Running Your First Audit

How to Start an Audit

From your Dashboard, click Run Audit. If this is your first audit, you'll be prompted to add your brand details and keywords first. If you've already completed setup, the audit starts immediately.

Choosing the Right Keywords

Your keywords determine what 99Visibility asks AI platforms about your brand. Better keywords produce more useful results. Aim for 5 to 25 queries per audit.

Keyword Categories to Include

Brand queries: "What is [brand name]?", "[brand name] review", "[brand name] pricing"
Category queries: "Best [your category] tools", "Top [your category] software 2026"
Comparison queries: "[your brand] vs [competitor]", "[your brand] alternatives"
Problem queries: "How to [problem your product solves]", "Best way to [task your product handles]"
Industry queries: Questions about your niche where you want to be cited as an authority

Tips for Better Keywords

Use natural language — write queries the way a person would ask ChatGPT, not how they'd type into Google.
Include a mix of branded and unbranded queries. Branded queries check accuracy; unbranded queries check discoverability.
Start with 10-15 keywords. You can always add more and re-audit later.
Think about what your customers actually ask. Check your support tickets, sales call notes, and search console queries for inspiration.

What Happens During an Audit

When you click Run Audit, 99Visibility does the following:

Queries four AI platforms — each keyword is sent to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI, and Claude.
Parses responses — every response is analyzed for brand mentions, factual accuracy, sentiment, and source citations.
Detects hallucinations — AI responses are compared against the brand data you provided (pricing, features, team info) to flag inaccuracies. See Hallucination Detection for details.
Calculates scores — your overall and per-platform visibility scores are computed using the scoring formula.
Generates recommendations — based on the results, the Recommendations Engine produces prioritized fixes.

Audit Duration

A typical audit takes 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the number of keywords. You'll receive an email notification when your audit is complete, or you can watch the progress bar on the Dashboard.

Interpreting Your Results

Once your audit finishes, you'll see results organized in three views:

Score overview — your aggregate visibility score with a per-platform breakdown. A score above 60 is good; below 40 needs immediate attention.
Query-level detail — for each keyword, see which platforms mentioned you, what they said, and whether it was accurate.
Recommendations — a prioritized list of fixes. Start with High-priority items that have Low effort estimates for quick wins.

For a full explanation of how scores work, read Understanding Your Score.

Quick Start Guide

Understanding Your Score

Running Your First Audit

How to Start an Audit

Choosing the Right Keywords

Your keywords determine what 99Visibility asks AI platforms about your brand. Better keywords produce more useful results. Aim for 5 to 25 queries per audit.

Keyword Categories to Include

Brand queries: "What is [brand name]?", "[brand name] review", "[brand name] pricing"
Category queries: "Best [your category] tools", "Top [your category] software 2026"
Comparison queries: "[your brand] vs [competitor]", "[your brand] alternatives"
Problem queries: "How to [problem your product solves]", "Best way to [task your product handles]"
Industry queries: Questions about your niche where you want to be cited as an authority

Tips for Better Keywords

Use natural language — write queries the way a person would ask ChatGPT, not how they'd type into Google.
Include a mix of branded and unbranded queries. Branded queries check accuracy; unbranded queries check discoverability.
Start with 10-15 keywords. You can always add more and re-audit later.
Think about what your customers actually ask. Check your support tickets, sales call notes, and search console queries for inspiration.

What Happens During an Audit

When you click Run Audit, 99Visibility does the following:

Queries four AI platforms — each keyword is sent to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI, and Claude.
Parses responses — every response is analyzed for brand mentions, factual accuracy, sentiment, and source citations.
Detects hallucinations — AI responses are compared against the brand data you provided (pricing, features, team info) to flag inaccuracies. See Hallucination Detection for details.
Calculates scores — your overall and per-platform visibility scores are computed using the scoring formula.
Generates recommendations — based on the results, the Recommendations Engine produces prioritized fixes.

Audit Duration

A typical audit takes 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the number of keywords. You'll receive an email notification when your audit is complete, or you can watch the progress bar on the Dashboard.

Interpreting Your Results

Once your audit finishes, you'll see results organized in three views:

Score overview — your aggregate visibility score with a per-platform breakdown. A score above 60 is good; below 40 needs immediate attention.
Query-level detail — for each keyword, see which platforms mentioned you, what they said, and whether it was accurate.
Recommendations — a prioritized list of fixes. Start with High-priority items that have Low effort estimates for quick wins.

For a full explanation of how scores work, read Understanding Your Score.