They can ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews:

Rs 2000 mein kaunsa whey protein acha hai?

or:

Best protein bars with no added sugar

or:

collagen ke liye kaunse brands compare karun?

The answer that comes back can shape the buyer's shortlist before they ever visit a brand website.

At Pallix, we wanted to understand how this is playing out for Indian health, nutrition, functional food, and better-for-you brands. So we analyzed 23 brand-level AI visibility audits across broad buyer-intent prompts.

The full report is here: Pallix AI Visibility Report

The short version

Across the 23 audits:

• The average AI visibility score was 42.5/100.

• Only 6 of 23 brands crossed 50.

• Brands appeared in 404 of 682 broad-discovery prompt slots.

• SuperYou had the highest overall score at 69/100.

• MuscleBlaze had the highest mention rate at 84%.

• Fast&Up had the strongest average discovery position among the top brands at #1.5.

But the more interesting part was not the leaderboard.

The more interesting part was where AI was getting its proof from.

AI discovery was not driven by brand websites alone

Across the reports, the dominant source cluster was:

That does not mean owned websites are useless. They still matter a lot.

But when AI systems were choosing which brands to recommend in broad buyer prompts, they often leaned on third-party surfaces:

• YouTube

• Reddit

• Amazon.in

• BigBasket

• HealthKart

• 1mg

• Hindustan Times

• NDTV

• MyUpchar

• category roundups

• comparison pages

This is the key shift for brands.

Traditional SEO asks:

Can Google crawl and rank my page?

AI visibility asks:

Does the broader web give AI enough evidence to recommend my brand?

The technical paradox

Two brands had strong AI visibility despite critical technical readiness issues.

Max Protein scored 53/100 with a 64% mention rate, even though the audit flagged critical technical readiness. Yoga Bar also scored 53/100 with a 65% mention rate while GPTBot was blocked or not clearly allowed.

That sounds contradictory, but it makes sense.

AI can still learn about a brand from third-party sources. Marketplaces, reviews, Reddit discussions, YouTube videos, and editorial roundups can keep a brand visible even when the official site is not the easiest source to crawl.

But that creates a control problem.

If AI learns mainly from third-party pages, the brand has less control over product claims, pricing, positioning, comparisons, and accuracy.

Strong websites were not always enough

The reverse was also true.

Some brands had strong technical readiness but low discovery visibility. Naturaltein and Big Muscles Nutrition both had strong technical readiness scores, but their AI visibility scores were 27 and 30.

So the lesson is not "ignore technical SEO."

The lesson is:

1. Make your site readable.

2. Build content around buyer prompts.

3. Earn credible third-party proof.

4. Track which sources AI actually uses.

The prompts were not generic SEO keywords

Many of the prompts looked like real buyer questions:

• Best whey protein with good mixability

• Rs 2000 mein kaunsa whey protein acha hai?

• Best oats under Rs 750

• Best protein bars with no added sugar

• Which sugar free ice cream is worth buying under Rs 300?

• collagen ke liye kaunse brands compare karun?

• Best plant protein for easy digestion

This matters because most brand websites are still built like product catalogs.

AI prompts are not product catalogs. They are decision moments.

What brands should do next

The playbook is not to publish 50 generic SEO blogs.

A better playbook is:

• Create buyer-prompt pages that answer specific comparison questions.

• Make product details visible in raw HTML.

• Add FAQs and structured data.

• Fix blocked or unclear crawler access.

• Improve marketplace and review presence.

• Earn real category mentions on sources AI already cites.

• Seed useful YouTube, Reddit, and community discussions.

• Track prompt visibility and competitor mentions weekly.

The full breakdown, including the complete brand scorecard, source-cluster analysis, and opportunity patterns, is available in the Pallix AI Visibility Report.

Final thought

AI discovery is not only about ranking.

It is about being included in the answer.

For Indian D2C brands, the next visibility battle will happen across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, YouTube, Reddit, marketplaces, and editorial sources at the same time.

That is exactly the kind of visibility Pallix is built to measure.