A good AI Visibility Score sits in the Cited band (51 to 75) or higher. But "good" is relative. In a crowded sector, breaking 40 can put you ahead of rivals. In a thin one, 60 might still trail the leader. The score is most useful read against your competitors, not in isolation.
The AI Visibility Score is a single number from 0 to 100. It tells you how present, trusted and well-positioned a brand is when AI engines answer questions in its market. It is built from three dimensions: AI Visibility (40%), which measures how often you are mentioned and recommended; Source Quality (30%), which measures whether the sources the engines lean on are authoritative; and Narrative Fit (30%), which measures whether what is said about you matches what you want said.
The 0 to 100 range is split into five locked bands. Each band describes a real state of presence, not just a grade.
| Ghost | 0 to 10 | The engines do not know you exist. You are absent from answers in your market. |
| Whisper | 11 to 30 | You appear occasionally, usually for narrow or branded queries, rarely for the questions buyers actually ask. |
| Emerging | 31 to 50 | You show up with some consistency. You are in the conversation but not a first choice. |
| Cited | 51 to 75 | The engines name and recommend you regularly across the buyer journey. You are a credible default. |
| Known and Cited | 76 to 100 | You are a go-to answer. The engines reach for you first and describe you the way you want to be described. |
Here is the honest part. There is no universal pass mark. A score of 45 could be excellent or poor depending entirely on context. In a young, sparsely covered sector, the engines have fewer trusted sources to draw on, so a moderate score can put you clearly in front. In a mature, content-heavy sector with established incumbents, the same score might leave you fourth or fifth in line.
This is why we never hand over a number on its own. A score read in isolation is a vanity metric. The figure becomes useful the moment you set it beside your direct competitors and the brand the engines currently name first. That comparison tells you whether you are winning, holding or falling behind, which is the thing that actually matters.
Do not chase a target number for its own sake. Chase the gap. If the engines name a competitor before you for the questions your buyers ask, that is the problem to fix, regardless of whether your raw score is 30 or 60. Closing that gap moves revenue. Lifting an abstract score does not.
It also means your goal should be sector-aware. In a competitive market, getting into the Cited band is genuinely hard and worth real investment. In a quieter market, you may reach Cited faster, but the bar for Known and Cited can be higher because the leaders are entrenched. Knowing where the realistic ceiling sits for your sector stops you spending against the wrong target.
We score every brand on the same 0 to 100 AI Visibility Score, built across the 12-pillar framework and the three dimensions. We run the measurement across all three engines that matter, ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, so the number reflects how AI actually answers, not one tool's view. You can read more about how the score is built on our AI Visibility Score page and our methodology.
Crucially, we always score your competitors alongside you. That turns the number into a map: where you stand, who is ahead, and what it would take to close the distance. The starting point is a free Exec Brief, which gives you your band and the headline gaps before you commit to anything. From there, the cadence work is bespoke priced. Start at /start. Be Known. Be Cited.
Book an AVS Exec Brief: a real, one-off measurement of how ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity talk about your business right now. Same methodology as the full AI Visibility Strategy, delivered manually, free of charge. Annual, Bi-Annual and Quarterly cadences are bespoke priced.
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