AI Visibility Audit New Balance
How New Balance shows up in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity today — and what's missing underneath to make the signal stronger on the next audit.
01 — Executive Summary
Key Findings
How the brand performs across AI platforms, review sites, and technical fundamentals.
New Balance was mentioned in 39/45 commercial discovery answers across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity using subtype-specific apparel/retail prompts.
The prompt set is structured as five major offer clusters with three prompts each, so the score reflects product-line visibility rather than one generic apparel benchmark.
Top competing or adjacent brands surfaced in the answer set included: New Balance, ASICS, Brooks, Nike, HOKA, Adidas.
The key opportunity is to strengthen crawlable category, product, buying-guide, review, and structured data signals around the specific product clusters where AI assistants currently recommend competitors.
02 — Top Opportunities
Where to focus first
The three highest-impact fixes, ranked by score lift vs effort.
Build product-cluster buying guides
Create crawlable buying-guide and comparison content for the exact product clusters tested in this report. Use natural buyer questions, named product categories, brand availability, sizing/fit details, shipping/returns proof, and review evidence.
Strengthen structured retail signals
Improve Organization, Product, Offer, Review, BreadcrumbList, return policy, and merchant metadata across priority category and product pages so AI/retrieval systems can understand what the brand sells.
Increase third-party retail corroboration
Strengthen presence on consumer review platforms, editorial best-of lists, Reddit/community discussions, and product-category references that AI assistants commonly cite when recommending retailers.
03 — Platform Performance
How you appear on each platform
Commercial prompt checks across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — with the sources cited and competitors seen alongside you.
ChatGPT
12/15Gemini
12/15Perplexity
15/15* Gemini and Perplexity queried via API — source citations may be limited vs. browser mode.
04 — Commercial Discovery
Are you recommended when buyers search for solutions?
Nine real-world commercial prompts, asked to each platform. Green dot = mentioned, red = absent.
| # | Prompt | GPT | Gem | Pplx | Rank | Top competitors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | What are the best brands for running shoes? | Mentioned | Nike, HOKA, Brooks, ASICS, Dick’s Sporting Goods | |||
| 02 | Where can I buy running shoes online for marathon training? | Mentioned | Amazon, Nike, Adidas, HOKA, Brooks | |||
| 03 | Which stores sell New Balance, Brooks, HOKA, and ASICS running shoes? | 1st | Nordstrom, Amazon, HOKA, Brooks, ASICS | |||
| 04 | What are the best walking shoes with support? | Mentioned | HOKA, Brooks, ASICS | |||
| 05 | Which brands make comfortable shoes for all-day walking? | Top 3 | HOKA, Brooks, ASICS, Nike, Adidas | |||
| 06 | Where can I buy supportive wide-width walking shoes online? | 1st | ASOS, Amazon, DSW, Macy’s, HOKA | |||
| 07 | What are the best lifestyle sneakers for everyday wear? | Top 3 | Old Navy, Nike, Adidas, HOKA, ASICS | |||
| 08 | Where can I buy retro running-style sneakers online? | Top 3 | Old Navy, Nike, Adidas, ASICS, Dick’s Sporting Goods | |||
| 09 | Which sneaker brands are popular for casual outfits? | Mentioned | Old Navy, Nike, Adidas, HOKA | |||
| 10 | What shoe brands offer wide-width sneakers? | 1st | Old Navy, Brooks, ASICS, Nike, Adidas | |||
| 11 | Where can I buy athletic shoes in wide sizes online? | 1st | Nike, Adidas, ASICS, Amazon, Brooks | |||
| 12 | Which running shoes are best for people who need wider fits? | Mentioned | HOKA, Brooks, ASICS | |||
| 13 | What are good shoes for gym training and workouts? | Mentioned | Nike, Adidas, ASICS, REI | |||
| 14 | Which brands sell athletic shoes for training and sports? | Mentioned | Nike, Adidas, Brooks, ASICS, HOKA | |||
| 15 | Where can I buy performance sneakers online? | Top 3 | Nike, Adidas, Brooks, ASICS, HOKA |
05 — Polygraph Test
What AI models already know about your brand
We ask each model — without live search — how confident it is in a specific capability. This measures inherent knowledge from training data. Average: 76/100.
