How to Check if ChatGPT Recommends Your Business (Free, 20 Minutes)

Short answer

Pick questions a real customer would ask

Customers rarely type your slogan. They type the job and the place. Put your town in the blank:

• best plumber in [your town]
• who can fix a leaking water heater in [your town]
• emergency electrician near [your town]

Skip a question that already contains your name, such as "[your business] reviews". If you put your name in the question, the tool may talk about you because you asked. That does not show what a stranger would hear.

Write three questions and reuse them. Use a fresh set for each town you serve. Name the job, such as brakes, not only "best auto repair".

Ask ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity and Gemini the same way

Use the same three questions in each tool. Changing the words makes a new test.

1. Open a new chat. An old chat can pull the answer toward what you said before.
2. Paste one question. Do not add your business name, and do not ask the tool to include you.
3. If the tool asks where you are, give the customer's town, and use that town every time.
4. Read the whole answer and copy every business name.
5. Mark whether your name is on the list, and keep the other names. You can appear once and be missing next time.
6. Repeat the same steps in Grok, Perplexity, and Gemini. Do not stop because the first tool named you.

Why one answer isn't enough

You can ask the same question twice and get two different lists. That is common. Researchers at the University of Toronto measured how much those lists change for ChatGPT. Read the plain-language note: Why ChatGPT recommends different businesses.

Ask each question at least twice, with the same words and the same town. If you can, wait until another day. A new town is a new test. Save every name, not only a yes or no, so you can see whether the same names come back.

Check Google's AI Overviews in Search Console

This step is about Google Search, not ChatGPT, and not the Gemini chat app. In Search Console, open the Generative AI performance report. Google says it shows how your site does in AI features on Google Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode (Search Console Help).

An impression means a link to your site was shown. The report does not list the names ChatGPT said. Use it next to your chat notes.

1. Sign in to Search Console with the account that owns the site.
2. Open the Generative AI performance report from Google's help page.
3. Look at impressions over time, and at which pages were shown. You can group the table by page, country, or device.

Google says that as of August 31, 2026, the report was rolled out worldwide. If you do not see it, Google says the usual reason is too few impressions, or the site was left out of Search's AI features. The help page explains that. The report cannot make an AI Overview name you.

What to do if you're not named

A missing name means the tool did not say it this time. These steps help the tools read your site. They cannot force a tool to name you.

Crawler rules live in a file called robots.txt. OpenAI uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot for search. OpenAI says a site that blocks OAI-SearchBot is not shown in ChatGPT search answers. It can still show up when someone looks for that site by name. OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt (OpenAI docs).

Perplexity uses a crawler called PerplexityBot to find sites and link them in its search results. Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot in robots.txt (Perplexity docs).

Open robots.txt, or ask the person who edits the site. If the file blocks every bot, add an allow rule for these two:

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

If the file already lets all bots in, leave it. Do not paste new rules over a file you have not read. A typo can hide the whole site. OpenAI says a robots.txt change can take about 24 hours to adjust. Perplexity says a change may take up to 24 hours.

Then check two facts a customer can see:

• Use the same business name, town, and website on your site and on the profiles people already use, such as your Google listing.
• Write the town and the work you do in normal sentences on a page a tool can open. A tool cannot repeat a fact it cannot find.

Check it for free

Every step above is free. You do not need an account to do them. For a second look, type your business name, website, and town below. We ask ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, and Gemini one customer question. Claude is coming soon. You see if each tool said your name. No card. One check cannot promise the next answer.

Are you tipped by AI? Run the free check.

Sources

• Search Console Help: Generative AI performance report
• OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers
• Perplexity: crawlers and robots.txt
• Why ChatGPT recommends different businesses