A measurable visibility gap—not a verdict on the whole market.
Across this selected panel, the brand was neither mentioned nor cited by its own domain. The same ten questions were measured on two dates.
Valid observed answers
Links to howaicite.com
Ten questions × two waves
Scope: Perplexity Sonar API (sonar-pro) · requested US market · English · September 23–24, 2026. See collection method.
Two waves. No observed mention.
Denominators include valid completed answers only. The two dates are repeated observations, not 20 independent buyer questions.
| Date (UTC) | Valid answers | Brand mentions | Own-domain citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 23, 2026 | 10 / 10 | 0 / 10 | 0 / 10 |
| September 24, 2026 | 10 / 10 | 0 / 10 | 0 / 10 |
The absence held in both waves. We did not count a missing, failed or empty response as a negative answer; none of these 20 runs failed. All 20 observations had a citation-capable provider source basis, but no first-party URL appeared.
A fixed panel with visible provenance.
Each saved buyer question was run once per wave. Answer, source basis and timestamp remain in the private workspace.
- Provider and model
- Perplexity Sonar API ·
sonar-pro - Requested market
- United States · English
- September 23 window
- 10:51–10:53 UTC
- September 24 window
- 03:27–03:29 UTC
- Measured outcomes
- Brand mention; first-party citation to howaicite.com
- Excluded attempts
- None in these two waves
“United States” is the requested market, not independently verified provider-applied geolocation. This API response is not a capture of the consumer Perplexity interface or another chatbot’s consumer experience.
Exactly what we asked.
Ten questions, each observed twice. The panel was selected by us; it is not a search-volume sample.
- How can agencies create client-ready AI visibility reports?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
- How can marketing teams measure whether AI assistants cite their website?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
- How do I track first-party citation rates in AI-generated answers?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
- What are the best AI visibility monitoring tools for B2B SaaS companies?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
- What are the best generative engine optimization tools for agencies?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
- What is the best AI citation monitoring software for small businesses?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
- What platform can monitor citations across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
- What tools can verify whether GEO changes improved AI citations?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
- Which AI search visibility tool provides evidence-backed recommendations?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
- Which GEO software tracks brand mentions and citations in AI answers?2 valid · 0 mentions · 0 own-domain citations
Download the aggregate question-level CSV ↗ The CSV contains counts and scope only, not raw AI answers or customer data.
The work shipped. The outcome has not been remeasured.
A page edit is an intervention to test, not evidence that visibility improved.
Original questions, timestamps and source basis retained privately.
No post-change answer has been collected for this note. We will compare the same question, provider, market and language later.
Three internal fix tasks retain their baseline observations. A later mention or citation would be an observed change; it would not, by itself, prove the page edits caused it.
What not to conclude.
- Twenty answers across two dates do not represent all US buyers, all prompts or all AI products.
- Provider APIs can retrieve and cite differently from consumer interfaces; this note makes no claim about ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or the consumer Perplexity app.
- A mention is not necessarily a recommendation; a citation is not a sale or endorsement.
- Retrieval and model behavior can change over time, so a before/after difference is not automatically causal.
- Raw third-party answer text and private workspace evidence are not republished here.
For definitions and connector boundaries, see the metric dictionary and coverage matrix. We will update this note only when a comparable, valid post-change wave has been reviewed, keeping the original baseline visible.