The 10-Prompt Appearance Self-Check

You do not need a full audit to get a first read on your Appearance, the ANSWER category that measures whether AI names your brand when a customer asks about your category. You need 10 good questions, a logged-out browser, and 15 minutes. This self-check shows you how to run it and how to read what you get. For the full background, see the Appearance pillar guide.

Before You Start: 3 Rules

These rules are what separate a useful read from a misleading one.

1. Log out. Run every query in a logged-out or private session. Logged in, the engine draws on your history and flatters you, which is not what a new customer sees.
2. One fresh chat per question. Start a new conversation for each prompt, so one answer does not color the next.
3. Use your real market. Run the questions in the geography you actually sell into, because answers vary by location.

The 10 Prompts

Adapt the bracketed parts to your category, customer, and region. The goal is open, category-level questions that never mention your brand.

1. "What are the best [category] tools for [customer type]?"
2. "Who are the leading [category] companies in [country or region]?"
3. "Top [category] software for [customer type] in 2026."
4. "I run a [customer type]. What [category] should I be looking at?"
5. "What are the most recommended [category] providers right now?"
6. "Best [category] for [specific use case]."
7. "Which [category] tools do experts recommend for [customer type]?"
8. "I need a [category] solution on a limited budget. What are my options?"
9. "What are some alternatives to [a well-known competitor]?"
10. "If you had to pick the top 3 [category] options, what would they be?"

Run each on at least 2 engines, for example ChatGPT and Perplexity, plus Google's AI answers if you can.

How to Read the Results

For each answer, record 3 things: were you named at all, how near the top, and which competitors appeared. Then look at the pattern.

If you are named near the top across most prompts and engines, your Appearance is strong. If you appear for the generic prompts but vanish on the specific ones, like questions 6 and 8, you have a Nomination-adjacent gap worth noting. If you are present on one engine and absent on another, you have an engine-specific gap. And if competitors anchor the top while you are missing or buried, that is the clearest sign you are leaking at Appearance. The failure patterns are explained in When AI Never Names Your Brand.

What This Check Cannot Tell You

A 10-prompt spot check is a useful hint, not a baseline. It is a single moment in time, on a handful of questions, scored by eye. AI answers vary from one ask to the next, so a real measurement runs many questions, repeats them, covers more engines, and scores every answer the same way so the number means something and can be tracked over time. Doing that by hand is a real undertaking, which is the honest reason most teams have it run for them.

If your self-check turns up gaps, the next step is a proper baseline. A HiBot audit measures your Appearance across many questions, multiple engines, and your real markets, then ranks what to fix first. The tactics for closing the gaps are in How to Improve Your Appearance Score. Download the ANSWER whitepaper to see the method, or request an AI visibility audit at hibot.com.