"…offers running shoes?"
Strong"…offers walking shoes?"
Strong"…offers lifestyle sneakers?"
Strong"…offers wide-width shoes?"
Strong"…offers training shoes?"
Strong"…offers athletic footwear?"
Strong"…provides personal banking accounts?"
Moderate"…provides hotel booking and vacation rental reservations?"
Moderate"…provides grocery delivery subscriptions?"
Weak"…provides dental practice management software?"
Weak06 — Query Fanout
ChatGPT → Google correlation
When ChatGPT answers category questions it runs its own Google searches. These are the actual queries it fired — and whether you rank for them.
| # | query | triggered by | rank | status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | →what are the best brands for running shoes | What are the best brands for running shoes? | — | GAP |
| 02 | →where can i buy running shoes online for marathon training | Where can I buy running shoes online for marathon training? | — | GAP |
| 03 | →which stores sell new balance, brooks, hoka, and asics running shoes | Which stores sell New Balance, Brooks, HOKA, and ASICS running shoes? | — | GAP |
| 04 | →what are the best walking shoes with support | What are the best walking shoes with support? | — | GAP |
| 05 | →which brands make comfortable shoes for all-day walking | Which brands make comfortable shoes for all-day walking? | — | GAP |
| 06 | →where can i buy supportive wide-width walking shoes online | Where can I buy supportive wide-width walking shoes online? | — | GAP |
| 07 | →what are the best lifestyle sneakers for everyday wear | What are the best lifestyle sneakers for everyday wear? | — | GAP |
| 08 | →where can i buy retro running-style sneakers online | Where can I buy retro running-style sneakers online? | 6 | PARTIAL |
| 09 | →which sneaker brands are popular for casual outfits | Which sneaker brands are popular for casual outfits? | — | GAP |
| 10 | →what shoe brands offer wide-width sneakers | What shoe brands offer wide-width sneakers? | 7 | PARTIAL |
| 11 | →where can i buy athletic shoes in wide sizes online | Where can I buy athletic shoes in wide sizes online? | 6 | PARTIAL |
| 12 | →which running shoes are best for people who need wider fits | Which running shoes are best for people who need wider fits? | — | GAP |
| 13 | →what are good shoes for gym training and workouts | What are good shoes for gym training and workouts? | — | GAP |
| 14 | →which brands sell athletic shoes for training and sports | Which brands sell athletic shoes for training and sports? | — | GAP |
| 15 | →where can i buy performance sneakers online | Where can I buy performance sneakers online? | — | GAP |
Showing top 15 of 15 captured queries · Full dataset available on request.
07 — Mention Audit
Review & reputation presence
Third-party signals AI models weigh when deciding whether to recommend you. Results from searching "New Balance reviews".
Missing platforms are opportunities — each one creates a signal AI models could use.
08 — Technical Checkup
Schema & structure audit
1 pages analyzed for the structured-data and HTML signals LLMs use to understand your brand.
None detected.
Showing representative crawl sample · Full URL list retained in the report data.
Unreachable crawled pages
1 crawled pages failed to return a successful HTML response.
XML sitemap
No reachable XML sitemap at /sitemap.xml.
robots.txt
No robots.txt found.
Server-rendered content
All 1 crawled pages return substantive HTML that AI crawlers can read.
Title tag
All 1 crawled pages have title tags.
H1 heading
All 1 crawled pages have an H1.
AI crawlers allowed
robots.txt does not block major AI crawlers.
Next steps
Want us to help fix this?
Work at New Balance? We'll walk your team through the full findings and a prioritized roadmap — or run an updated, deeper report on request. Competitor? See how your own site compares.
This report presents factual, technical findings from publicly accessible pages and public AI platform responses, collected 22 July 2026. It is published for research purposes and was not commissioned by the subject company. Corrections: ai-visibility@webify.io