How much does a Kumu benchmark cost?

Phase 1 is $500. It delivers your Brand Integrity Index, Signal Strength Index, Signal Gap, competitive position and top opportunities. Phase 2, the full 15-dimension roadmap with competitor comparison, is scoped to the organization.

How quickly do I get results?

First findings are delivered in 3–5 days from purchase.

Do I need to give you access to anything?

No. The benchmark is scored from publicly available evidence — your website, structured data, third-party sources and live AI system responses — which is what makes it independent and repeatable.

Is this an SEO audit?

No. A technical SEO audit looks at whether pages can rank. The benchmark measures whether your brand is found, understood, trusted and recommended across both search and AI answer systems, and includes the brand-side dimensions that decide whether there is anything clear to find.

Organizations that already invest in marketing and want to know, in measurable terms, how they perform in AI search before committing to more work. It suits leadership teams who want a baseline rather than a recommendation.

What is AI Search optimization?

AI Search optimization is the work of making an organization easier for search engines and AI answer systems to find, understand, verify, cite, and recommend.

What is answer engine optimization?

Answer engine optimization focuses on improving how an organization appears in systems that synthesize answers instead of only listing links. These systems include ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.

What is generative engine optimization?

Generative engine optimization is another term for improving visibility in generative AI systems. Kumu treats it as part of AI Search optimization.

What is LLM visibility?

LLM visibility is the degree to which large language models can recognize, retrieve, summarize, and accurately describe an organization.

Can Kumu guarantee that an AI system will cite a company?

No. No agency can guarantee inclusion in a specific AI answer. Kumu improves the evidence, structure, clarity, and third-party signals that make inclusion more likely.

Kumu tests owned website signals, search visibility, AI-answer behavior, third-party verification, structured data, page-level evidence, crawlability, channel presence, and user action pathways.

What is the Kumu Brand & Signal Benchmark?

The Kumu Brand & Signal Benchmark is an evidence-led assessment that measures Brand Integrity and Signal Architecture side by side.

What is the difference between SEO and AI Search optimization?

SEO helps pages appear in search results. AI Search optimization also helps answer systems understand what an organization is, why it is credible, what it offers, and whether it should be cited or recommended.

llms.txt is an emerging way to give AI systems a concise map of important pages and context. Kumu treats it as an emerging signal, not a pass/fail requirement.

Why doesn't ChatGPT mention my company?

Usually because one of the earlier steps failed. Before a model can mention you it has to retrieve your content, understand what you do, categorize you correctly, and find evidence it can trust. Missing structure, vague positioning, thin proof or blocked crawling all stop the process before recommendation.

Why does an AI system describe my company incorrectly?

AI systems assemble descriptions from whatever is easiest to retrieve and most consistently repeated — often outdated pages, directories or third-party summaries. When your own properties don't state your positioning and offerings explicitly, the model fills the gap from weaker sources.

How do I get my brand into AI answers?

Make your content retrievable, state plainly what you offer and who it is for, mark it up so machines can parse it, and support every claim with verifiable evidence. Then measure whether the answers change. Kumu's benchmark scores each of those layers so you can act in priority order.

How is AI search visibility measured?

By testing what AI systems actually return about you, and by scoring the underlying conditions that determine those answers. Kumu measures fifteen dimensions across the Brand Integrity and the Signal Architecture Review, producing two Indexes and the Signal Gap between them.

Does structured data help with AI search?

Yes, indirectly but materially. Structured data removes ambiguity about what an entity is, what it offers and how items relate, which makes correct categorization and citation more likely. It is not a ranking trick and it cannot compensate for missing substance.

Do I still need SEO if I invest in AI search?

Yes. Traditional search still drives significant discovery, and much of the technical foundation — crawlability, performance, information architecture — serves both surfaces. AI search optimization adds entity clarity, evidence and comparison readiness on top of it.

How long does it take to see improvement in AI answers?

Technical and structural fixes can register within weeks once systems re-crawl. Trust and citation signals move more slowly, typically over one to two quarters. This is why re-measurement against a fixed baseline matters more than week-to-week observation.

How much does an AI search benchmark cost?

Kumu's Phase 1 benchmark is $500 and delivers first findings in 3–5 days. Phase 2, the full fifteen-dimension review with competitor comparison and a Transformation Roadmap, is scoped to the organization.

Who should own AI search visibility inside a company?

It sits across marketing, content and engineering, which is why it is often unowned. The practical answer is that marketing owns the outcome and the benchmark gives engineering and content a shared, evidence-based list of what to change.

