What Does ChatGPT Say About Your Business? How to Check
Many people now ask an AI assistant who to call instead of scrolling through search results. Here's how to see what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude tell your customers about your field, and what to fix when your business isn't in the answer.
We ask the AI assistants our own customers' questions every week. What stands out is how short the answer is. A search page shows ten links and lets the customer compare. An assistant names a handful of businesses, sometimes just one, and explains why. If yours isn't one of them, you don't show up lower on the list. You don't show up at all, and nothing in your website traffic tells you it happened.
The Short Version
Write down the questions your customers really ask. Ask each one of ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude, naming your city. Note who gets named, what's said about you, and which sources the answers cite. Fix anything wrong about you at its source first, then work on the places that keep mentioning your competitors and not you. Check again every month, because the answers change.
Step by Step
Write down 5 to 10 questions, in your customers' words
Not the words on your website. The words a customer types or says when they need you. Mix a few kinds: "Who's the best [service] in [city]?", "[Service] near [neighborhood] open on Saturday", "How much does [service] cost in [city]?", and the problem rather than the service: "My AC is blowing warm air, who should I call in Clearwater?" Add one about you by name: "What do you know about [your business] in [city]?"
Ask each assistant, one fresh chat per question
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude, in their free versions, since that's what many customers use. Start a new chat for each question, because earlier messages in the same chat steer the answer. Name the city in the question: answers depend on location, and the assistant may not know where you are. If you're signed in, it may tailor answers to you, so where you can, try a private browser window too.
Search Google the normal way
For many searches, Google shows an AI Overview above the regular results. Type the same questions into Google and note what it says, and whether your business appears in it or in the map listings below.
Write down what came back
Use the table below. Keep the notes: next month you'll ask the same questions the same way, and the comparison is where the value is.
What to Note for Each Answer
| Note | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Were you named? Where in the list? | Being named at all is the first hurdle. Near the top is better. |
| Who was named instead | These are your real competitors for that question, and they aren't always the ones you'd guess. |
| What it said about you | Old hours, a wrong phone number, a service you don't offer, or "permanently closed" turns customers away before they call. |
| Which sources it cited | Most assistants show links when they search the web, and Perplexity shows them on nearly every answer. Those links are where the assistant read about your competitors. |
What the Answers Draw On
For a local question, most assistants search the web and lean on what they find: review sites, directories and map listings, Google Business Profiles, local news and "best of" articles, and businesses' own websites. The cited links tell you which ones mattered for each answer. When the same directory or article keeps showing up in answers that name a competitor, that's usually where the gap is.
What to Fix First
- Anything wrong about you. Fix it where it comes from, not in the chat. Start with your Google Business Profile and your own website, then the big listings: Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp, the Better Business Bureau and the directories for your trade. Your business name, address, phone number and hours should match everywhere.
- Your website should answer the question plainly. A page for each main service that says what you do, where you do it and, if you can publish them, what it costs. Add an FAQ that answers the questions from step 1 in plain language. An assistant can only repeat what it can find.
- Reviews, asked for honestly. Ask every customer, not only the happy ones, and never pay or offer a discount for a review. Google's review policies forbid incentives, and the FTC's rule on consumer reviews bans fake reviews and rewards that depend on a review being positive.
- The places that keep getting cited. If a directory or a "best of" list keeps showing up in answers that name your competitors, see whether you belong on it. If it charges to be listed, judge it like any other ad.
- Keep your Google Business Profile current. The right categories, your services, accurate hours (holidays included), recent photos and an occasional post.
What Doesn't Help
- Stuffing pages with "best [service] in [city]." It reads badly to people, and it isn't what the assistants cite.
- Anyone promising a spot in ChatGPT. The companies that run the assistants decide what they say, and they change how they decide without notice. Nobody else controls it.
- Asking the assistant to correct itself. Telling it in a chat that your hours are wrong changes nothing for the next customer. Fix the source.
- Checking once. The same question can get a different answer next week, or from a customer across town. One answer is a sample. The trend over a few months is the real picture.
Do It Monthly, or Let Us
Once a month, ask the same questions the same way and compare with last month's notes. It takes about as long as the first time, and it's the only way to know whether your fixes are working.
That's the job we do every week, for Bay Geeks and for clients. Search & AI Visibility Care asks up to 30 of your customers' questions, which you approve, of those four assistants every week (Meta AI, Grok, DeepSeek, Qwen and others as an optional paid add-on), searches each one on Google the way step 3 does, and sends you the answers, the competitors named, the sources cited, where you rank on Google and what to do about it. Every month we work on those sources: your Google Business Profile, your listings, review requests and a new answer page for your site. It's $1,000 a month with no long-term contract, and it starts with a free AI Answer Snapshot. If you only want your site fixed, the one-time $499 Search & AI Visibility Audit covers structured data, FAQ markup and sitemaps.
Once customers do reach your site, an AI chat assistant can answer their questions from information you approve, day or night.
Get a Free AI Answer Snapshot
Tell us what you do and where. We'll ask the assistants your customers' questions and show you what they said and who they named. No charge and no obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do different assistants give different answers?
Each one runs its own AI model and its own way of searching the web, so they read different sources and weigh them differently. A business can be named by one and missing from another, which is why it's worth checking more than one.
Can anyone guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No. The companies that run the assistants decide what they say, and they change how they decide without notice. Be wary of anyone who promises a spot. What you can control is the information the assistants find about you.
How often should I check?
Once a month is enough for most businesses. Ask the same questions the same way each time, so the comparison means something. Answers vary by person, place and time, so look at the trend rather than any single answer.
Is the AI Answer Snapshot really free?
Yes. We ask the assistants a handful of questions your customers ask, send you what came back, and walk you through it if you'd like. There's no charge and no obligation. Asking for one also signs you up for our newsletter, which you confirm by email and can leave any time.
Related guides
What proactive support actually saves you compared to calling only when something breaks.
How a monthly maintenance plan pays for itself in prevented downtime.
A quick check on whether your current IT setup is costing more than it should.
The IT problems that compound while nobody is watching the computers, for a business and for a home, and the ones that don't.
📞 727-579-4335 · ✉️ support@baygeeks.com · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service