> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://alhena.gitbook.io/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://alhena.gitbook.io/docs/features/ai-visibility.md).

# AI Visibility

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AI Visibility is currently in **Beta**.
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AI Visibility tracks how often your brand, products, and pages show up in the answers AI engines give to real shopping and research questions — and shows you exactly what to fix to show up more.

Alhena runs your tracked **prompts** against the major AI engines on a schedule, then breaks down where you appear, who outranks you, which sources the engines cite, and what content to improve.

## How it works

When someone asks an AI engine a question like "best vitamin C serum for sensitive skin," the engine usually doesn't answer from memory alone — it runs web searches behind the scenes, pulls in pages as sources, and then writes an answer that names specific brands and products. Whether your brand gets mentioned comes down to what those sources say and how well your content answers the question.

AI Visibility tracks this for you. You tell Alhena the **topics** and **prompts** your customers ask, and it runs them against the AI engines on a regular schedule. For each one it records:

* whether — and how prominently — your brand appears in the answer (your **Visibility Score** and **position**),
* the **pages and domains** the engines cited as sources,
* the behind-the-scenes **fan-out searches** the engines ran while answering,
* and which **competitors** showed up instead of, or alongside, you.

## Supported AI engines

Alhena can track your visibility across five AI answer surfaces:

* **ChatGPT**
* **AI Overview** — Google's AI Overviews, the AI-written answer shown above regular Google search results.
* **Gemini**
* **Perplexity**
* **Claude**

By default, new accounts track **ChatGPT, AI Overview, and Gemini**; **Perplexity** and **Claude** are available to switch on as well. (On the Free plan, only one engine is tracked.) Most views include an engine filter (default **All AI Engines**) that lists the engines active for your account.

{% hint style="info" %}
**AI Overview works a little differently from the chat engines.** It's Google's own AI answer, so Alhena reads it directly from Google's search results rather than from a chat assistant. As a result, AI Overview has **no fan-out queries** and **no product cards** of its own. Google also only shows an AI Overview for some searches — when a tracked prompt doesn't trigger one on a given run, you'll see an **"AI Overview not triggered"** note instead of an answer. This is normal, not an error, and the same prompt can trigger an AI Overview on a later run.
{% endhint %}

## Availability

AI Visibility appears as **AI visibility** in the dashboard sidebar (with a **New** badge) for users whose role has access to it, on desktop. Some areas depend on your plan: **Competitors** and **Content AI visibility** are available on select plans, and your plan sets how many topics and prompts you can track.

## In this section

* [**Getting Started**](/docs/features/ai-visibility/getting-started.md) — set up your brand, market, topics, and prompts to start tracking.
* [**Overview**](/docs/features/ai-visibility/overview.md) — your headline visibility score, rank vs. competitors, and where to focus.
* [**Prompts**](/docs/features/ai-visibility/prompts.md) — visibility prompt by prompt, with per-prompt detail and recommendations.
* [**Citations**](/docs/features/ai-visibility/citations.md) — the domains and pages AI engines cite in their answers.
* [**Fan-out Queries**](/docs/features/ai-visibility/fan-out-queries.md) — the behind-the-scenes web searches engines run while answering.
* [**Content AI Visibility**](/docs/features/ai-visibility/content-ai-visibility.md) — how your pages and products surface in AI answers.
* [**Competitors**](/docs/features/ai-visibility/competitors.md) — who wins AI answers in your space, and how you compare.

## How to improve your AI visibility

To answer a prompt, an engine runs web searches (fan-out queries) and pulls in the top-ranking pages as citations — so **the pages that get cited are the ones ranking for those searches.** Those pages are often *not your own*: review sites, "best of" roundups, comparisons, and buying guides. Getting recommended isn't only about your own pages ranking — it's about making sure the pages engines cite **mention your brand, relevantly and favorably**.

Each tab maps to a lever:

* **See the searches engines run.** The [Fan-out Queries](/docs/features/ai-visibility/fan-out-queries.md) tab shows the behind-the-scenes searches engines run for your prompts and where things rank — the surface that decides which pages get cited.
* **Earn relevant mentions on the pages that get cited.** The [Citations](/docs/features/ai-visibility/citations.md) tab and the **Citations** feed in [Overview](/docs/features/ai-visibility/overview.md)'s "Focus this week" show the domains and pages engines cite — including ones cited for competitors but never for you. Getting your brand mentioned on those pages (a review, a roundup, a comparison) in a way that fits the question is the most direct way to get pulled into more answers.
* **Strengthen your own content too.** Your own pages can rank and get cited as well. The [Content AI Visibility](/docs/features/ai-visibility/content-ai-visibility.md) tab flags pages that could appear in AI answers and what to improve so they do.
* **Target where competitors win.** The [Prompts](/docs/features/ai-visibility/prompts.md) tab and the **Prompts** focus feed highlight high-demand questions where a competitor wins and you're absent — your highest-leverage fixes.

If you're not sure where to start, open **Focus this week** on the [Overview](/docs/features/ai-visibility/overview.md) tab — it pulls your highest-impact opportunities to the top.

## Key concepts

| Term                   | What it means                                                                                           |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Visibility Score**   | How often your brand appears in AI-generated answers, as a percentage.                                  |
| **Average position**   | When your brand appears in an answer, its average position among the brands mentioned. Lower is better. |
| **Visibility rank**    | Your position among all brands AI engines mention across your tracked prompts (#1 = most mentioned).    |
| **Topic**              | A theme you track (e.g. "vitamin C serum"). Each topic holds a set of prompts.                          |
| **Prompt**             | A real question sent to the AI engines (e.g. "best vitamin C serum for sensitive skin").                |
| **Volume**             | Estimated demand for a prompt across AI platforms, on a 1–5 scale relative to your other prompts.       |
| **Citation**           | A page an AI engine pulls into its answer as a source.                                                  |
| **Domain Rating (DR)** | How authoritative a cited page's domain is, on a 0–100 scale.                                           |
| **Fan-out query**      | A web search an AI engine runs under the hood while composing an answer.                                |
| **Content gap**        | A specific improvement to one of your pages that could help it get cited.                               |

***

New here? Start with [Getting Started](/docs/features/ai-visibility/getting-started.md).