AI Visibility Audit Zappos
How Zappos 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.
Zappos was mentioned in 33/45 commercial discovery answers after switching the test set from generic apparel to footwear-first prompts.
Visibility is strongest on shoe-retailer/service intents — the prompts with mentions were c1: 3/3, c10: 3/3, c11: 2/3, c12: 3/3, c13: 3/3, c14: 3/3, c15: 2/3, c2: 3/3, c3: 2/3, c4: 2/3, c5: 1/3, c6: 1/3, c7: 2/3, c8: 2/3, c9: 1/3 — which matches Zappos' crawl-grounded positioning around shoes, sneakers, running shoes, comfort footwear, kids' shoes, free shipping, and easy returns.
The competitive set in AI answers is footwear-specific now: Nike, Amazon, Nordstrom, DSW, New Balance, Adidas. This is the correct benchmark universe versus the earlier generic apparel list.
The remaining gap is not whether AI systems know Zappos sells shoes; it is whether they consistently surface Zappos across high-intent footwear questions where DSW, Famous Footwear, Foot Locker, Amazon, Nike, New Balance, Brooks, and HOKA often occupy the recommendation slots.
02 — Top Opportunities
Where to focus first
The three highest-impact fixes, ranked by score lift vs effort.
Own footwear buying-guide intents
Create crawlable, entity-rich guides for high-intent shoe shopping questions: best online shoe stores, best running shoe retailers, wide-width shoes, comfort walking shoes, kids shoes, boots, sandals, and easy-return shoe retailers. These are the exact prompts where AI assistants choose from a short list of retailers.
Strengthen category-level footwear entity signals
Make footwear taxonomy, brand availability, size/width options, return policy, shipping, reviews, and customer-service proof machine-readable across priority category pages. Zappos has brand awareness, but AI systems need clearer retrieval paths for each footwear subcategory.
Build third-party corroboration around shoe shopping
AI answers lean on comparison articles, retailer lists, review platforms, and trusted editorial references. More third-party mentions tying Zappos to best online shoe stores, running shoes, comfort shoes, and easy returns would improve recommendation consistency.
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
10/15Gemini
9/15Perplexity
14/15* 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 | Where is the best place to buy shoes online with free shipping and easy returns? | 1st | DSW, Famous Footwear, Shoe Carnival, Amazon, Skechers | |||
| 02 | What are the best online shoe stores for a large selection of brands? | 1st | DSW, Nordstrom, Shoe Carnival, Amazon, Nordstrom Rack | |||
| 03 | What are the best online stores for sneakers and casual shoes? | Mentioned | DSW, Foot Locker, Shoe Carnival, Nike, New Balance | |||
| 04 | Where should I buy running shoes online from brands like HOKA, Brooks, Nike, and New Balance? | Mentioned | Foot Locker, Amazon, Nike, New Balance, Brooks | |||
| 05 | What websites are best for comfortable walking shoes and supportive footwear? | 1st | Famous Footwear, Nike, New Balance, Brooks, HOKA | |||
| 06 | Where can I buy wide-width shoes online with lots of size options? | 1st | Nordstrom, New Balance, Brooks, HOKA, Skechers | |||
| 07 | What are the best websites to buy women's shoes online? | Top 3 | DSW, Nordstrom, 6pm, Amazon, Skechers | |||
| 08 | What are the best websites to buy men's shoes online? | Top 3 | Nike, New Balance, Skechers, Nordstrom, Shoe Carnival | |||
| 09 | Where can I buy kids' shoes online from trusted brands? | Mentioned | Shoe Carnival, Nike, New Balance, Adidas, REI | |||
| 10 | What online stores are best for buying boots with easy returns? | 1st | DSW, Nordstrom, Amazon, Famous Footwear, REI | |||
| 11 | Where should I shop online for sandals, Crocs, and summer shoes? | Top 3 | Amazon, Skechers, Famous Footwear, Foot Locker, Nordstrom | |||
| 12 | What are good alternatives to DSW and Famous Footwear for buying shoes online? | 1st | DSW, Famous Footwear, Foot Locker, Nordstrom, Shoe Carnival | |||
| 13 | Which online shoe retailers have the easiest returns and best customer service? | 1st | DSW, Nordstrom, Amazon, REI, Famous Footwear | |||
| 14 | Where can I buy brand-name shoes online without worrying about shipping or returns? | 1st | DSW, Nordstrom, Shoe Carnival, Amazon, Nike | |||
| 15 | What online stores are best for buying shoes for the whole family? | 1st | DSW, Famous Footwear, Shoe Carnival, Nordstrom, Amazon |
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: 75/100.
