# The AI Alignment Toolkit
Every worksheet, template, and checklist from the BrandAxis **AI Alignment Course**, in one file — ready to drop into Google Docs, Sheets, or Notion.
How to use it: copy the worksheet tables into a spreadsheet and fill a row per prompt × model; work the layer checklists top to bottom; track the KPIs against the same prompt set every month.
The course:
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## Starter prompt set
- **Category / discovery:** "What's the best [category] for [segment]?" · "Top tools for [job to be done]?"
- **Comparison:** "[You] vs [Competitor]" · "Alternatives to [Competitor]"
- **Use-case / fit:** "Best [category] for [specific situation, e.g. a 5-person agency]"
- **Brand-specific:** "What does [your brand] do?" · "Is [your brand] any good?" · "How much does [your brand] cost?"
- **Objection / risk:** "Is [your brand] safe / legit?" · "[Your brand] reviews" · "Problems with [your brand]"
## AI Visibility Audit — worksheet
| Prompt | Model | Mentioned? (Y/N) | Accurate? (Y/N/—) | Sentiment (＋/０/－) | Your position | Competitors named | Sources cited | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Best [category] for [segment]" | ChatGPT | | | | | | | |
| "Best [category] for [segment]" | AI Overviews | | | | | | | |
| "[You] vs [Competitor]" | Perplexity | | | | | | | |
| "What does [brand] do?" | ChatGPT | | | | | | | |
| "[Brand] reviews" | ChatGPT | | | | | | | |
| … | … | | | | | | | |
## Baseline scorecard
| Layer | Score (0–5) | Biggest gap observed |
|---|---|---|
| Discoverability | | |
| Clarity | | |
| Authority | | |
| Trust | | |
## Discoverability checklist
- [ ] AI crawlers (`GPTBot`, `OAI-SearchBot`, `ClaudeBot`, `PerplexityBot`, `Google-Extended`) are **allowed** in `robots.txt`.
- [ ] No infrastructure-level block (Cloudflare / WAF / bot manager) is silently stopping AI bots.
- [ ] Core facts (what you do, pricing, key features) are in server-rendered HTML, not images, PDFs, or JS-only.
- [ ] Clean semantic structure: real ``/``s, descriptive link text, sensible page titles.
- [ ] An `llms.txt` (and a current `sitemap.xml`) is published.
- [ ] You have a genuine, accurate presence on the review sites, communities, and directories for your category.
- [ ] You appear in at least some "best [category]" and "[competitor] alternatives" content.
- [ ] You know which domains AI cites for your category (from your [audit](/blog/ai-visibility-audit/)) and you're present on them.
## Clarity checklist
- [ ] Core brand facts are defined canonically and identical across every property you own.
- [ ] `Organization` (and `Product`/`SoftwareApplication`) schema is implemented with a stable `@id`.
- [ ] `sameAs` links your entity to your official profiles and any Wikidata Q-ID / canonical references.
- [ ] A Wikidata item exists; a Wikipedia page exists or is pursued where notability is genuinely met.
- [ ] A clear, plain-language "What is [Brand]?" statement lives on your site.
- [ ] You've found the wrong/stale claims models repeat (from your audit) and corrected them at the source.
- [ ] You re-check model descriptions of your brand monthly to catch drift early.
## Authority checklist
- [ ] You've extracted your **citation target list** from your audit — the domains models actually cite for your category.
- [ ] You have an active program to **earn brand mentions** in credible, independent publications (PR for mentions, not just links).
- [ ] You're present and accurate in the **"best [category]" and "alternatives" content** that feeds comparison answers.
- [ ] You have a genuine, useful presence in the **communities** (Reddit, forums) relevant to your buyers.
- [ ] You're building a **YouTube** footprint — your own and via mentions in others'.
- [ ] You're tracking **brand mentions and brand search demand** over time, not just backlinks.
- [ ] You can see your **citation share vs competitors** and are closing the biggest gaps first.
## Trust checklist
- [ ] You have genuine, **recent** reviews on the platforms that matter for your category.
- [ ] You have a **process** to ask satisfied customers for detailed, honest reviews at the right moment.
- [ ] You **respond** to reviews — especially critical ones — visibly and professionally.
- [ ] Your brand story is **consistent** across site, reviews, press, and social (no contradictions).
- [ ] You **monitor sentiment** across models and review sites and have an alert for sharp negative shifts.
- [ ] You can tell genuine criticism from **mis/disinformation** and have a path to correct or escalate the latter.
- [ ] You track whether you're **recommended** (not just mentioned) on your key decision prompts.
## 90-day AI Alignment plan
| Phase | Days | Focus (layers) | The goal | Key moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **1 — Foundation** | 1–30 | Discoverability + Clarity | Be found and understood | Baseline audit; unblock AI crawlers; fix server-rendered facts; publish `llms.txt`; consistency pass on core facts; `Organization`/`Product` schema + `sameAs`; pursue Wikidata; correct the worst stale claims |
| **2 — Authority** | 31–60 | Authority | Get cited | Build citation target list from the audit; earn brand mentions (digital PR); get into "best/alternatives" content; genuine community + YouTube presence; close the biggest citation-share gaps vs competitors |
| **3 — Trust + cadence** | 61–90 | Trust + reporting | Get recommended, and make it repeatable | Build review presence on key platforms; respond to reviews; set up sentiment monitoring + alerts; stand up the monthly report; re-run the full audit and compare to day zero |
## AI Alignment KPIs
| KPI | What it measures | Layer | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| **AI Visibility Score** (mention rate) | % of your prompt set where you're mentioned | Discoverability | Your headline "are we present" number |
| **Share of answer** | Your mentions vs competitors' on the same prompts | Authority | Competitive presence — the new "share of voice" |
| **Citation share** | % of cited sources in your category's answers that are about/from you | Authority | Whether you're in the sources deciding the category |
| **Accuracy rate** | % of answers about you that are factually correct | Clarity | Rising = your entity work is landing |
| **Sentiment** | Positive / neutral / negative tone of mentions | Trust | The recommendation proxy |
| **Recommendation rate** | % of decision prompts ("best X") where you're actively recommended | Trust | The bottom line — chosen, not just named |
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**Want this measured automatically?** BrandAxis tracks your AI Visibility Score, sentiment, and the sources models cite — across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity — and benchmarks you against competitors, so this toolkit fills itself in. See .