AI visibility vs AI attribution: what’s the difference, and which do you need?
AI visibility tools tell you whether ChatGPT recommends you. AI attribution tells you whether ChatGPT sent you customers. They measure different ends of the same journey, and the best-of lists often blur them.
The one-line version
| AI visibility (GEO / AEO monitoring) | AI attribution | |
|---|---|---|
| Asks | “Does AI mention and recommend us?” | “Did AI send us customers, and what were they worth?” |
| Measures | Mentions, position, citations, share of voice, sentiment across AI answers | Visits, leads, bookings, sales and revenue from AI assistants |
| How | Runs prompts through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and others, and reads the answers | Tracks visitors on your site, asks customers how they found you, joins to won deals |
| Output | “We’re named in 34% of answers for ‘best roofer in Dallas’” | “ChatGPT sent 5 bookings worth $9,200 last month” |
| Best for | Knowing where you stand and what to fix | Knowing what AI is worth and proving it |
The journey they share
Visibility → recommendation → visit (or a call, or a search for your name) → lead → sale → revenue.
Visibility tools cover the first two steps. Attribution covers the last four. The step in the middle is where most measurement breaks: people who read an AI answer and then phone or Google you. Visibility tools can’t see them because they never touch your site, and web analytics credits them to Google or sees nothing. Asking customers how they found you is how attribution closes that gap. See the “How did you hear about us?” question.
Which one do you need?
- You’re not sure AI recommends you at all: start with visibility. Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the questions your customers ask, and see who’s named.
- You’re being recommended and want to know if it pays: attribution.
- You’re spending money on GEO (content, PR, an agency): both. Visibility shows whether the work moves the answers. Attribution shows whether the answers move revenue.
- You’re an agency selling GEO: both, and attribution is what renews the contract. See for agencies.
Where Which AI Sent fits
Which AI Sent is an attribution tool first: leads, bookings and revenue from each assistant, labelled Confirmed, Declared or Assisted by evidence. It includes a lighter visibility check: every week it asks ChatGPT what your customers would ask and shows whether you’re named, who’s named instead and which sites it trusted.
If you need deep multi-engine visibility tracking (hundreds of prompts, share of voice across engines, sentiment), a dedicated visibility tool does that better. Use one alongside Which AI Sent. The attribution side tells you which of those prompts are worth caring about.
Questions to ask any tool
- Does it show AI revenue, or visits and mentions only?
- How does it handle customers who phone after asking an AI?
- Does it claim to separate Google AI Overviews from organic? (Be sceptical: Google doesn’t pass the data.)
- Does it label how it knows each lead came from AI, or just give a total?
More: AI search attribution explained · Which AI Sent vs GA4.
Visibility vs attribution questions
Is GEO the same as AI visibility?
GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the work of improving how AI assistants describe and recommend you. AI visibility tools measure the result in AI answers. Attribution measures the business result.
Can a visibility tool track AI traffic?
Some add basic AI referral traffic from your analytics. Few follow those visitors to leads and revenue, and none can see customers who called without visiting.
Does Which AI Sent track AI mentions?
Yes, a weekly ChatGPT check for the questions your customers ask, shown next to your leads. For large multi-engine prompt tracking, pair it with a dedicated visibility tool.
See what AI is already sending you
Connect your website in one click, add one question to your form, and see AI leads and revenue with the evidence for each.