Want to know whether AI recommends your brand to overseas shoppers? You don’t need to buy a tool. Ten minutes of asking will give you a good picture.
Prepare: write three questions
Think like a customer and write three questions in your target market’s language, one of each type:
- Category: “What are the best travel sock brands?”
- Comparison: “[Your brand] vs [main competitor], which is better?”
- Reputation: “Is [your brand] worth it?”
Selling into Germany? Ask in German. Japan? Ask in Japanese. AI answers can be completely different by language.
Three things to get right when asking
- Start a new chat for each question, so earlier messages don’t colour the answer.
- Log out or use a private window if you can. AI adapts to your chat history. If you often mention your own brand, it may name you more readily and skew the result.
- Turn on web search. Most assistants shoppers use now look things up online.
Which assistants to ask
At minimum: ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. If you have time, add Claude, Meta AI, Grok and Copilot. They draw on different sources, so results often differ a lot.
Record it in this table
| Question | Assistant | Mentioned? | Position | How you’re described | Sites cited |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | ChatGPT | ||||
| Category | Gemini | ||||
| Category | Perplexity | ||||
| Comparison | … | ||||
| Reputation | … |
“How you’re described” matters. AI sometimes names you but gets your price, origin or selling points wrong — that needs fixing too.
How to read the results
Not mentioned at all in category answers The most common result. AI does not yet see you as a representative brand in the category. Focus on third-party reviews and coverage, and check that your site is indexed and not blocking AI crawlers.
Comparison and reputation answers work, but you’re missing from category answers AI knows you but doesn’t put you on the shortlist. Usually comparison content, specific product details and third-party mentions are too thin.
Mentioned, but described inaccurately Check that your site and profiles on other platforms agree. Outdated or conflicting information gets picked up by AI.
Competitors appear on the cited sites, you don’t Those sites are your opportunity list — review sites, trade media, forum threads. Work out how to appear on each one.
Limits of a self-check
Asking yourself gives a rough picture, with some caveats:
- AI answers vary between runs. One round is a single sample, so re-ask a few days later to compare.
- Three questions show only one angle; real customers ask many more.
- Each market and language needs to be checked separately.
For a fuller picture, expand to 20–30 questions covering your main markets and competitors, and re-check monthly.
Rather not do it yourself? Tell us your site and target market and we will ask the major AI assistants for you, free, with a one-page result within five working days. Get a free AI visibility check →
Next, read: How cross-border brands get recommended by ChatGPT — a 7-step checklist