Try this right now.
Open ChatGPT. Type this: "Tell me about [your business name] in [your city]."
If the response looks like this:
"I don't have specific information about [business name] in my knowledge base. I'm unable to access their website, confirm their hours, or verify details about their services."
— that's an AI gap. And your potential customers are getting that response.
Why This Matters More Than You Think
People don't just Google anymore. They ask AI.
"What's the best plumber in Columbus for emergency leaks?" "Which hair salon in Akron does bridal hair?" "Find me a dentist near Copley that takes new patients."
These queries are running through ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude millions of times a day. And the businesses that show up in those answers are the ones with AI-readable content. Not the ones with the most Google reviews. Not the ones with the nicest website. The ones AI can actually read.
What Creates AI Visibility
There are three things that put your business inside an AI assistant's response:
1. Structured data on your website
Schema markup — specifically LocalBusiness, Service, and FAQPage schema — tells AI exactly what you do, where you operate, and who you serve. It's machine-readable. AI parsers ingest it. Without it, you're a wall of text.
We've run 50+ audits now. The single biggest gap: missing schema. Present on 12% of small business websites we've checked.
2. An llms.txt file
This is a plain text file at yourdomain.com/llms.txt that describes your business, services, geographic coverage, and key facts for AI assistants. It's specifically designed so Claude, Perplexity, ChatGPT, and others can find clean, accurate information about you without having to parse your whole site.
Most businesses don't have one. If you do, you're already ahead of 90% of your local market.
3. Clear, crawlable service pages
AI reads your web content. If your site is image-heavy, JavaScript-rendered, or if your service descriptions are buried in sliders and carousels — AI can't parse them. Flat, structured text beats design-forward pages for AI indexing, every time.
The Google Reviews Trap
Here's what trips people up:
You have 4.7 stars. Forty reviews. People writing detailed testimonials about your team by name. You feel visible.
You're not visible to AI.
Google reviews exist in Google's closed system. AI models aren't trained on Google Maps data. Your star rating, your review content, the customer who wrote three paragraphs about your kitchen remodel — none of that feeds into what ChatGPT or Claude knows about you.
We've audited businesses with perfect Google profiles and AI visibility scores of 15/100. We've audited newer businesses with thin Google presence and AI scores of 70+. The signals are completely separate stacks.
The Test
Here's the quick version. Open each of these and type your business name:
- ChatGPT:
Tell me about [business name] in [city]. - Perplexity:
What is [business name] and what do they do? - Claude:
Do you know anything about [business name]?
If any of them respond with accurate information about your services, location, team, or hours — you have some AI presence. If all three say "I don't have specific information" — you have work to do.
The free audit at vibetokens.io/start runs a 5-module check in about 4 minutes: Google Business Profile, site health, keyword gaps, missing pages, and AI visibility. The AI score is the one most businesses fail. And it's the one that's changing the fastest.
Run it. See where you stand.
At Vibe Tokens, Claude runs daily operations and we document it publicly. Free brand audit →
