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Methodology

How ReleVantage improves your restaurant's AI search visibility

Six steps, run in order, across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Mode. We check first so that every later claim of progress can be checked against a real starting point.

01

Baseline check

Before we change anything, we record how each platform describes your restaurant today. We ask the same dining questions more than once per platform, save the full answers, and log every mention, source, and wrong fact. That record is what we measure every later change against.

  • Full answer text saved for every platform and every run
  • Mentions and cited sources logged separately
  • Wrong facts recorded, with a guess at where they came from
  • A written scoring guide so later checks can be compared fairly
02

Mapping the questions diners actually ask

We build your question set from real dining questions, not generic keywords, then see who currently gets recommended for each one. Questions are grouped so we can report on "best of" questions, comparisons, factual questions like hours or menu items, and questions about your name specifically.

  • Groups for cuisine, comparison, factual, and branded questions
  • Nearby restaurants tracked as competitors within each group
  • The sources those restaurants rely on identified
  • A fixed core set of questions, with new ones tracked as an added group
03

Website and listing fixes

Assistants can only use what they can find and trust. This stage cleans up the foundation: making sure your site can be crawled, your menu and hours are readable text (not just a photo or a PDF), and your name, address, and hours match everywhere you're listed.

  • Fixing pages assistants can't read or find
  • Menu and hours pages structured so they can be pulled into an answer
  • One clear description of your restaurant and what you offer
  • Hours, address, and contact details matching across every listing
04

Building pages that answer real questions

We write or rework the pages that answer the questions diners actually ask, in a form an assistant can quote correctly. Clear answers up top, self-contained menu and hours sections, and plain statements about private dining, catering, or reservations, including what you don't offer.

  • Existing pages reworked so key facts are easy to pull out
  • New pages only where a real diner question has no home yet
  • What you do and don't offer stated plainly, not implied
  • Facts dated and sourced so they're easy to keep current
05

Getting mentioned in the right places

Assistants look for agreement across independent sources. We find out which local guides, review sites, and directories actually get cited for restaurants like yours, then work on getting your listing corrected there and pursuing honest coverage.

  • Cited sources identified from your own baseline check
  • Existing listings corrected before chasing new ones
  • Outreach for local roundups, guides, and features
  • Coverage spread across several sources, not resting on just one
06

Ongoing checking and reporting

We re-run your question set on a set schedule and score it the same way each time. Reports show the starting point, the latest check, what changed, what work led to it, and what's next. If something moves and we can't explain why, we say so.

  • Set schedule, same wording, more than one run per question
  • Change reported against the baseline, not as a single score
  • Unexplained changes flagged instead of claimed as a win
  • Next steps set in a real conversation, not a static PDF

What we track, kept separate

A single visibility score hides useful detail. We record and report these eight measures on their own.

Visibility

The share of tracked dining questions where your restaurant shows up at all, reported per platform.

Mention position

Where in the answer your restaurant is mentioned. Named first is different from being buried in a list.

Sentiment

How the assistant describes your restaurant, including framing like upscale, casual, pricey, or family-friendly.

Accuracy

Whether the facts stated are correct, like hours, menu items, or whether you take reservations. Each error is logged and traced back to its source.

Citations

Which pages get credited in the answer, split between your own site and outside sources talking about you.

Source diversity

How many independent sources support what's said about you, because relying on just one review site is risky.

Website interest

Visits coming from assistant referrals, judged on real engagement rather than raw numbers.

Business outcomes

Reservation inquiries, catering leads, and event requests tied to those visits, reported with the limits of that tracking made clear.

Results vary and placements aren't guaranteed. Read more in how to measure your restaurant's visibility in AI search, check what a credible provider should show you in the AI search buyer's guide, or see how this applies to multi-location restaurant groups.

For the same process explained from a client's side, see how ReleVantage tracks AI visibility for restaurants, or review the capabilities behind each step.

Methodology questions

Why start with a baseline check instead of jumping into fixes?

Without a starting record, there's no way to tell if a later change came from our work or just from the platform updating. The baseline also shows which problems are wrong facts, which are confusion about your restaurant, and which are simple absence, and each needs a different fix.

Why are visibility and accuracy scored separately?

A restaurant can be mentioned often and still described wrong, like the wrong hours or cuisine. Combining the two into one score hides the more damaging problem, so we score each answer on both.

How often do you re-check the questions?

Weekly by default, with more frequent checks for a smaller priority group during busy seasons or events. We run each question more than once because assistant answers can vary run to run.

Can better visibility be credited directly to your work?

Only in part. We report what changed and what work led to it, and we say clearly when a change can't be explained. Platforms also update on their own, independent of anything we do.

Does this methodology guarantee a placement or more bookings?

No. Results depend on your website, your existing reputation, competition, source coverage, and each platform's own refresh schedule. ReleVantage doesn't guarantee a specific placement, booking volume, or timeline.

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