AI visibility
Is Your Business Invisible to AI? A 10-Minute Self-Check
A step-by-step check you can run today to see whether ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google's AI recommend your business, and what to do with the results.
You can find out in about ten minutes whether AI tools recommend your business. All you need is a phone or laptop and a notepad. Here's the exact check to run, and how to read what you find.
Why bother? More customers are asking AI who to hire, and AI is picky. SOCi's 2026 Local Visibility Index found ChatGPT recommended only 1.2% of the business locations it studied. And being known isn't the same as being described correctly: an Insites study of 10,000 businesses found 93% were known to at least one AI platform, but only 55% had accurate information.
Before you start
- Open a private or incognito window and stay logged out, so your history doesn't shape the answers.
- Have three tools ready: ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Google Search with AI Mode (or the AI Overview at the top of results). Add Perplexity if you like.
- Make a simple table: one row per question, one column per AI tool.
Step 1: Ask what your customers ask (4 minutes)
Write three questions a real customer would type, using your service and your city. For example:
- "Who's the best [your service] in [your city]?"
- "I need a [service] near [neighborhood or zip code]. Who should I call?"
- "Which [business type] in [city] has the best reviews?"
Ask each question in each tool. In your table, write down every business that gets named and its position in the answer. Don't type your business name. You want to see what a customer who's never heard of you would see.
Step 2: Ask about yourself (2 minutes)
Now ask directly: "What do you know about [your business name] in [city]?"
Check every fact the AI gives back:
- Services offered
- Address or service area
- Phone number and hours
- Ratings or review summary
- Anything that's simply wrong (old address, a service you don't offer, a closed location)
Step 3: Ask why (2 minutes)
Go back to the answer from Step 1 and ask: "Why did you recommend those businesses?" and "Where did you get that information?"
AI tools often point to the sources behind their answers: review sites, directories, specific websites. Those are the places you need to be, with accurate details.
Step 4: Score yourself (2 minutes)
| What you found | What it means |
|---|---|
| Named in most answers | You're in good shape. Protect it with steady reviews and accurate listings. |
| Named sometimes, or low in the list | You're known but not the safe choice yet. Usually fixable with reviews and listing cleanup. |
| Never named, but the AI knows you when asked directly | You exist to the AI but lose to competitors. Compare what they have that you don't. |
| AI doesn't know you, or gets facts wrong | Your online footprint is thin or inconsistent. Start with listings and your website. |
How to read the results honestly
- Run it more than once. AI answers vary a lot. BrightLocal's 2026 study of about 200,000 local AI searches found repeat searches for the same question overlapped only 20–33% of the time. Check again on another day before drawing conclusions.
- Location matters. Results change depending on where the search happens. If you serve several cities, test each one.
- Different tools, different sources. Google's AI leans heavily on Google Business Profile. ChatGPT draws more on websites and other listings. Doing well in one doesn't guarantee the others.
What to fix first
Start with whatever your check uncovered:
- Wrong facts? Fix them at the source: your Google Business Profile, Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Facebook, and your own website.
- Competitors named instead of you? Compare their review counts, how recent those reviews are, and where they're listed. We break down the common patterns in why ChatGPT recommends your competitor.
- Not known at all? Make sure your website states your services, cities, and hours in plain text, and get listed on the main directories with identical details.
Want the full picture?
This self-check gives you a snapshot. Our AI Visibility Checkup goes further: we test the questions your customers actually ask across the popular AI tools, show who gets recommended instead of you and why, and give you a ranked, plain-English fix list with a walkthrough call.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a paid ChatGPT account to run this check?
No. The free versions of ChatGPT and Gemini, and Google's AI Mode, are enough for a basic check. Ask while logged out or in a private browser window so your past chats don't influence the answers.
How often should I re-check?
Once a month is a good rhythm. AI answers change from one search to the next and over time, so a single result can mislead you. Look for the pattern across several checks.
What if AI says something wrong about my business?
Note exactly what's wrong and where it likely came from (an old directory listing, an outdated page on your site). Fix the source, then check again in a few weeks. AI tools pick up corrections as the sources they read are updated.