Visible for What?
Visibility only has meaning relative to a query, need, category, geography or intent. A business is rarely simply visible or invisible — it is visible for some things and entirely absent for others.
Northland Plumbing
One business, eight potential visibility dimensions. Each one is a separate measurement.
Five measures per query
Search visibility, AI visibility, marketplace visibility, citation strength and competitive position — measured per query, not per business.
| Query dimension | Search | AI | Marketplace | Citations | Competitive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plumber | Strong | Medium | Medium | Strong | Medium |
| Emergency Plumber | Medium | Weak | Weak | Medium | Weak |
| Water Heater Repair | Medium | Weak | Medium | Medium | Weak |
| Duluth Plumber | Strong | Medium | Medium | Strong | Medium |
| Hermantown Plumber | Weak | Weak | — | Weak | Weak |
| Best Local Plumber | Medium | Weak | Weak | Medium | Weak |
| 24-Hour Plumbing | Weak | Weak | — | Weak | Weak |
| Commercial Plumbing | Weak | Weak | Weak | Medium | Weak |
This becomes the basis for a query-level Visibility Record.
Aggregate scores hide the gaps
A business known for one service may be invisible for adjacent services it actually offers.
Visibility in a primary city says nothing about visibility in the surrounding service area.
Best, top and near me queries are answered by different signals than name queries.
All query examples and ratings on this page are illustrative demonstration data.