Everyone wanted to sell me a spot in ChatGPT. I built the audit instead.
The same pitch kept appearing: pay us and we will get your brand mentioned by AI. So I went looking for the price, found five figures a year, and worked out that most of what they charge for is measurable in an afternoon. AI Visibility Scan is that audit, and the diagnosis is free.
What they were actually selling
Underneath the pitch: content production, some structured data, and a report. Priced as if it were access.
The business model was "hope you don't understand this"
Why AI visibility is unusually easy to sell opaquely, and what the opacity is hiding.
Most of it is measurable
Whether a model can read your page, whether it names you when asked a real question, and who it names instead. All of it observable rather than promised.
One rule: no fake confidence
AI answers are sampled and non-deterministic. A result that does not hold a majority of samples is reported as unstable, not as fact.
The part no scan can fix for you
On-page work makes you eligible; off-site presence decides it, and that takes weeks. Anyone guaranteeing otherwise is guessing.