Everything we know about AI visibility

ChatGPT named the cosmetic dental practice it was asked about in 23 of 55 answers (41.8%), Perplexity in 29 of 51 (56.9%). Across 48 U.S. dental practices: named in 110 of 280 answers, mean score 22/100, 1 of 48 above 60. Why, and what moves it.

In 590 of 723 recommendation answers about real local businesses (82 %), ChatGPT and Perplexity named competitors and not the business. Three businesses named in their own city were named 0 of 12 times one town over. Why, and what moves the answer.

Perplexity names the businesses in the pages it retrieves. In 234 audited answers it named only competitors 46% of the time. How to find those pages and get into them.

We read 126 AI answers about 21 plumbers, HVAC firms and roofers. AI names a franchise 5.5% of the time — but it reads the BBB and Reddit before it reads your website.

We ran AI visibility checks on 7 U.S. plumbers, HVAC companies, and roofers. Average score: 30/100. Here's why ChatGPT names the shop down the road — and how to fix it.

We ran AI visibility checks on 32 U.S. med spas. Average score: 30/100. Here's why ChatGPT names the spa down the road — and how to fix it.

We ran AI visibility checks on 25 U.S. personal-injury firms. Average score: 28.8/100. Here's why ChatGPT names other lawyers — and how to fix it.

A free step-by-step way to check whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude recommend your business — the exact prompts, how to score yourself honestly, and why one screenshot lies.

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is making your business the answer AI engines give. What AEO means, how it differs from SEO, and how to start.

ChatGPT now recommends businesses by name. A practical 2026 guide to how AI engines decide who to recommend — and the steps to become one of them.

An AI-visibility score is the share of AI answers that name a business, scaled 0 to 100. We ran it on 53 local businesses that marketing and SEO agencies showcase in their own portfolios: average 40/100, 38% under 20, and 40% named in 2 or fewer of 6 AI answers about their category. Recounted from the audit table October 4, 2026.

We analyzed 541 ChatGPT web-search answers about 182 real local businesses (183 free checks, June to September 2026). The business's own website was cited in 31% of the answers where its domain was known, and never as the only source. The rest came from review aggregators and 'best-of' directories: Birdeye, BBB, BestProsInTown, MedSpaScout, ThreeBestRated, Reddit.

We asked ChatGPT and Perplexity about 168 local businesses two ways: by name, and the way a customer actually asks. Named by name: 98.8% of answers. Asked "who do you recommend?": 19.8%. 58% of these businesses appeared in none of their four buyer-intent answers — while the AI described them warmly when prompted with their name.

AI-visibility benchmark for personal injury law firms: 42 real firms across 20 US metros. Average score 26/100, median 21, and — unlike any other category we measure — not one firm cleared 60. The best-performing PI firm scored 53. And it's wide open: 159 different firms share the recommendations, the most-named holds only 1.9%.

We counted every business AI named across 173 local-business audits (1,024 answers). Own-business mentions: 470. Competitor mentions: 1,748 — a competitor is named at least 3.7x more often than you are. 43% of businesses are out-named by a single rival. And no rival owns the answer.

AI-visibility benchmark for med spas: 64 real med spas across 14 US metros. Average score 28/100, median just 17, 56% score under 20. And the category is wide open — 189 different med spas share the recommendations and the most-named holds only 2.2%. Nobody owns the AI answer yet.

We audited 152 US local businesses across four verticals. Average AI visibility: 27.3/100. Home services is the only vertical where AI names national franchises at all.

We asked AI the identical questions about 20 real businesses, two weeks apart. Every single one came back different. Half the scores moved; 57% of the named competitors were new.

We ran 1,120 recommendations across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini & Perplexity. The engine with the most users named the business least — just 16%. See the data.

We asked 4 AI engines the same 25 buyer questions, 3 times each. 69% of the brands they recommended did not survive every repeat. Here's the full data.

We audited 10 established US local businesses across 9 cities. Average AI visibility: 20/100 — and in 6 of 10, AI recommended a competitor more often. Data.

Profound no longer prints a price: on 2026-09-22 its pricing page lists a free 7-day trial and a custom Enterprise tier only (on 2026-07-31 it printed $99/mo billed yearly). The cheapest ongoing alternatives we can verify start at $17/mo billed yearly (Rankscale, re-read 2026-10-01), $29/mo (Otterly.ai) and $41/mo billed annually (Geoptie); one option is $79 once with no subscription. 18-tool table, named method, our own tool's limits included.

Compare AI visibility tools — Profound, Otterly.ai, AthenaHQ, Ahrefs Brand Radar — vs AskedAbout's $79 one-time audit. No subscription required.

What an AI visibility tool costs on 2026-10-01, read from 17 vendors' own pricing pages: 15 print a price, from $204 to $3,540 for twelve months, median $948. Two that printed $99/mo on 2026-08-01 now print none. None sells a one-time purchase; our $79 audit is the only one-off in the table, listed with its limits.

AskedAbout vs Profound — a $79 one-time AI visibility audit instead of a $99/mo-and-up subscription (Profound's Lite tier, read 2026-07-31). See where AI ranks you. Free check, no demo.

AskedAbout vs Scrunch AI: a $79 one-time AI visibility audit + fix plan instead of a $250/mo enterprise AI-visibility platform. Free 60-second check first.

AskedAbout vs Ahrefs Brand Radar: a $79 one-time AI visibility audit instead of Brand Radar, which ahrefs.com/pricing prices from $199/mo standalone (read 2026-08-01). Free check first.

AskedAbout vs HubSpot AI Search Grader: a deeper, independent AI-visibility read across 4 engines + a $79 fix-plan audit — not a marketing-suite lead magnet.

AskedAbout vs Otterly.ai — a $79 one-time AI visibility audit instead of a monthly monitoring subscription. See where AI ranks you. Free check, no recurring bill.

AskedAbout vs Peec AI: a $79 one-time AI visibility audit instead of a $95+/mo agency-grade monitoring subscription. Free check, no recurring plan.

AskedAbout vs AthenaHQ: a $79 one-time AI visibility audit + fix plan instead of a monthly GEO optimization subscription. Free check, nothing recurring.

We audited 64 real US med spas: average AI-visibility score 28/100, median 17, named in 47% of the AI answers about their own city. See if your med spa is in ChatGPT's answer, which competitor is named instead, and how to fix it. $79 audit, 4 engines.

Your clients are about to ask why ChatGPT recommends a competitor. Run the audit, hand them the report, start the conversation. 5 white-label audits for $249.

Customers ask ChatGPT “best plumber / HVAC / electrician near me.” See if AI names you, which local competitor it names instead, and how to fix it. $79, 4 engines.

Patients now ask ChatGPT which dentist to book — and it names 2–3 practices, not twenty. See if yours is one of them. Free 60-second check.

We audited 5 personal-injury firms — AI named a competitor more often than the firm itself in 3 of 5. See what it says about yours. Free 60-second check.

Buyers ask ChatGPT for the best tool in your category and get a 3–5 name shortlist. See if your SaaS makes it — and who's taking your slot. Free check.