Glossary

AI Visibility Score

The AI Visibility Score is a 0 to 100 composite that measures how strongly AI engines cite and recommend a business across three weighted dimensions.

AI Visibility Score is a single 0 to 100 figure that measures how strongly AI engines cite and recommend a business. It combines three dimensions: AI Visibility at 40 per cent, Source Quality at 30 per cent and Narrative Fit at 30 per cent. The result sits in one of five bands, from Ghost to Known and Cited.

Why it matters

Buyers increasingly ask an AI engine before they ask a search box. A figure that sits in one place lets a business see, at a glance, whether the engines name it, trust the sources behind it and tell the right story about it.

A single number also makes change measurable. Without one score, a business is guessing whether its work moved the needle. With one, it can set a baseline, act, and re-measure against the same scale.

The three dimensions matter because being mentioned is not the same as being recommended well. AI Visibility asks whether you appear at all. Source Quality asks whether the citations behind you are credible. Narrative Fit asks whether the story the engines tell matches the one you want told.

How K&C uses AI Visibility Score

K&C calculates the AI Visibility Score as the headline output of an AI Visibility Strategy. The score is built from a tailored question set run across the three engines, then read through our 12-pillar framework.

We weight the three dimensions at 40, 30 and 30 so that raw presence never masks weak sourcing or a misaligned story. A business can be visible and still poorly recommended, and the weighting surfaces that.

Every score lands in a fixed band, so the figure carries plain meaning. You can see the full method on the score page, and the bands tell you where the work should start.

Frequently asked questions

How is the AI Visibility Score calculated?
It is a composite of three weighted dimensions: AI Visibility at 40 per cent, Source Quality at 30 per cent and Narrative Fit at 30 per cent. Each dimension is measured by running a tailored question set across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, then reading the results through K&C's 12-pillar framework. The three parts combine into one figure from 0 to 100.
What is a good AI Visibility Score?
Scores map to five fixed bands. Ghost runs from 0 to 10, Whisper from 11 to 30, Emerging from 31 to 50, Cited from 51 to 75, and Known and Cited from 76 to 100. A business in the Cited band is being named and recommended with reasonable consistency. The Known and Cited band reflects strong, well sourced and well framed presence across the engines.
Does the score change over time?
Yes. AI engines update their models and their sources, and competitors act too, so a score is a snapshot rather than a permanent grade. K&C re-measures on a bespoke cadence so a business can track movement against its baseline and see whether changes have taken hold.

Related terms

Find out where you stand, for free

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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Be Known. Be Cited.