"…sells shoes online?"
Strong"…offers sneakers and casual shoes?"
Strong"…sells running shoes from major brands?"
Strong"…sells comfort and walking shoes?"
Strong"…offers free shipping and free returns on orders?"
Strong"…sells kids' shoes?"
Moderate"…provides personal banking accounts?"
Weak"…operates hotel booking and vacation rental reservations?"
Weak"…sells grocery delivery subscriptions?"
Moderate"…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 | →best place to buy shoes online free shipping returns | Where is the best place to buy shoes online with free shipping and easy returns? | 1 | MATCH |
| 02 | →best online shoe stores large brand selection | What are the best online shoe stores for a large selection of brands? | 1 | MATCH |
| 03 | →best online stores sneakers casual shoes | What are the best online stores for sneakers and casual shoes? | — | GAP |
| 04 | →buy running shoes online HOKA Brooks Nike New Balance | Where should I buy running shoes online from brands like HOKA, Brooks, Nike, and New Balance? | — | GAP |
| 05 | →best websites comfortable walking shoes supportive footwear | What websites are best for comfortable walking shoes and supportive footwear? | — | GAP |
| 06 | →buy wide width shoes online size options | Where can I buy wide-width shoes online with lots of size options? | — | GAP |
| 07 | →best websites buy womens shoes online | What are the best websites to buy women's shoes online? | 2 | MATCH |
| 08 | →best websites buy mens shoes online | What are the best websites to buy men's shoes online? | 2 | MATCH |
| 09 | →buy kids shoes online trusted brands | Where can I buy kids' shoes online from trusted brands? | — | GAP |
| 10 | →best online stores boots easy returns | What online stores are best for buying boots with easy returns? | — | GAP |
| 11 | →shop sandals Crocs summer shoes online | Where should I shop online for sandals, Crocs, and summer shoes? | — | GAP |
| 12 | →alternatives to DSW Famous Footwear online shoes | What are good alternatives to DSW and Famous Footwear for buying shoes online? | — | GAP |
| 13 | →online shoe retailers easiest returns customer service | Which online shoe retailers have the easiest returns and best customer service? | 2 | MATCH |
| 14 | →buy brand name shoes online shipping returns | Where can I buy brand-name shoes online without worrying about shipping or returns? | 4 | PARTIAL |
| 15 | →best online stores shoes whole family | What online stores are best for buying shoes for the whole family? | 3 | MATCH |
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 "Zappos reviews".
08 — Technical Checkup
Schema & structure audit
50 pages analyzed for the structured-data and HTML signals LLMs use to understand your brand.
Showing representative crawl sample · Full URL list retained in the report data.
Organization schema
No JSON-LD Organization schema detected on 50/50 crawled pages.
Meta description
Missing or empty meta description on 2/50 crawled pages.
FAQPage schema
No FAQPage schema detected on 50/50 crawled pages.
XML sitemap
No reachable XML sitemap at /sitemap.xml.
Server-rendered content
All 50 crawled pages return substantive HTML that AI crawlers can read.
Title tag
All 50 crawled pages have title tags.
AI crawlers allowed
robots.txt does not block major AI crawlers.
Sitemap available
XML sitemap is reachable/referenced for crawler discovery.
Next steps
Want us to help fix this?
Work at Zappos or Amazon? 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 21 July 2026. It is published for research purposes and was not commissioned by the subject company. Corrections: ai-visibility@webify.io