Phase 1 — Benchmark

Benchmark your brand in AI search

$500. First findings in 3–5 days.See how effectively your brand is found, understood, trusted and recommended across AI and search — with a score you can measure improvement against.

See the methodology →

The benchmark

15 dimensions. One business question.

Is your digital presence helping people choose you?

Brand Integrity Review — 7 dimensions

Brand Presence

Can people consistently find and verify you?

Page Identity

Does each page communicate a clear purpose?

Audience Language

Do you use the language customers use?

Visual Brand

Does the experience feel coherent and credible?

Usefulness

Can visitors quickly find what they need?

Brand Voice

Are your claims distinctive and supportable?

Content Vitality

Is your content current and maintained?

Signal Architecture Review — 8 dimensions

AI & Search Accessibility

Can search and AI systems reliably access the site?

Engineering Strength

Is the site fast, secure and technically sound?

Offering Architecture

Can individual offerings be found and compared?

Machine Content & Context

Can AI interpret and cite the content accurately?

Channel Reach

Are you visible where your audiences look?

Third-Party Verification

Do credible external sources support your claims?

User Action Pathways

Can visitors easily take the next step?

Response Infrastructure

Can you capture and respond to demand?

What you get

Six answers, not a slide deck

Your Brand Integrity Index

How clear, credible and useful your organization is today.

Your Signal Strength Index

How completely that clarity reaches search engines, AI systems and buyers.

Your Signal Gap

The distance between the two, and which side of it your problem sits on.

Competitive position

Where you outperform your competitive set, and where they are stronger.

AI findability gaps

What currently prevents AI systems from finding, understanding or recommending you.

Top opportunities

The improvements worth making first, in priority order.

How it works

Four steps

01
You purchase
Phase 1 is $500. No proposal cycle, no discovery retainer.
02
We measure
An analyst scores your brand and competitive set against the benchmark's dimensions.
03
You receive findings
First findings land in 3–5 days, with evidence attached to each one.
04
You decide
Act on the opportunities yourself, or move to Phase 2 for the full roadmap.

Before you buy

Benchmark questions

How much does a Kumu benchmark cost?: Phase 1 is $500. It delivers your Brand Integrity Index, Signal Strength Index, Signal Gap, competitive position and top opportunities. Phase 2, the full 15-dimension roadmap with competitor comparison, is scoped to the organization.
How quickly do I get results?: First findings are delivered in 3–5 days from purchase.
Do I need to give you access to anything?: No. The benchmark is scored from publicly available evidence — your website, structured data, third-party sources and live AI system responses — which is what makes it independent and repeatable.
Is this an SEO audit?: No. A technical SEO audit looks at whether pages can rank. The benchmark measures whether your brand is found, understood, trusted and recommended across both search and AI answer systems, and includes the brand-side dimensions that decide whether there is anything clear to find.
Who is it for?: Organizations that already invest in marketing and want to know, in measurable terms, how they perform in AI search before committing to more work. It suits leadership teams who want a baseline rather than a recommendation.

Compare tiers

Start with the baseline. Scale to the roadmap.

Phase 1 tells you what is wrong. Phase 2 turns it into a prioritized plan. The free score is the fastest way to see if the problem is worth measuring.

The journey — free score → Phase 1 → Phase 2

Step 01

Free

See the gap

Free instant score

Automated headline scores, emailed to you as a PDF.

About 2 minutes

Step 02

$500

Measure the baseline

Phase 1 — Benchmark

All 15 dimensions scored, with an evidence workbook and top opportunities.

First findings in 3–5 days

Step 03

Custom scope

Fix and prove it

Phase 2 — Roadmap

Transformation roadmap, developer-ready backlog and a re-measured score.

Scoped to the organization

Step 01See the gap

Free instant score

Free

Six key dimensions. One headline read.

An automated scan of your homepage across six key dimensions — including AI Findability — so you can see, at a glance, whether machines can find, read and cite your brand.

For: Anyone who wants to know if there is a problem worth measuring.
Timing: About 2 minutes
Output: Automated headline scores, emailed to you as a PDF.

What you get

Six key dimensions scored
AI Findability — the critical one
Brand Integrity score
Signal Strength score
Signal Gap estimate
Three competitor averages
PDF report emailed to you

Not included

All 15 dimensions scored
Detailed evidence workbook
Edelman & industry baseline comparison
Named competitor comparison
Prioritized roadmap

Next step

If the scores show a gap, move to Phase 1 for the measured baseline.

Get the full benchmark — $500