How to Check if AI Recommends Your Business: A Step-by-Step Test for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity

How do I check if AI recommends my business?

Ask each assistant the questions a customer would ask, without your business name, and repeat each one three to five times in fresh chats. Record whether you are absent, mentioned or recommended, and who appears instead. Then ask about your business by name to check facts, and read the free Google Search Console and Bing AI reports.

That's the short version. The rest of this guide walks through each step, gives you prompts to copy, and shows how to read what you find. Plan on an afternoon for the first full pass. After that, a monthly check goes much faster.

Step 1: Write 5 to 10 buyer prompts

Write the questions a real customer would type, and leave your business name out. You want to know whether an assistant brings you up on its own when a stranger asks. Use the customer's words, not the words on your website.

Category prompts

• "Who is the best [service] in [city]?"
• "Can you recommend a good [service] near [city, state]?"
• "What should I look for when hiring a [service]?"

Location prompts

If you serve a local area, test the places your customers actually live. That means the city, nearby suburbs and the neighborhoods people say out loud.

• "Best [service] in [neighborhood or suburb]"
• "[Service] near [landmark or area], who do people use?"

Problem-first prompts

Many buyers don't know the name of the service. They describe the problem.

• "My water heater is leaking, who should I call in [city]?"
• "My dog won't eat and it's Sunday, where can I take him near [city]?"

Comparison prompts (for national and online businesses)

If you sell nationwide or online, location matters less than comparisons. Test these too.

• "What are the best [product or service category] for [type of customer]?"
• "What are good alternatives to [well-known competitor]?"
• "[Your category]: [competitor A] vs [competitor B], which is better for [use case]?"

Pick the five to ten prompts that match how you really get customers. Save them in a document. Use the exact same wording every time you re-check so the months compare fairly.

Step 2: Run the prompts in every assistant, more than once

Run every prompt in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity. Then run it as a Google search to see whether an AI Overview appears, and try it in AI Mode. If your customers use Microsoft products, add Copilot. Start a fresh chat for each run, and use a private window or a logged-out session where the tool allows it, so your past chats are less likely to shape the answer.

Why one answer proves nothing

AI answers are not fixed like a phone book listing. Google says plainly that AI Mode and AI Overviews may use different models and techniques, so the set of responses and links they show will vary . It also says both may use a "query fan-out" technique, issuing multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources to develop a response . So one prompt can lead to many hidden searches, and those searches can turn up different pages each time.

Vendor research points the same way. In a BrightLocal study as relayed on X (I could not read the original), only 20 to 33% of results overlapped on a repeated search, and a business seen once reappeared about half the time. Treat that as one vendor's finding, not a law. Still, it's a good reason to run each prompt three to five times per tool.

The assistants also differ from each other. One study relayed on X found only 11% of sources overlapped between ChatGPT and Perplexity. Showing up in one tool tells you little about the others, so check each one on its own.

What to record for each run

Use one row per prompt, per tool, per run.

Tool-by-tool notes

Don't panic if Google shows no AI Overview for some prompts. Google says AI Overviews are only shown when its systems determine they are additive to classic Search, and as such, often don't trigger .

For more on each assistant, see my guides to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.

Step 3: Ask about your business by name

Now use your name. This is a separate test. Step 2 asks whether AI recommends you. Step 3 asks whether what AI says about you is true.

Run this short fact set in each assistant:

1. "What are the hours for [business name]?"
2. "What is the phone number for [business name]?"
3. "What areas does [business name] serve?"
4. "What services does [business name] offer? Do they do [a service you stopped offering]?"
5. "Is [business name] a good choice for [service]? What do reviews say?"

Compare every answer with your real details. Flag anything wrong, old or missing. Also watch for mix-ups with a business that has a similar name. A wrong phone number or old hours is worth fixing today, because a customer may act on it.

When you find an error, look at which sources the tool cited. The fix usually belongs on that source (an old directory listing, an outdated page on your site), not inside the AI tool.

Step 4: Check the free first-party reports

Prompt tests show you what one person might see. Google and Bing now give you free data about your own site in their AI features. None of the top three guides I reviewed mentions these reports.

Google Search Console: generative AI performance report

Google announced the reports on its Search Central blog in June 2026. They give you dedicated views of your impressions within generative AI features on Search, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode . You can break the data down by impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates .

Google's help page now notes that as of August 31, 2026, it has rolled out these insights to all websites worldwide . It also says Search Console doesn't include data from experiments in Search Labs .

Know the limits. According to Search Engine Journal, the report doesn't include click data , and Google has said that sites without enough AI impressions might not see a report . There is also no list of the questions people asked.

How to use it: open the Pages view and see which URLs show up in AI features. If your service pages never appear but a blog post does, that tells you which kind of page Google's AI is willing to link.

Bing Webmaster Tools: AI Performance report

Microsoft's report covers Copilot and Bing's AI answers. Per Search Engine Journal, it covers AI experiences across Copilot, AI summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations . It shows total citations, average cited pages and page-level citation activity , plus grounding queries, which Microsoft describes as the key phrases AI used when retrieving content for answers, and the company notes this data represents a sample rather than complete citation activity .

