The AI Baseline from 412 Freelancers scores a business out of 100 on how AI search answers its buyers' questions. This page is the method: what each part measures, how points are awarded, and what is not scored. It is published so a client can check the math on their own report.
A fixed set of questions a buyer types, written once per business or per location and reused on every run. Unbranded questions describe the need without the business name ("best plumber near [neighborhood]"). Branded questions use the name ("[business] reviews," "how much does [business] cost"). Each question is asked in four lanes: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, and Google organic results.
For each answer the AI Baseline records: whether the business is named, where it sits in the order the answer lists businesses, which sites the answer cites or was built from, and whether every fact stated about the business matches the business's own pages.
Unbranded questions only. Points are awarded in proportion to the share of answers where the business is listed first. If the answer names only the business, that counts as first.
All questions. Points in proportion to the share of answers that cite the business's own website as a source.
All measurable questions. Points in proportion to the share where a page on the business's own site holds the number one organic result. A directory or partner site at number one does not count, even if it lists the business.
Starts at 20. Minus 5 for every answer rated wrong. Minus 2.5 for every answer rated partly wrong.
The total is the sum of the four parts. Score = positioning + citation + organic + accuracy, out of 100.
The answer's order is the order in which it names businesses. First means the business is the first one named, or the only one named. Being mentioned later in the same answer does not score positioning points, but the answer still counts for citation and accuracy.
An answer is cited when the business's own domain appears in the sources the assistant lists or links. A mention of the business name without a link to its site is named, not cited.
The organic position is the rank of the first result from the business's own domain in the top ten organic results. Ads and the AI Overview are not organic results. Questions where Google returns unrelated results are marked not measured and left out of the organic denominator.
Every factual claim an answer makes about the business is read against the business's own pages: the location's own location and pricing pages. A claim is correct when the page says the same thing, partly wrong when it is close but off (an old price, a program that has changed), and wrong when the page contradicts it. Facts the pages do not state are marked unverifiable and never wrong. Ratings, review counts, and distances are not scored.
The score maps to a letter grade in bands of ten points. The band is shown on each report next to the score.
A rerun asks the same questions in the same lanes and scores them the same way, so two runs compare cleanly. Reruns happen every two weeks or monthly depending on the package. The report shows the score, each part, and the change since the previous run where one exists, plus which businesses and sites are being named and cited instead.
The action plan in each report assigns every recommended change to an owner on the client's side (the website team, a location manager) and states the points the change is worth if it works. 412 Freelancers does not implement changes; it measures whether they moved the score.