For two decades, being found online meant being found by a search engine. The rules were imperfect and often opaque, but they were studied, measured and argued over in public. A whole profession grew up around understanding them.
That is changing. People now ask AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, Claude and Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode which product to buy, which agency to hire and which company to trust. These systems answer in full sentences. They describe brands, compare them, recommend some and leave others out. They cite some sources and ignore others.
When organizations ask the obvious questions (How do these systems see us? Why did they say that? What, if anything, can we do about it?), the answers are mostly confident opinions. Dashboards report scores without explaining how they were calculated. Single screenshots are treated as proof. Correlation is sold as strategy.
AI Visibility Journal is an attempt to do better.
We will measure carefully, with repeated runs, defined metrics and stated uncertainty, because AI systems rarely give the same answer twice. We will publish our methods and, wherever licensing allows, our data, so that anyone can check our work. We will say clearly what we know, what we suspect and what we don’t know yet. When we are wrong, we will correct the record in public, on our Corrections page.
We will also stay independent. No company can pay to be included in, excluded from or ranked in our research. We accept no payment for coverage. We use AI tools in our work, and our AI Use Policy explains where; a person decides what is true and what we publish. Our ownership, funding and relationships are listed on our Disclosures page.
Our first original research and the first edition of the AVJ Citation Index are in progress, and we will publish the method before the results. Until then, we publish news, guides and explainers held to the same editorial standards. To follow along, subscribe to The Visibility Brief, our free weekly newsletter; the first issue arrives on Friday, Dec. 4. If you think we have something wrong, tell us.
Nhi Phan, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief