How to check if ChatGPT recommends your business

Asking ChatGPT “do you know my business?” tells you almost nothing. The useful test is whether it names you when a customer asks for a recommendation without using your name, and how often that happens across repeated tries.

Last updated 16 October 2026 · Written by GPT Visibility

The short answer

Write 10–20 customer-style questions that never include your business name.
Ask each one several times in ChatGPT with search on, plus Perplexity and Gemini, using a fresh chat each time.
Record whether you’re named, where you appear, who is named instead and which websites are cited.
Work out your mention rate: the share of answers that name you.
Repeat monthly with the same questions so you can see change.

Why one question isn’t enough

AI answers vary from run to run. The same question can name you once and leave you out the next time. ChatGPT may also take your approximate location into account, and personalised chats can use what it remembers about you. A single test can make you look better or worse than you really are.

Step 1: Write the questions your customers ask

Think about how a new customer who has never heard of you would ask. Mix the service, the place and what matters to them:

“Recommend a plumber in Leeds for a boiler service”
“Best family solicitor near Bristol for a divorce”
“Which accountants in Norwich do fixed-fee limited company accounts?”
“Good dog groomer in Chapel Allerton with weekend appointments”

Include a few broad questions (“best electrician in Leeds”) and a few specific ones that match what you’re best at. Never include your own business name, because that tests whether ChatGPT knows you, not whether it recommends you.

Step 2: Set up a fair test

Use a fresh chat for every run. In ChatGPT, start a Temporary Chat and choose Unpersonalized before your first message. OpenAI says that option doesn’t use memory or custom instructions, which keeps your own history out of the answer.
Make sure search is on, so the answer reflects what ChatGPT finds on the web today rather than only what the model already knows.
Name the town in the question rather than relying on “near me”, so tests are comparable wherever you run them.
Test more than one assistant. Perplexity and Gemini use different sources, and Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode are different again.

Step 3: Run each question several times

Three to five runs per question per assistant is a practical minimum. With 15 questions, three runs and three assistants, that’s 135 answers, which is enough to see a pattern rather than a fluke.

Step 4: Record the same things every time

Column	What to note
Question	The exact wording you used
Assistant and run	For example “ChatGPT, run 2”
Named?	Yes or no
Position	First, second, third or later in the list
Competitors named	Every other business it suggested
Sources cited	The websites it linked to or quoted
Accuracy	Anything wrong about you, such as old hours or a service you don’t offer

Step 5: Work out your mention rate

Your mention rate is the number of answers that named you divided by the total number of answers. If you were named in 12 of 45 ChatGPT answers, your ChatGPT mention rate is about 27%. Work it out per assistant and per question, because you may be strong on one service and invisible on another.

What the results tell you

The sources column is the most useful one. If the same directories, review sites or “best in town” lists keep being cited, being listed accurately there is often your fastest win.
The competitors column shows who the assistant trusts. Look at what their websites and listings say that yours doesn’t.
Never named at all? Check the basics first: whether AI search crawlers can reach your site, and whether your pages say clearly what you do and where.

Common mistakes

Asking with your business name in the question.
Testing once and treating the answer as the truth.
Testing in a chat full of your own history.
Changing the questions every month, so results can’t be compared.
Paying anyone who promises guaranteed placement. Nobody can guarantee what an AI assistant will say.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if ChatGPT recommends my business?

Ask ChatGPT, with search on, the questions a new customer would ask without using your business name. Ask each question several times in fresh chats and count how often you’re named. That share is your mention rate.

Why does ChatGPT give different answers each time?

AI assistants generate answers afresh each time and may search the web differently, so the businesses they name can change between runs. That’s why repeated tests and a mention rate are more reliable than a single answer.

How many times should I ask each question?

Three to five times per question per assistant is a practical minimum for spotting a pattern.

Should I test Perplexity and Gemini too?

Yes. Each assistant uses different sources and can recommend different businesses, so a result in ChatGPT doesn’t tell you how you appear elsewhere.

How often should I re-test?

Monthly is a sensible rhythm. Use the same questions each time so you can compare results and see whether your changes are working.