What Is a VisibilityScore™? The Complete 2026 Definition
Why a single score and not a 50-page audit?
Most SEO audits produce a PDF that nobody reads. They list 200 issues, weight them inconsistently, and offer no way to compare your business to anyone else's. A VisibilityScore™ collapses that complexity into a number that means the same thing across industries - so the owner of a dental practice in Jacksonville and the owner of an HVAC company in Dallas can both answer 'am I above or below my market?' in seconds.
The score is structured for action. Each underlying category surfaces a short list of recommendations, ranked by expected impact and tied to the audit findings that caused the deduction. That's the bridge from 'here's your number' to 'here's what to do next week.'
What goes into the score?
The composite is built from nine independently scored categories:
- AI Visibility - coverage and citation quality across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
- Website Health - technical fundamentals: schema, indexability, core web vitals, mobile.
- Content Visibility - depth, freshness, and intent coverage of crawlable content.
- Offer Competitiveness - whether your offers, pricing, and CTAs surface in answer engines.
- Organic Search - ranking positions for your priority terms.
- Maps & Local SEO - Google Business Profile completeness, photo recency, NAP consistency.
- Reputation - review velocity, rating, response rate, and recency.
- Competitive Market Position - your share-of-visibility vs. local competitors.
- Overall Visibility - the rolled-up composite buyer-facing number.
How is the score calculated?
Each category is scored 0-100 against an industry-specific benchmark cohort. We don't grade on a universal curve - a VisibilityScore™ of 72 for a law firm and a 72 for a restaurant mean different things in different markets, so we anchor every category to its industry's average, top 25%, and top 10%. The composite is a weighted blend that emphasizes the categories most predictive of lead flow for your specific category (Maps weighs heavier for restaurants, AI Visibility weighs heavier for B2B services, reputation weighs heavier for medical and dental).
What's a good VisibilityScore™?
Industry averages cluster between 55 and 70. The top 25% of any cohort typically scores 75-82. The top 10% - the businesses that consistently win the 3-pack, the AI answer, and the organic snippet - score 85+. Anything below 50 means at least one major category is broken (almost always either Maps, reputation, or schema).
Run your free VisibilityScore™
Free, takes ~90 seconds, no credit card. Get your composite score across 9 visibility categories.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the VisibilityScore™ the same as a Google ranking?
No. A ranking measures one keyword in one engine; the VisibilityScore™ measures discoverability across Google, Maps, AI assistants, reviews, and your website - collapsed into one comparable number.
Does the score include AI search?
Yes. AI Visibility is one of the nine underlying categories and measures how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews cite your business.
How often does the score update?
Auto Monthly Visibility Checks re-score your business once per month so you see a trend line, not just one snapshot.
What score should I aim for?
The top 10% of any industry typically scores 85+. The realistic next step from the industry average (55-70) is 75-80, achieved by fixing the highest-impact category first.
Is the score industry-specific?
Yes. Every category is benchmarked against an industry cohort so a dental practice and a roofer aren't graded on the same curve.
Can I see what's hurting my score?
Yes. Each category surfaces the audit findings that caused the deduction and a short, impact-ranked recommendation list.
Does the score work for multi-location businesses?
Yes. Each location is scored independently and the brand sees a roll-up.
Is the VisibilityScore™ free?
The initial score is free. Monthly re-scoring and the recommendation engine are part of the paid plans.
Run your free VisibilityScore™
Free, takes ~90 seconds, no credit card. Get your composite score across 9 visibility categories.