How Do I Benchmark My AI Visibility Against My Competitors?

Run the same set of prompts for your business and three to five competitors across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Record who gets mentioned and who gets cited with a link. Then work out each business's share of voice and repeat it monthly so you can see who's gaining ground and why.

What follows is the playbook we use, set out as a checklist you can work through over an afternoon.

• A prompt list of 20 to 50 real customer questions

• A shortlist of 3 to 5 competitors (chosen the right way, see below)

• A Google Sheet set up as a scorecard

• A private or logged-out browser window

• About two to three hours for the first run

If you don't have a prompt list yet, build one first using Can I see which prompts my business appears in?. Everything below depends on it.

Most business owners already know who their competitors are. Or they think they do. In AI search the businesses that matter are the ones the AI actually names and they're often not the ones you'd pick.

Here's how to find them. Run ten of your most important prompts in ChatGPT and Perplexity and write down every business that comes up. Count how often each one appears. The three to five names that appear most are your AI competitors.

You'll probably get a surprise or two. A Melbourne physio clinic we looked at assumed its rival was the big clinic down the road. It turned out ChatGPT kept recommending a smaller clinic two suburbs away with excellent reviews and a detailed website. That smaller clinic was the real competition for AI answers.

Keep one or two of the competitors you expected if they matter to your business. Just don't ignore the ones the AI prefers.

Keep it simple. One row for each prompt in each AI tool. Here's a sample with the columns that matter.

For example:

Date: Oct 2026

Prompt: Best physio in Brunswick for sports injuries

AI tool: ChatGPT

You mentioned?: Yes

You cited?: No

Your position: 3

Competitor A: Yes -1

Competitor B: Yes - 2

Competitor C: No

Sources cited: Google reviews, clinic sites

Notes: Described us as "affordable"

For competitors just record whether they appeared and their position in brackets. The Sources cited column is the one most people skip and it's the most useful. It tells you what the AI is reading.

Work through your list in each AI tool using a private window. Add your city or suburb to prompts so location doesn't skew the answer. Run your most important prompts two or three times each since AI answers vary from one go to the next. Record what shows up most often.

Yes, it's a bit tedious the first time. But it gets quicker. If it becomes too much there are tools that automate this. The method stays the same.

Count every mention across all prompts and all tools for you and each competitor. Then divide each business's mentions by the total.

For example, if across 30 prompts in four tools there are 200 mentions in total and you have 30, your share of voice is 15%. If Competitor A has 70 their share is 35%. Now you know the size of the gap.

Do the same for citations if you want a second view. Citation share often tells a different story because it shows whose website the AI trusts as a source. For more on the definitions see What KPIs should I track for AI search?

This is where benchmarking stops being a report and starts being useful. For every prompt where a competitor beats you, look at the Sources cited column and ask four questions.

What sources does the AI rely on? If Perplexity keeps citing a particular directory, health portal or industry association and you're not listed there, that's a gap.

What do their reviews look like? AI tools lean heavily on reviews. Compare the number, rating and recency of your Google reviews with theirs. A competitor with 300 reviews will often beat one with 40 even if the 40 are glowing.

Which directories are they in? Check Google Business Profile, Yelp, True Local, industry directories and local listings. Make sure your name, address and phone details are the same everywhere.

What does their content cover that yours doesn't? Look at the pages being cited. Often a competitor has a clear page answering one specific question, like "how much does a sports massage cost in Melbourne" when you've got a single general services page. AI tools love specific answers.

roup what you found into three buckets.

Quick fixes (this month). Fix wrong business details, claim missing directory listings and update your Google Business Profile.

Medium-term work (next three months). Build a steady flow of reviews and write pages that answer the specific questions where competitors are winning.

Long-term work (six months and beyond). Earn mentions on the sources the AI trusts, like local media, industry associations and respected blogs.

Pick the three actions with the biggest gap and the least effort and start there. Don't try to fix everything at once.

Run the same prompts against the same competitors once a month. Regularity is the key because a single benchmark is just a snapshot. Over six months you'll see whether your share of voice is climbing and whether your actions are working.

The point of benchmarking isn't to feel good or bad about where you sit. It's to find out exactly why the AI picks someone else and fix it.

If your share of voice is low but you're cited when you do appear, your content is strong and you need more presence on third-party sources. If you're mentioned a lot but rarely cited, the AI knows your name but doesn't trust your website as a source, so work on clear, specific pages. If a competitor dominates everywhere, study their sources closely. Most of the time it comes down to reviews, directories and well-written answers rather than anything clever.

And if the results show you're already ahead, great. Keep testing monthly so you notice the moment that changes.

How many competitors should I benchmark against in AI search?

Three to five is the sweet spot. Pick the businesses AI tools actually name for your prompts, not just the ones you think of as competitors.

Which AI tools should I include in a competitor benchmark?

Cover ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews at a minimum. Each one uses different sources so results vary a lot between them.

How often should I benchmark my AI visibility?

Monthly works for most small businesses. AI answers change often so a single check is only a snapshot and a monthly trend shows real movement.

Why does AI recommend my competitor instead of me?

Usually it comes down to sources. Competitors with more reviews, consistent directory listings and pages that answer specific questions tend to be mentioned and cited more often.

Proficlix's AI visibility audit includes a full competitor benchmark across the major AI tools with a clear action plan for closing the gaps. Book a chat with us about your business.