AI readiness & visibility FAQs

An AI readiness and visibility audit examines whether your public website clearly communicates your business and how your firm appears in a defined sample of AI answers. ARC-100 combines technical checks, content and trust-signal review, agreed AI-answer tests and human review to produce documented findings and prioritized recommendations.

The work overlaps with SEO: accessibility, useful content and accurate business information matter to both. ARC-100 adds scoped observations of AI answers, including mentions, citations, recommendations and factual accuracy. It complements foundational SEO; it does not replace it or offer a special route to guaranteed AI inclusion.

An independent assessment can fill gaps in AI-answer testing and give your existing agency an evidence-backed implementation brief. You do not need to replace your agency. If it already provides equivalent testing, verified findings and a practical action plan, a separate audit may add little value.

The paid assessment provides a documented baseline, evidence for the findings, agreed AI-answer observations, relevant competitor comparisons and a prioritized action plan. Items not tested are identified. Website changes, follow-up testing and monitoring are separate unless your written proposal explicitly includes them. Your own developer or agency can implement the recommendations.

Start with an automated preliminary website-readiness check. When available and completed, optional OpenAI web-search tests include answer sources and observed competitors; otherwise they are marked not tested. These API answers may differ from ChatGPT. The free check is not the full, human-reviewed ARC-100 audit. The paid audit adds agreed pages and platforms, human verification and a prioritized action plan. A preliminary readiness score alone does not establish overall AI visibility.

Published assessment pricing is CAD $599–$1,250+, depending on website size and scope. Your written proposal confirms pages, locations, platforms, test questions, competitors, deliverables, timing and the final fee. Taxes, third-party software and implementation are excluded unless explicitly included. No monitoring subscription is required to receive or use your audit.

The initial assessment uses your public website and public business information. Do not submit client files, legal matters, tax records or passwords. If deeper analysis requires analytics or Search Console access, we agree the purpose and request limited access by invitation. Tools, contractors and data-handling arrangements should be confirmed in your engagement; a Canadian company name does not establish Canadian-only processing.

No. We do not control AI platforms and cannot guarantee recommendations, citations, rankings or new clients. We can commit to the agreed assessment scope, documented evidence and clear recommendations. Website readiness, observed AI visibility and business enquiries are different outcomes and should be reported separately.

ARC-100 is AI Readiness Canada’s assessment framework, not a certification from Google, OpenAI or a professional regulator. Its score summarizes assessed criteria within the stated scope; it is not a probability of recommendation or proof of regulatory compliance. The report explains scoring context, evidence, limitations and anything not tested.

We agree questions relevant to your services, locations and prospective clients, then record the platform, question, date, response and cited sources. A mention names the firm; a citation links or attributes information to a source; a recommendation suggests the firm as an option. API tests are labelled separately from observations in consumer applications. Responses can vary, and the tested sample does not represent every user’s experience.

Where follow-up is included, we verify completed changes and repeat comparable tests against the baseline, recording conditions and variation. We report website fixes, observed AI visibility and identifiable enquiries separately. An improvement after implementation does not prove causation. If visibility is unchanged, the report should state that clearly; enquiry attribution may remain incomplete.

We focus on public information about practice areas or accounting services, professional biographies, locations, credentials, useful service explanations and contact paths. Agreed AI tests examine how that information is represented. This is a website and visibility assessment, not a review of client work, legal advice, tax advice or professional-regulatory certification.

Start with your website, priority services, service locations and the types of clients you want to attract. You can also identify competitors and your existing agency contact. Try the free preliminary check or book a consultation. Before paid work begins, we agree the scope, fee, timing and information-handling arrangements in writing.