How to check if ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity recommend your business

AI answers aren't fixed like a list of search results. The same question can get a different answer:

• From one ask to the next. The wording of the answer, and sometimes the businesses named, changes.
• By location. "Best physiotherapist near me" depends on where the assistant thinks you are.
• By account. Assistants with memory or chat history can tailor answers to the person asking.
• By assistant. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot use different sources.

So treat a single answer as one data point. What you want is a fair, repeatable test.

Use the words customers use, not your marketing words. Good sources: questions people ask on the phone, in WhatsApp chats, in reviews and at the counter. Mix three kinds:

1. 1"Best" questions: "Best dentist in Kothrud, Pune", "Best HVAC repair in Austin".
2. 2Need questions: "Who can fix a leaking water heater today in Columbus?", "Where can I get a GST registration done in Jaipur?"
3. 3Comparison questions: "Is [your business] or [competitor] better for kids' braces?"

Always include the city or neighbourhood. Assistants need it for local answers, and it makes your test fair.

To get closer to what a new customer sees:

1. 1Open a private or incognito browser window, or log out.
2. 2Ask each question in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode (or Google Search, to see if an AI Overview appears).
3. 3Copy your question exactly each time. Changing one word changes the answer.
4. 4If the assistant asks a follow-up, answer the same way every month.

This takes about 30 minutes for ten questions across four assistants. Our free "Does AI name my business?" check does the Gemini part for you, three questions a day.

Keep a simple sheet with one row per question per assistant, and these columns:

• Named? Yes or no.
• Position. First, second, third, or "mentioned in passing".
• Who else was named. These are the businesses AI sees as your competitors, which may not be the ones you'd guess.
• Sources shown. The websites linked under the answer.

The sources column is the most useful. It tells you which directories, review sites, news pages and blogs the assistant trusts for your kind of business.

Two free tools now show part of this from the search engines' side.

• Google Search Console, Generative AI performance report. Shows how many times a link to your site appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country, date and device. It rolled out to all sites worldwide on 31 August 2026. It shows impressions, not clicks, and doesn't appear for sites with very few impressions.
• Bing Webmaster Tools, AI Performance. Shows how often your pages are cited in Copilot and other Microsoft AI answers, which pages, and the phrases used to find them. Microsoft launched it in public preview in February 2026.

Neither covers ChatGPT or Perplexity, so the manual check in Steps 1 to 3 still matters.

Go back to the sources column. You'll usually see one of three patterns:

1. 1Directories and review sites. Get listed on them, with the same name, address and phone everywhere. Then ask happy customers for honest reviews.
2. 2"Best of" articles from local or trade sites. Find out how they choose. Many take suggestions; some are paid placements, so check before you pay.
3. 3Competitors' own websites. Their pages answer the question more clearly than yours. Compare their page with yours: is the answer near the top, is the area named, are prices and services clear?

Also check the basics: can AI crawlers read your site (free crawler check), does your page say plainly what you do and where (AEO check), and are your details consistent across the web? The GEO guide goes through each.

The point isn't the score in one month. It's seeing which sources keep appearing and whether your number moves after you act.

[[faq:[["Is there a tool that checks ChatGPT for me?", "Several paid tools track AI answers over time. For a free start, the manual method above works, and our free check runs the Gemini part. SEARCH ONE paid plans track your questions on Gemini every week."], ["Why does ChatGPT recommend a competitor who's worse than me?", "AI recommends who it can find clear, consistent evidence about, not necessarily who's best. Look at the sources it shows and make sure you're present and accurate on them."], ["How often should I check?", "Once a month is enough. Use the same questions and wording each time so you can compare."], ["Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT or Gemini?", "Not in their normal answers. Be careful with services that promise placement in AI answers; there's no official way to buy it."], ["Do I need to be on Bing?", "It helps. Microsoft Copilot uses Bing, and OpenAI's help page says ChatGPT search works with other search providers, naming Microsoft among them. Claim your Bing Places listing and add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools."]]]