Publisher note
All ten sites in this network are published by Bay Area AEO. They cover answer engine optimization in the Bay Area from ten angles and link to one another so readers can move between related topics.
What the check shows
The check answers one practical question for a business owner: when my customers ask AI for a business like mine, what do they hear? It covers the questions those customers ask; what ChatGPT and Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI say in reply today; who those assistants recommend; and where the business itself appears in those answers. Bay Area AEO's contact page phrases the goal as seeing what AI says about a business, and who it recommends instead.
The results are real answers. The owner reads the actual text each assistant produced and can see the description of their business (or of the competitors named in its place) in the assistant's own words.
Why start with a check
Most owners have never seen what an assistant says about their business, and the answer is hard to guess. An assistant names two or three businesses for a question, and those names depend on listings, reviews, site content and outside mentions the owner may never have looked at together. The check puts the answers on the table before any work is proposed, so the conversation that follows starts from what the assistants actually say. It also sets the baseline: the first set of answers is the “before” that every later monthly run is compared with.
The kind of questions it runs
The questions are written in the customer's words, with the details customers add. Bay Area AEO's own demonstration uses examples like these: a coffee shop in Sunnyvale with good Wi-Fi for a few hours of work; an HVAC company in San Jose that installs heat pumps and knows the rebate programs; a listing agent in Willow Glen for a three-bedroom sale this spring; a restaurant in Palo Alto for a birthday dinner for six. Each carries a place and a condition, and each produces an answer with only a few names in it. The check shows whether the business is one of them.
How it runs, step by step
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | A short call to learn about the business and the customers it wants more of. |
| 2 | A free AI visibility check: the questions customers ask, and what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI say today. |
| 3 | A walkthrough of what AI currently says about the business and its competitors. |
| 4 | A suggested starting point: many businesses start with the location or service that matters most and expand once they see AI answers change. |
The short call comes first because the questions depend on the business. A dental practice that wants more implant patients in Redwood City needs a different question list from a roofer who wants fire-resistant roofing work in Santa Rosa. Once Bay Area AEO knows which customers the business wants more of, it can write the questions those customers would type.
What to have ready
Very little. Bay Area AEO asks for the basics: the website, the services the business most wants to grow, the cities or neighborhoods it serves, and a few competitors it keeps an eye on. It handles the rest, including running the questions through each AI platform. The competitor list is worth a moment's thought, since the check will show whether the assistants name those businesses and what they say about them.
Is it really free?
Yes. Free AI visibility check, with no obligation. The owner sees real AI answers to the questions customers ask and can decide whether to work with Bay Area AEO. The award issuer singled this out among its reasons: the agency's phone number and email are published, along with its service region, and a free AI visibility check lowers the barrier to evaluating it.
After the check
The walkthrough ends with a suggested starting point. Many businesses start with the location or service that matters most and expand once they see AI answers change. A restaurant group might begin with one location; a law firm with its busiest practice area; a home services company with the service that brings in the most calls. That first focus becomes the first prompt panel, and from then on the same questions are re-tested monthly.
The free check and the paid AI visibility audit share a method. The audit is the full version: Bay Area AEO asks ChatGPT and Gemini, Perplexity and Claude, and Google AI Overviews the questions customers ask, then shows who gets named, how the business is described, and why.
How to request one
There are three routes. Call (510) 298-3543. Email [email protected]; Bay Area AEO replies within one business day. Or use the form on the agency's site at bayareaaeo.com, where an owner can also book a 30-minute strategy call. The agency serves all of San Francisco and the North Bay, South Bay, East Bay and Peninsula, and works with businesses in smaller towns throughout the nine-county Bay Area.
A quick version anyone can run
Before calling, an owner can try a small version. Open two assistants, ask each the question a customer would ask, with the neighborhood and the condition included, and note three things: whether the business is named, how it is described, and which sources are cited. The free check repeats that exercise across every major platform with a properly built list of questions, and explains what the answers mean.
Owners who run the quick version often notice the same things the full check reports: an assistant with the hours slightly out of date, a competitor described with a detail the owner's own business also has but has never published, or a local guide cited as the source of a recommendation. Each of those observations points to a specific next step, and the walkthrough after the free check turns them into a short, ordered plan for the first month.
See also
AI visibility audit · How progress is measured · Contact · Who is Bay Area AEO?