How to check whether ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI recommend your business

To check whether AI recommends your business, ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI Mode the same buying-intent questions your customers would ask, run each question several times, and record whether you are named and which page or profile is cited. It takes about an hour and costs nothing.

Most Irish owners have never done this. They assume that because they rank on Google, they must also turn up when someone asks an assistant for a recommendation. Often they do not. This guide is the exact self-check I run before any client call. If you would rather have it done for you, the free AI visibility check Ireland is the same method with the screenshots handed over, and the AI visibility audit Ireland service turns the findings into monthly work.

What exactly are you checking for?

Not a ranking. There is no position one in a chat answer. You are checking for three separate things, and they are worth keeping apart in your notes.

• Recognition. Does the assistant know your business exists, and does it describe it correctly? Ask it directly: "What do you know about [business name] in [town]?" If it invents services, gets your town wrong or has never heard of you, nothing else will work until that is fixed.
• Recommendation. When someone asks for the best in your trade and town, are you one of the two or three names it gives? This is the one that brings in work.
• Citation. Which page did it read? Your service page, your Google Business Profile, a directory, a review site, or a competitor's blog post about you. The cited source tells you what to improve.

A business can be recognised and still never recommended. That is the most common pattern I see, and it is usually the easiest to shift.

Which prompts should you run?

Write the questions a customer would actually type, not the keywords you would target in SEO. People talk to assistants in full sentences and they include their situation. Aim for 10 to 20 prompts in four groups.

1. Trade plus town. "Best physio in Waterford", "who is a good accountant for a small business in Kilkenny", "recommend a solicitor in Tramore for a house purchase".
2. Problem first. "My boiler is leaking and I am in Dungarvan, who should I ring?", "I need a dentist who can see me today near Carlow".
3. Comparison and shortlist. "Compare the top three [your trade] in [your town]", "who should I get quotes from for [your service] in [your county]?"
4. Your own name. "What do you know about [business name]?", "Is [business name] any good?", "What does [business name] charge?"

Keep the list in a spreadsheet and never change it. The value is in running the same set month after month so the numbers mean something. Changing the prompts resets your baseline.

How do you run the check in each tool?

Four tools cover nearly all of the traffic. Open each in a fresh browser window, logged out or in a private window where you can, so your own history does not tilt the answer.

• ChatGPT. Ask the prompt, then ask "which sources did you use?" if no links appear. Run each prompt three to ten times in new chats. The answers vary, so a single run tells you very little.
• Claude. Same method. Claude will search the web when a question needs current or local facts and will show the pages it read.
• Perplexity. The most useful of the four for diagnosis, because it always searches and always shows numbered citations. If your page is not in that list, you know the problem is discovery, not wording.
• Google AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google describes the process as a "query fan-out": it issues several related searches behind your one question and combines the results. Google states there are no extra requirements to appear in AI features beyond being indexable and useful.

Screenshot every answer, with the date visible. Name the files by prompt and tool. This is the part people skip and later regret, because you cannot reproduce an AI answer from six weeks ago.

How do you score the answers?

Keep it to four columns per prompt, per tool. Anything more and you will not keep it up.

Column	What you record
Named	Yes or no. Count out of the number of runs, for example 3 out of 10.
Position	First, middle or last in the list of names given.
Source cited	The page or profile the tool credited, if any.
Competitors named	The two or three rivals that keep coming up.

Your headline number is share of answers: mentions divided by total runs. If you were named in 6 of 40 runs, you are at 15 per cent. Track that figure monthly against your closest rival. That is the whole scoreboard, and it is the same one used on the AI search visibility retainer.

Why is your business missing from AI answers?

In practice, nearly every miss traces back to one of four causes.

1. You have no page that answers the question

A homepage that says "welcome to our website" gives an assistant nothing to quote. If someone asks about fixed-price boiler repair in Dungarvan and no page on your site states that service, that price approach and that area in plain words, there is nothing to lift.

2. Your Google Business Profile is thin or wrong

Local answers lean heavily on profile data. Google's local ranking guidance names three factors: relevance, distance and prominence. Missing categories, old hours or an empty services list all cost you. Add every service you offer, keep your hours current, and ask recent customers for honest reviews.

3. Your facts disagree across the web

Three different phone numbers, two trading names and an old address in a directory make a business look uncertain. Assistants prefer facts that agree in several places. Pick one version of your name, address, phone, hours and service list, then make every listing match it.

4. Your site cannot be read

Check your robots.txt for blocks on AI crawlers, confirm your pages are indexed, and make sure the important text is not locked inside images or loaded only by JavaScript. Google's advice on succeeding in AI search comes down to clear, original, people-first content on a clean technical setup.

What should you fix first?

Work in this order. It is roughly the order of effort against payback.

1. Google Business Profile. Complete every field, add your full service list, and ask recent customers for honest reviews. An afternoon of work.
2. One page per service, with the area named. Say what it is, who it suits, what it costs or how you price it, and where you cover. Plain sentences beat marketing language here.
3. Consistency sweep. Fix your details on directories, review sites and social profiles so they match the site exactly.
4. Answer pages and FAQs. Take the prompts from your spreadsheet and answer each one directly on your site, in the customer's words.
5. Third-party mentions. A local news piece, a supplier listing or a trade body page all confirm your facts from outside your own site.
6. Re-run the check. Same prompts, same tools, monthly. First mentions usually show within 6 to 12 weeks.

If your site is too old to edit, or the copy cannot be changed without ringing whoever built it, fix that first. There is no point pointing an assistant at a page you cannot update. Our guide on what a small business website needs in 2026 covers the minimum, and what AI search visibility means goes deeper on how the tools choose who to name. For the difference between the disciplines, read AI SEO vs GEO vs AEO explained, and for what it costs to fix properly see what GEO costs in Ireland.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?

Open a new chat, ask for the best business in your trade and town, and repeat the same prompt three to ten times in fresh chats. Note whether you are named and which source is cited, and screenshot each answer with the date visible.

Why does ChatGPT give a different answer every time?

The models are not deterministic and they re-read the web on each query. That is why one run tells you nothing. Run each prompt several times and record how many times out of ten you were named.

Should I log out before running the check?

Yes, or use a private window. Your own chat history and location can tilt the answer towards businesses you have already looked at, which makes your visibility look better than it is.

What if the AI does not know my business at all?

Start with recognition rather than recommendation. Complete your Google Business Profile, publish one clear page per service with your area named, and make your name, address and phone number match everywhere they appear online.

Is the FMOps AI visibility check really free?

Yes. I run the buying-intent questions ten times each across ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI by hand, and you get the screenshots and the counts. Retainers start from €750 a month if you want the ongoing work, but the check comes with no obligation.