Does AI Recommend Your Business?
ChatGPT
Gemini
Perplexity
Who's the best
Here's What A Report Looks Like
We ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the 10 questions your buyers ask, then check who they name.
ChatGPT
4/10
buyer answers include the business
The business is missing from 6 of the 10 answers checked.
Gemini
2/10
buyer answers include the business
The business is missing from 8 of the 10 answers checked.
Perplexity
1/10
buyer answers include the business
The business is missing from 9 of the 10 answers checked.
Google helps buyers find options. AI helps them choose.
When a buyer asks who to hire, Google shows who paid. AI shows who it trusts.
Paid Placements
inheritanceplumbing.com
texanplumbingpros.com
katy-plumber.com
ChatGPT Answers
A DIRECT RECOMMENDATION
I’d call John Moore Services first for an urgent plumbing problem in Houston, based on its advertised 24/7 emergency dispatch and coverage across the metro area. Actual arrival time needs to be confirmed by phone.
| Company | Phone | Why consider them |
|---|---|---|
| John Moore Services | 713-853-9881 | Advertises licensed plumbers available nights and weekends for burst pipes, sewer backups, and other emergencies. |
| Abacus Plumbing | 713-812-7070 | Advertises 24/7 availability, including holidays; publishes its master plumber license number. |
| Village Plumbing | 281-957-6221 | Answers calls 24/7, offers same-day service, and states it provides upfront flat-rate pricing. Confirm after-hours dispatch. |
Before booking, ask about arrival time, fees and a written estimate.
See the questions we test. Find out if AI names you.
Illustrative sample · 6 of 10 questions shown
01
Who is the best [your service] in [your city]?
ChatGPT
Not included
Gemini
Not included
Perplexity
Not included
ChatGPT sample: Several [your service] options are listed for [your city]. [your business] is not named in this answer.
Gemini sample: The answer recommends other [your service] providers in [your city]. [your business] does not appear.
Perplexity sample: Cited pages cover other [your service] companies near [your city]. [your business] is not included.
02
Top-rated [your service] companies near me
Included
Not included
Not included
ChatGPT sample: [your business] is named among recommended [your service] companies in [your city]. This is a mention, not a ranking.
Gemini sample: The answer recommends other [your service] providers in [your city]. [your business] does not appear.
Perplexity sample: Cited pages cover other [your service] companies near [your city]. [your business] is not included.
03
Which [your service] should I hire for [common job]?
Not included
Not included
Not included
ChatGPT sample: Several [your service] options are listed for [your city]. [your business] is not named in this answer.
Gemini sample: The answer recommends other [your service] providers in [your city]. [your business] does not appear.
Perplexity sample: Cited pages cover other [your service] companies near [your city]. [your business] is not included.
04
Most trusted [your service] in [your city] with good reviews
Included
Included
Not included
ChatGPT sample: [your business] is named among recommended [your service] companies in [your city]. This is a mention, not a ranking.
Gemini sample: [your business] is named for [your service] in [your city], alongside two other local providers.
Perplexity sample: Cited pages cover other [your service] companies near [your city]. [your business] is not included.
05
Who do locals recommend for [your service] in [your city]?
Included
Not included
Included
ChatGPT sample: [your business] is named among recommended [your service] companies in [your city]. This is a mention, not a ranking.
Gemini sample: The answer recommends other [your service] providers in [your city]. [your business] does not appear.
Perplexity sample: [your business] is cited with a source link for [your service] in [your city].
06
Best [your service] for [specific situation] in [your city]
Included
Included
Not included
ChatGPT sample: [your business] is named among recommended [your service] companies in [your city]. This is a mention, not a ranking.
Gemini sample: [your business] is named for [your service] in [your city], alongside two other local providers.
Perplexity sample: Cited pages cover other [your service] companies near [your city]. [your business] is not included.
This is what the report looks like
A complete audit for houston roofing company. Every answer, every competitor AI named instead, and three fixes ready to hand to a developer.
Built for the businesses people ask about.
Local, high-stakes, chosen on trust. The questions change by trade; the audit adapts.
Roofers
“Who's the best roofer for hail damage near me?”
HVAC
“Who fixes AC same-day in Katy?”
Plumbers
“Emergency plumber in Cypress tonight?”
Electricians
“Licensed electrician for a panel upgrade?”
Injury lawyers
“Good car accident lawyer in Houston?”
Dentists
“Dentist for a same-day crown nearby?”
Remodelers
“Who should I hire for a kitchen remodel in Pearland?”
Landscapers
“Best landscaping company in Sugar Land?”
Pest control
“Who handles termites in The Woodlands?”
Auto repair
“Honest mechanic near me for a transmission?”
Real estate
“Top agent for selling a house in Katy?”
Med spas
“Best med spa for Botox in Houston?”
Kessling is on billboards. Wexcombe is on a pool float.
Ninety seconds on how clients actually find a lawyer now.
0:12
A woman asks her phone for a car-accident lawyer. It names Wexcombe.
0:41
Kessling runs the checker on his own firm. Seven of thirty answers.
1:08
The report shows the fix: a directory lists him under Bankruptcy.
Try it
Ask three AIs the same question. Count the names.
Pick a trade and watch who gets recommended.
Illustrative answers, typical of what we see. Real audits use live responses. ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity are trademarks of their respective owners; not affiliated.
AI is already influencing who gets considered.
30M users per dot
weekly active ChatGPT users
Total audience, not a count of buyers.
OpenAI · February 27, 2026
ASKING 49%
OTHER 51%
of messages studied were classified as “Asking”
Advice and information seeking. Not a measure of buying intent.
OpenAI · February 27, 2026
ChatGPT referrals
11.4%
Organic search
11.4%
the estimated ecommerce conversion rate
ChatGPT referrals vs. organic search. An estimate; results vary by business.
OpenAI · February 27, 2026
Six things business owners get wrong about AI search.
“If I rank well on Google, AI recommends me too.”
Search ranks ten pages and lets the user choose. An answer engine chooses for them, drawing on a much smaller set of sources. Ranking well on Google helps but doesn’t guarantee inclusion. SEO optimizes to be clicked; AEO optimizes to be cited.
“AEO is just SEO with a new name.”
Answer Engine Optimization: making your business the source an AI engine pulls from when it writes an answer. Where SEO earns a position on a results page, AEO earns a place inside the response, either as a named recommendation or a cited source.
“AI answers are random. There's nothing to measure.”
Yes, but not from a single response. Each prompt is run multiple times across platforms and the audit reports only the patterns that hold: which businesses are consistently named, which sources are consistently cited, and where you consistently don’t appear.
“It's only aboutChatGPT.”
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Each retrieves from different indexes and weights sources differently, so being visible in one doesn’t carry over to the others. The audit checks all four.
“AI already knows my business exists.”
They combine what they learned in training with live retrieval from the web, then synthesize a short answer from a handful of sources. Businesses that appear are the ones with consistent entity information, clear pages that answer specific questions, third-party mentions and reviews, and structured data the engine can read without guessing.
“It's a one-time fix.”
Making your business legible to machines that write answers. In practice: consistent name, address, services and descriptions everywhere you’re listed; pages that answer specific customer questions directly; schema markup so engines read facts, not infer them; reviews and third-party mentions engines treat as corroboration; letting AI crawlers access the pages that matter.
