Finally, truly local AI visibility tracking.
We’ve been working away on this behind the scenes for a good while now. And we’re really happy to be able to put it into your hands.
Search has changed over the last couple of years. Not only has Google itself changed with the addition of AI Overviews, but search itself has fragmented. You can’t open LinkedIn now without hearing about this shift.
Our recent study found that 75% of consumers used more than one channel during their most recent local business search. And that means that if you’re focusing entirely on tracking Google’s local rankings, you’re missing out on the bigger picture.
One of those channels is AI platforms like ChatGPT, as well as Google’s own AI Overviews and AI Mode. 23% of searchers used it during the most recent search for a local business.
So to help you see what’s happening, we’ve bought Local AI Visibility Tracking to BrightLocal. Now you can track your location’s performance in AI search and get detailed insights on what you need to do to get more mentions.
Charlotte Vang Watts
Head of Product at BrightLocal
“AI is fast becoming a new front door for local search, and our customers had little visibility into whether they showed up in ChatGPT or Google AI, why, or what they could do about it. I’m really proud of what the team built to address that problem. It’s already been great seeing our testing group get real value from it, and now we’re excited to get it into more customers’ hands and continue growing what it can do.”
What is Local AI Visibility?
Local AI visibility is how well your location is showing up in AI search. Not just your brand name, your actual location(s).
Existing AI visibility trackers tend to skew towards brand mentions and website citations. These are often at a national level. Even those offered for local tracking tend to track a brand name within a local area.
BrightLocal’s Local AI Visibility Tracker drills down to the location level. So you’ll be able to see how well specific locations are being mentioned or cited by LLMs. You’ll be given a score that shows you how well you’re performing, along with actions to improve it.
Local AI visibility is broken down into:
- Summary of recommended actions
- Mentions – how AI is mentioning your business
- Sources – what URLs or apps AI is getting information on your or your competitor’s businesses from
- Share of voice
- Prompts – what prompts you’re visible for
- Competitor performance – see which competitors are showing up
What makes the BrightLocal AI tracker local?
Competitor solutions track AI mentions at the brand level. Local AI Visibility scores a single location against the specific local competitors actually winning those mentions.
So what does that mean in practice? It means every query we run is anchored to a specific location, using a similar location-first approach to our Local Rank Tracker and Local Search Grid. The results are the closest you can currently get to what someone searching in that area would see.
We also focus on identifying specific locations rather than top-level brands, along with the localized sources LLMs draw on for information: directories, local publications, and regional sites.
Why do you need to track AI visibility?
A quarter of searchers used AI in their last search for a local business. Some start there, while others use it to ask specific questions before finally choosing a brand.
But the simple truth is that AI searches are growing.
Couple that with Google’s fairly meager attempts at reporting your AI impressions in Search Console, and you find yourself with a desire to know how your customers are finding you, and whether you’re even showing up at all.
Are they searching for broad awareness terms in AI, like ‘what is the best dentist in park slope for teeth straightening?’
Or have they already found a business and they’re asking, ‘Does Bright Smile dentist in brooklyn do cosmetic dentistry?’, or ‘What are reviews for the bright smile dentist park slope?’.
If you’re not tracking, you’ll have no idea. And you won’t be able to see where your competitors are beating you.
Who is Local AI Visibility Tracker for?
The AI Visibility Tracker is for any business that wants to see how their location is being surfaced by AI Overviews, AI Mode, and ChatGPT.
This is ideal for any business that’s curious about how their customers are, or aren’t, finding them in AI search.
While AI is still new there’s a lot of opportunity to move before your competition, or a chance to be left behind. Get ahead of them and start seeing how you’re performing, then make the changes you need to beat them now.
Is your business being recommended by AI?
How do I get my hands on Local AI Visibility Tracker? How much does it cost?
Getting started with Local AI Visibility Tracker is really easy. As it’s available on all our Track, Manage, and Grow local SEO plans, you just need to set it up.
You can track up to 20 prompts at no additional cost to your current subscription.
For existing customers
Existing customers will find Local AI Visibility Tracker in the menu.
From here, simply click ‘Set up Local AI Visibility’ and follow the instructions.
If you have multiple locations in your account, you’ll need to do this on a location-by-location basis.
Learn more: How to set up Local AI Visibility
For new customers
You’ll set up Local AI Visibility Tracker as part of your onboarding process. You’ll choose your prompts, then, once you have your account set up, you just browse to ‘Local AI Visibility Tracker’.
It’s that simple.
This process will set you up with one location. To add more locations to Local AI Visibility Tracker, you have to add additional locations to your account. You can do this in ‘Your locations’.
Want to get started right now? Sign up for a free trial.
Is your business being recommended by AI?
What should I do next?
Once you’re set up, you’ll be able to track each location twice a month. Over time, this will give you a picture of how regularly you’re being mentioned by ChatGPT.
But what makes BrightLocal’s Local AI Visibility Tracker different is the targeted recommendations it delivers. You’ll get feedback on specific actions to improve your local AI visibility.
