answers important questions?
While you do this, you might also want to look for opportunities to expand existing content rather than constantly publishing new pieces. Updating and enriching high-performing pages can significantly improve how AI interprets your authority in a given topic area.
Review Authority and Trust Signals
Having a strong authority online has always been important for digital marketing and especially for SEO. This hasn’t changed at all. What has changed is the weight that AI gives authority and trust signals and how it uses this information. AI evaluates brands across the web, not just on their own websites. That means authority signals matter more than ever.
Check whether your brand is mentioned in credible publications, industry blogs, directories, or expert roundups. These mentions help AI validate your relevance and legitimacy. Reviews, testimonials, and citations also contribute to perceived trustworthiness. If your brand exists mostly in isolation, this is something to improve for AI visibility. An effective audit identifies where your brand needs stronger third-party reinforcement.
Auditing your brand for discoverability is an important first step to helping you adapt to the changes of search. Remember that this is a reflection of how search behaviors have changed, and it is a good idea to adapt soon so you don’t get left behind!
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About the Author: Brick Marketing President, Nick Stamoulis
Nick Stamoulis is President of Brick Marketing and has over 25 years of digital marketing experience. He works directly with clients on strategy and implementation, helping solve complex challenges through SEO, AI Search Optimziation (GEO), content marketing, social media, PPC, and conversion optimization. Nick Stamoulis has worked with over 500 companies across virtually every B2B industry and also provides digital marketing consulting and training classes, helping companies improve performance and achieve the digital marketing outcomes they are looking for.