One limit worth knowing: Practical Ecommerce reports there's no option to filter by a single channel, and no way to identify the partners . Some secondary sources also report that a June 2026 update added Intents, Topics, Citation Share and Compare views, so check what your own account shows.

How to use it: put the grounding queries next to the prompts you wrote in Step 1. Grounding queries are not what a person typed. They are the phrases the AI used to look things up. If they look nothing like your prompts, your pages may be getting cited for topics you didn't expect.

Neither report covers ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Perplexity directly. That's why the prompt tests in Steps 2 and 3 still matter. You can also look in your own web analytics for visits referred by AI tool domains, such as chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai. That shows which AI mentions actually send people to your site.

If a report is empty, that's a finding too. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong.

Step 5: Make sure AI crawlers can read your site

An assistant can't cite a page its search crawler isn't allowed to read. Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt in a browser and look for rules that block AI bots. Companies often run separate bots for search and for model training, and the difference matters.

OpenAI. OpenAI's crawler documentation says each setting is independent of the others: a webmaster can allow OAI-SearchBot in order to appear in search results while disallowing GPTBot for training. It also warns that sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though can still appear as navigational links .

Anthropic. As Search Engine Journal reported, Anthropic lists ClaudeBot (training data collection), Claude-User (fetching pages when Claude users ask questions), and Claude-SearchBot (indexing content for search results) as separate bots . Anthropic warns that blocking Claude-SearchBot may reduce your site's visibility and accuracy in user search results .

Google. Google says that because AI is built into Search, robots.txt directives for Googlebot are the control for site owners to manage how their sites are crawled for Search . Block Googlebot and you block more than AI features.

Search Console's AI opt-out. There is one more switch to check. Search Console has a property-specific Search generative AI control in Settings that lets you exclude your site's links and content from the same surfaces the reports evaluate . Sites that opt out do not get any traffic or impressions from these features. If someone turned it on, you'll want to know.

For Perplexity and Grok, check each company's current crawler documentation, since tokens can change. Practitioners on our desk also report that Claude's web results lean on Brave Search. I could not confirm that in Anthropic's own documentation, so treat it as a lead, not a fact: search for your site on Brave and see whether your key pages show up.

If you don't know how to read robots.txt, send it to whoever runs your site and ask: "Are OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and Googlebot allowed?" My guide to allowing AI crawlers in robots.txt has copy-ready examples.

Step 6: Trace where the answers come from

This is the step most owners skip, and it may matter most. Go back to every source an assistant cited in Step 2, especially the ones cited in answers that named a competitor. Sort them into three groups:

• Your own site: pages that answer the buyer's question directly.
• Lists and directories: "best [service]" roundups, industry directories, review platforms.
• Everything else: news, forums, videos, social posts.

Vendor studies hint at what you'll find, but they disagree on details, so check your own results. In Ahrefs' research, as shared by an Ahrefs executive on X, "best X" listicles made up 43.8% of the page types ChatGPT cites, and 28.3% of ChatGPT's most-cited pages had no Google visibility. In a BrightLocal study of local AI searches as relayed on X, individual business websites made up 93% of unique cited domains and earned 42% of citations. Both are vendor studies. Neither proves what will work for you.

The practical takeaway: the lists, directories and pages that keep showing up for your prompts are your to-do list. If one roundup is cited again and again, find out how businesses get included in it.

How to read your results

Once you've run each prompt three to five times per tool, score each prompt by how often you appeared. Here's the simple scale I use. It's a working rule of thumb, not an industry standard.

• 0 runs: absent. The tool doesn't connect you with this question yet.
• Some runs, not most: in the pool. You're a candidate, not the default pick.
• Most or all runs: consistent. Protect it, check the facts are right, and move on to the next prompt.

Look for patterns across tools. If you appear in Perplexity but never in ChatGPT, compare the sources each one cited. If you appear for "best [service] in [city]" but not for problem-first prompts, you may not have a page that describes the problem in plain words.

What to check when a competitor shows up and you don't

Start with the inputs you control. This is the work I do at Get Found with AI: helping businesses get found, cited and recommended in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity and Google's AI features. You can see how it works and what's included. Here's the checklist:

1. A page that answers the prompt. Does your site have a page that plainly answers the exact question, with the service, the area and the details a buyer needs?
2. Third-party lists and directories. Are you on the roundups and directories you found in Step 6? Get listed honestly. Never buy or fake reviews.
3. Reviews in more than one place. Real reviews with replies, on Google and on the other platforms that showed up in your sources.
4. Consistent business facts. The same name, address, phone and hours on Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and the directories.
5. Crawler access. The bots from Step 5 can read your pages.
6. Structured data that matches the page. Good hygiene, but don't expect miracles. Ahrefs' vendor research, as shared on X, found schema had no meaningful impact on citations. See local business schema for AI search.

If you want the deeper version, read why ChatGPT recommends my competitor and the full AI visibility audit checklist. Wondering whether you need an llms.txt file? My take is in llms.txt for small business: it's cheap to add, but it's a low priority.

