How to check whether AI tools name your business

Some customers ask ChatGPT, Google's AI results and similar tools who to call. You can see what those tools say about your business with a notebook and about fifteen minutes.

What to do

1. Write down five questions a customer might type, in their words. For a plumber: "who fixes a leaking water heater in Centerton", "emergency plumber near Bentonville".
2. Ask each question in Google, then in at least one AI tool such as ChatGPT. Use a private browser window to reduce the effect of your own history on the answer.
3. For each answer, write down every business it names, in the order named, and whether yours is among them.
4. Click the businesses it names. Look at their sites. Note which page the answer seems to come from: a service page, a directory, a review site.
5. Repeat the same five questions on another day.

What the results tell you

If your business is named, note which page of yours the answer used. If it is not, look at who is named and what their pages say that yours do not. That gap is the list of pages to write.

Questions

Will I get the same answer every time?

No. These tools can answer differently from one try to the next, so run each question a few times and note what comes up most often.

Is there a way to make an AI tool name my business?

No outside company controls what the tools say. You can give them clear, accurate facts about your business to work from, and you can check on them with the steps above.

Our free site snapshot checks the other half: how your own site reads to these tools. Get your free site snapshot.