AI Citation Audit Template
An AI citation audit is the simplest way to find out whether AI assistants actually recommend your business. You ask the assistants the same questions your customers ask, write down what happens, and end up with a single number: your mention rate. No software required, no technical background needed. This page gives you the exact spreadsheet layout, how to score it, and a starter set of questions you can copy.
What an AI citation audit is
Think of it like a secret shopper program, except the shopper is ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini. You prepare a list of realistic customer questions, ask each one in a fresh chat, and record whether your business was named in the answer, cited as a source, or missing entirely. After ten or twenty questions, a pattern emerges that no single casual test can show you.
Why track citations and not just "did it mention me"? Because AI assistants increasingly show their sources, and sources are where trust comes from. There is real evidence behind this: branded web mentions correlate 0.664 with AI Overview visibility, compared with just 0.218 for backlinks, in an Ahrefs study of 75,000 brands. In plain English, being talked about across the web matters more for AI visibility than traditional link building. An audit shows you whether that is happening for you.
The spreadsheet columns to track
Set up one row per question per platform. These eight columns cover everything a small business needs:
| Column | What to record | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt | The exact question you asked | "emergency plumber in Austin open now" |
| Platform | Which assistant answered | ChatGPT / Perplexity / Gemini |
| Named (Y/N) | Did your business name appear in the answer? | N |
| Cited URL | Any linked source pointing at you (your site, review profile, article) | yelp.com/biz/... |
| Competitor named | Which competitors were recommended instead | ABC Plumbing, XYZ Rooter |
| Accuracy notes | Wrong hours, old address, wrong services mentioned about you | "Lists us as closed Sundays — wrong" |
| Source domain | Where the AI seemed to get its information | yelp.com, angi.com |
| Date | When you ran the test | 2026-10-15 |
The accuracy notes column deserves emphasis. AI assistants sometimes mention your business but get the details wrong: old phone numbers, wrong hours, services you no longer offer. A wrong mention can cost you customers just as surely as no mention, so log errors when you see them.
The source domain column is your strategy column. After a full audit, sort by it. The domains that appear most often are the websites the AI trusts in your market. Those are exactly the places where you need a presence.
How to score your mention rate
Once your sheet is filled in, the math is simple. Count the number of prompts where your business was named, divide by the total number of prompts, and multiply by 100. That is your mention rate.
Do the same for citations: prompts where any URL pointing to you appeared, divided by total prompts. Track the two numbers separately, because they tell you different things. A high citation rate with a low mention rate means the AI knows your website exists but does not consider you worth recommending by name yet. A low citation rate means you are barely on its radar at all.
Also compute a competitor gap: for each competitor, count how many times they were named. If one competitor is named in 60% of answers and you are named in 10%, you know exactly how far behind you are and who to study.
There is no universal "good" score. What matters is the trend: run the audit, do the fixes, run it again in two to three months, and watch your own numbers move.
Sample 10-question starter set for a local service business
Below is a starter set written for a plumbing company in Austin. Adapt the trade and city to your own business. Notice that none of the questions name the business; they are all written the way a stranger would ask.
- Who is the best emergency plumber in Austin?
- Affordable plumber near me open on weekends
- Which Austin plumbing company is best for water heater replacement?
- Plumber in Austin with good reviews for drain cleaning
- How much does it cost to fix a leaking pipe in Austin?
- Best rated plumbers in South Austin
- Who should I call for a burst pipe at night in Austin?
- Austin plumber that offers free estimates
- Is it better to repair or replace a 15-year-old water heater?
- Most reliable plumbing service in Austin for landlords
Question 9 is deliberate: it is an advice question, not a recommendation question. Advice answers often cite how-to sources, which can surface a different set of citations than "best of" questions. Mixing question types gives you a fuller picture.
How often to repeat the audit
Every 8 to 12 weeks. AI models update, websites publish new content, competitors earn new reviews, and your own fixes take time to register. Auditing more often than that mostly measures noise. Put a recurring reminder on your calendar and use the identical question set each time so the numbers are comparable.
One honest note: AI answers vary from day to day and from user to user, so treat your mention rate as a sample, not a verdict. If a score looks surprising, re-run a few questions before acting on it.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI citation audit?
It is a structured test where you ask AI assistants the questions your customers ask, then record whether your business is named or cited. The result is a mention rate that shows how visible you are in AI answers.
How many prompts do I need for a useful audit?
Ten to twenty buyer-style prompts per platform is enough for a small business. More prompts give a steadier number, but ten well-chosen questions already reveal the pattern.
What counts as a citation in an AI answer?
A citation is a linked source the AI shows for its answer, such as your website, a review profile, or an article about you. Being named in the answer text without a link is a mention rather than a citation.
Should I include competitors in my audit?
Yes. Recording which competitors get named shows you exactly who you are losing to and, more importantly, which sources the AI trusts for them.
Can I do an AI citation audit without any tools?
Yes. A spreadsheet, the free versions of the AI assistants, and about an hour of your time are all you need. Paid tools can speed it up, but they are not required.