Choosing an AI-visibility tool comes down to one question: do you only need to measure whether AI assistants recommend you, or do you also need to fix the data that determines whether they do? Most tools do one or the other. Knowing which you need — and matching it to your platform and budget — is most of the decision.
The three categories
The market is young and the labels (AI visibility, GEO, AEO, AI-SEO) are used loosely, but tools fall into three groups:
- Monitoring tools. Run prompts across assistants and report whether you’re mentioned, your share of voice, and how it trends. They tell you where you stand. They don’t change anything.
- Optimisation tools. Act on your content and product data — structured attributes, schema, discovery pages — to make you more recommendable. Some include light measurement.
- Platforms. Do both: measure visibility and fix the underlying data, then re-measure to show the lift. The loop matters because measurement without remediation leaves you knowing the problem but not solving it.
The criteria that actually matter
Coverage
How many assistants does it test — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Google’s AI surfaces? Recommendations vary a lot between them, so single-assistant tools give a partial picture.
A clear, repeatable metric
You want one headline number — a visibility or recommendation rate — measured the same way each time, so you can see it move. Beware vague “AI scores” you can’t interpret or reproduce.
Share of voice vs competitors
Being mentioned matters less than being preferred. Good tools show how you compare to the brands the assistants recommend instead of you. Visibility without competitive context is half the picture.
Measure-only or measure-and-fix
The most important distinction. If a tool only reports, you still have to do the remediation yourself. If it acts on your product data, confirm exactly what it changes and whether those changes are durable.
Platform fit
Does it work natively with your stack — Shopify, WordPress/WooCommerce, your PIM? Native integration is the difference between automated fixes and a list of manual to-dos.
Method transparency
Can the vendor explain how they generate prompts, how they detect mentions, and how they attribute lift? Opaque methods are hard to trust and hard to act on.
Cost and caps
Look past the headline price at credit caps on prompts, scans, or pages. A cheap tool that caps you below useful coverage isn’t cheap.
Questions to ask any vendor
- Which assistants do you cover, and how often do you re-scan?
- What exactly is your visibility metric, and how is it calculated?
- Do you show share of voice against named competitors?
- Do you only measure, or do you change my product data? If you change it, what changes and is it permanent?
- How do you integrate with my platform?
- What are the limits — prompts, scans, pages — at each tier?
A simple way to decide
If you already have strong product data and just want to watch your position, a monitoring tool is enough. If your catalogue isn’t AI-ready — unstructured attributes, no intent pages — a monitoring tool will just confirm you’re invisible; you need an optimisation tool or platform that fixes the data. Most ecommerce brands earlier in this shift are in the second group.
Before you buy, it’s worth checking whether ChatGPT recommends you today so you know your starting point, and understanding how assistants choose products so you can judge whether a tool addresses the real levers.
Geoffy sits in the platform category — it measures your visibility across assistants and fixes the underlying product data, on Shopify and WordPress, so the numbers move rather than just being reported.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI-visibility tool?
An AI-visibility tool measures and, in some cases, improves how often AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude mention or recommend your brand. The category spans monitoring-only tools, optimisation tools that change your data, and full platforms that do both.
What should I look for in a GEO or AEO tool?
Coverage across multiple assistants, a clear and repeatable visibility metric, share-of-voice against competitors, and — critically — whether it only measures the problem or also fixes the underlying product data. Then check platform fit, transparency of method, and cost.
Do AI-visibility tools actually improve recommendations, or just report on them?
It depends on the tool. Monitoring tools tell you where you stand but change nothing. Optimisation tools and platforms act on your product data — structured attributes, schema, discovery pages — which is what actually moves recommendations.
How much do AI-visibility tools cost?
They range widely, from low-cost monitoring subscriptions to enterprise platforms. Watch for credit caps on prompts or scans, and weigh price against whether the tool only measures or also fixes.
Sources
- Aggarwal et al. (2024), GEO: Generative Engine Optimization — https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735
- Wikipedia, Generative engine optimization — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_engine_optimization
About the author
Anthony Gale is Co-Founder of Geoffy, a Generative Engine Optimisation platform for ecommerce brands. He has spent more than two decades in ecommerce and digital growth, helping retailers adapt to major shifts in online discovery.