Methodology

Why we run every prompt multiple times, and why that's not a minor detail

Most AI-visibility audits ask a question once and report the answer as fact. AI outputs aren't consistent — that approach is statistically weak, and it's the single thing most publicly available audits get wrong.

Why this is harder to fake than it sounds

Running a prompt once is fast and cheap — which is exactly why most audits, from agencies and from free online tools alike, do it that way. Running it properly, multiple times per engine, at a price that still makes sense for a small business, only works if the process is automated rather than done by hand.

That's the actual reason the audit costs £295 and not £2,995 — the rigor comes from tooling, not from billable hours. We built it this way on purpose, not because it was the easy option.

The problem with asking once

A single-prompt audit

Asks ChatGPT one question, checks whether the brand appears, and reports 'cited' or 'not cited.' But ask the exact same question five minutes later and you might get a different answer entirely — AI outputs vary run to run, even with identical input.

Run 1: cited → report says 'you're visible'

Litealign's approach

Runs the same prompt multiple times per engine and reports a rate, not a verdict. A rate is honest about uncertainty. It tells you how reliably you show up, not just whether you happened to once.

5 runs: cited 2/5 → citation rate: 40%

How an audit actually runs

Four steps, the same for every client.

1

Build a prompt set specific to the client

Not generic questions — the actual phrases a real buyer would type into ChatGPT or Perplexity when evaluating this specific category or company.

2

Run each prompt multiple times, per engine

Typically 3–5 runs per prompt across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews — because a single response can't be trusted to represent the norm.

3

Score citation rate, position, and sentiment

Not just 'mentioned or not' — where in the answer, how prominently, and whether the mention is favourable, all get tracked separately.

4

Benchmark against real competitors

The same prompt set, run against the brands actually being compared against — so the score means something relative, not just absolute.

Who built it

AI

Master's in Artificial Intelligence

This methodology was designed and is maintained by Litealign's data & measurement lead — not adapted from a generic template.

See it applied to a real example

See the methodology in a sample report.

A full sample report, built exactly the way yours would be.