What is an AI visibility diagnostic?

An AI visibility diagnostic is a structured assessment of how AI answer engines and search systems represent a company: where it appears, how accurately it is described, which sources shape the answers, and how it compares with competitors. GridStrat's Diagnostic Sprint packages this into a fixed-scope engagement with a prioritized correction roadmap.

What are governed facts?

Governed facts are the approved, evidence-backed claims, descriptions, and source locations a company designates as the canonical way it should be represented — by its own content, third-party sources, and AI systems.

How is AI visibility optimization different from SEO?

SEO optimizes for search rankings on keyword queries. AI visibility optimization addresses how AI systems synthesize answers — which depends on factual consistency, source authority, entity clarity, and citable structure across owned and third-party sources. A page can rank well and still never be used in an AI answer.

What is publish-measure-iterate?

Publish-measure-iterate is GridStrat's monthly operating loop for AI visibility: publish governed corrections, measure AI/search representation with dated evidence, and iterate on prioritized improvements.

Proof hub

Proof, Case Studies, and AI Visibility Benchmarks

GridStrat proves its model the same way it advises clients to: with dated evidence, not adjectives. Every claim here carries its dates, its methodology, and its caveats. AI and search visibility vary by location, user profile, prompt wording, model, and time.

Case study · Medical Co · Three audit waves, Aug 2025 – May 2026

Cascade Orthotics: from not registering to the default AI answer for seniors.

Cascade Orthotics provides senior custom knee bracing in Calgary. Across three paired audit waves, GridStrat's strategy-led AI visibility work moved a high-intent discovery channel from largely closed to consistently open.

7% → 86%

Consumer cohort mention rate

Three-wave trajectory across senior knee-bracing prompt sets (7% → 26% → 86%).

18% → 88%

Referrer cohort

Medical and senior-care referrer queries moved toward near-saturation (18% → 53% → 88%).

0 → 18/20

Generic senior query

"Custom knee braces" moved from total absence to 18 of 20 answers.

Line chart of Cascade Orthotics AI visibility for custom knee bracing across three audit waves, August 2025 to May 2026: overall visibility rising from 11% to 87%, consumer searches from 7% to 86%, and medical and senior-care referral queries from 18% to 88% — Nine-month AI visibility trajectory for the senior knee-bracing prompt set — overall visibility 11% → 87%, with consumer (7% → 26% → 86%) and referrer (18% → 53% → 88%) cohorts tracked separately. Source: 30 Clarity audit reports across three waves.

Why the result moved

01
Persona paths. Separated senior consumers, family decision-makers, medical referrers, and senior-care professionals — and built prompt sets for each.
02
Offering clarity. Mapped consumer language ("knee braces") to clinical language ("custom knee orthoses") and closed the terminology gap in both directions.
03
Proof layer. Identified the AADL subsidy as the strongest decision and trust signal for both audiences. AADL-focused consumer prompts reached 19.5/20 by May; health-services referrer AADL prompts reached 20/20 on both engines.
04
Source engine. Converted strategy into pages, schema, blog, social, PR, and recurring content — current evidence AI engines could actually cite.

The real shift

AI moved from naming chiropractors, physio clinics, and general resources to recognizing specialist orthotics providers — with Cascade as a leading answer. The competitive field itself was reset.

"We've been crazy busy lately, and the only thing we've changed has been the work GridStrat is doing to optimize our online presence… that's what's moving our consult volume."

Jeff Wright · Owner, Cascade Orthotics, Calgary

Honest caveat: AI answer visibility is a leading signal; consult volume impact is client-reported and not independently audited.

clarity.gridstrat.com — Cascade Orthotics

Clarity dashboard for Cascade Orthotics: 93.9% AI visibility score, #1 company rank, 1.4x top competitor ratio

Pattern proof

Same methodology, same trajectory shape, multiple buyer contexts: knee-bracing and scoliosis cohorts, consumer and referrer prompts.

4 of 4

cohorts improved at every step

0

regressions across paired audit waves

8 of 8

three-wave paired audits improving

Evidence: Cascade Orthotics case study, Aug 2025 – May 2026; paired prompt sets across search-enabled AI engines. Results vary by prompt, engine, location, and time.

Case study · Ag-tech SaaS · Results as of Jun 7, 2026

Cellar Insights: from invisible to #1 in three months.

Cellar Insights is an ag-tech SaaS company in crop storage monitoring. GridStrat's engagement covered strategy, messaging, website, social, advertising, and PR alignment — one market narrative across every channel AI engines learn from.

#1

ChatGPT

"Rot detection in storage" prompts · AB, ID, NB, MB

#1

Google AI Overview

AI Overview placement for the same category prompts

#1

Google Organic

Organic search ranking for the same category prompts

AI answer capture — buyer-style prompt, 2026

AI assistant answer to a potato farm storage monitoring question, recommending Cellar Insights as the best overall option for spoilage warning, with cited sources

The proof in its rawest form: a real buyer-style prompt — "what are the best solutions for my potato farm to monitor stored crops and keep an eye on spoilage" — answered with Cellar Insights ranked as the best overall option, described accurately, and cited to its own sources. This is what the operating loop is built to produce.

What moved the needle

Growth strategy translated into AEO-optimized positioning.
Persona-specific proof for grower, processor, and ecosystem audiences.
Website, social, and advertising aligned to one market narrative.
PR added credible third-party validation that AI engines could cite.

"In just over a month, we moved from basically invisible in AI search recommendations to number 1…" in both targeted growth markets — Idaho and Washington — for the product category.

Terry Sydoryk · CEO, Cellar Insights · August 2025

Cellar Insights monitoring hardware mounted in a commercial potato storage facility above thousands of stored potatoes

Cellar Insights monitoring hardware in a commercial potato storage facility — the real-world system behind the AI answers above.

The pattern behind the result

Business understanding → sharper offering story → stronger AI recommendation signals. The same sequence GridStrat runs in every engagement, applied to a technical agricultural category.

Evidence: date-stamped client screenshots and GridStrat AI Visibility Audit r2. Rankings vary by location, profile, model, and time.

In progress · Documented publicly

GridStrat's own AI visibility rebuild

GridStrat became its own flagship client. Starting from a low AI visibility baseline, we are using our own methodology — governed facts, source corrections, content updates, schema improvements, and monthly measurement — to rebuild how AI systems understand, cite, and recommend GridStrat, and documenting every step publicly.