A simple monthly tracking sheet

Make a spreadsheet with one tab per month. Keep the prompts identical so months compare fairly. Use these columns:

• Date, prompt, tool and run number
• Absent, mentioned or recommended
• Position, description and competitors named
• Sources cited
• Wrong facts found
• Search Console AI impressions (if shown)
• Bing citations and top grounding queries (if shown)
• AI referral visits from your analytics

Re-check monthly, and again after a big change like a new service page or updated listings. Screenshot the answers so you have a before picture. Don't read much into a single month's movement, since answers vary from run to run anyway.

Should you pay for an AI visibility tracking tool?

Not to start. A manual check with 5 to 10 prompts tells most small businesses what they need to know. Paid tools start to make sense when you're tracking dozens of prompts or many locations. If you do buy one, make sure it runs repeat queries, shows the sources behind each answer, and covers the assistants your customers use. For a sense of what professional help costs, see AI search optimization cost and how to choose an AI search optimization agency.

What I can and cannot promise

I can't promise any business a mention, a recommendation, a citation or a ranking in any AI tool, or a timeline for one. The companies behind these tools decide what they show, and Google itself says the responses and links in its AI features vary. Be careful with anyone who guarantees placement.

What I can do is help you check where you stand and fix the inputs you control: your pages, your listings, your crawler access and the facts AI tools repeat about you. If you're new to this, start with what AI search visibility is or GEO vs SEO for local businesses.

How I put this together

On October 22, 2026, I read the top-ranking US articles for "how to check if AI recommends your business" and compared them side by side. Each one is useful. Each one leaves gaps.

This guide covers every question those three answer, plus the gaps: all five assistants plus Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and Copilot, repeat runs scored as a pattern, a fact-accuracy prompt set, both free first-party reports, crawler and opt-out checks, and a step for tracing where answers come from.

Product facts come from primary sources where I could find them: Google's AI features guide, Search Central blog and Search Console help, and OpenAI's crawler docs. Bing and Anthropic details come from trade press coverage of their announcements, so confirm them in your own accounts. Vendor studies are labeled as vendor studies, and some reached me as posts on X rather than the original reports. I haven't tested every feature in every assistant myself, and this guide includes no client results. More guides are on the blog, starting with Get Found with AI.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?

Open a fresh chat and ask a question a customer would ask, without your business name, such as "Who is the best [service] in [city]?" Run it three to five times in new chats. Record whether you are absent, mentioned or recommended, who appears instead, and which sources are linked. Also confirm your robots.txt file does not block OAI-SearchBot, the crawler OpenAI uses for ChatGPT search.

Why does AI give a different answer every time I ask?

These tools build each answer fresh, and they may search different sources each time. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may use different models and techniques, so the responses and links they show will vary. That is why you should run each prompt several times and track how often you appear, not whether you showed up once.

Should I include my business name in the prompt?

Not in the first round. Prompts without your name show whether an assistant brings you up when a stranger asks. Use your name in a second round to check whether the facts it gives about you, like hours, phone, service area and services, are correct.

Is there a free way to see my visibility in Google AI Overviews?

Yes. Google Search Console has a generative AI performance report that shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, broken down by pages, countries, devices and dates. Google says it rolled out to all websites worldwide as of August 31, 2026. It does not show clicks, and sites without enough AI impressions might not see a report.

What does the Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance report show?

It shows how often your pages are cited in Microsoft Copilot, AI summaries in Bing and select partner integrations. Metrics include total citations, average cited pages, page-level citation activity, trends over time and grounding queries, which are the phrases the AI used to retrieve your content. Microsoft notes the grounding query data is a sample.

Can my robots.txt file keep me out of AI answers?

It can. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still appear as navigational links. Anthropic has warned that blocking Claude-SearchBot may reduce your visibility in Claude's search results. For Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google says robots.txt rules for Googlebot are the control.

Can anyone guarantee AI will recommend my business?

No. The companies that run these tools decide what they show, and the answers change from run to run. I cannot promise any placement, mention, citation or timeline, and you should be careful with anyone who does. What you can do is check where you stand and fix the inputs you control.

Sources

1. Google Search Central: AI features and your website
2. Google Search Central Blog: Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console
3. Search Console Help: Generative AI performance report (Search)
4. Search Engine Journal: Google Search Console AI Reports Rolled Out Worldwide
5. Search Engine Journal: Bing Webmaster Tools Adds AI Citation Performance Data
6. Practical Ecommerce: Bing's AI Performance Report Gets Better
7. SEO Kreativ: How to Track AI Visibility in Bing Webmaster Tools
8. OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI Crawlers
9. Search Engine Journal: Anthropic's Claude Bots Make Robots.txt Decisions More Granular
10. Ahrefs research summary on X (vendor study)
11. BrightLocal repeat-search findings, relayed on X (vendor study)
12. BrightLocal local AI citation study, relayed on X (vendor study)
13. ChatGPT and Perplexity source overlap study, relayed on X
14. Entreprenista: How to Tell If AI Is Recommending You
15. Whito: How to Check if AI Recommends Your Business
16. Blak Sheep Creative: How to Tell If AI Recommends Your Business and Track It