The directories AI reads before it recommends a local pro

The short version

We tracked which websites five AI systems read before recommending three kinds of local business, over the same three weeks (30 September to 20 October 2026). The directories differ by trade and by AI system.

• Electrician (Vancouver): HomeStars, BestProsInTown, TrustAnalytica, BBB and Yellow Pages, plus the electrical safety regulator. (Electrician)
• Roofer (Massachusetts): Angi, BBB, Yelp, HomeAdvisor and Facebook, plus a shingle maker's contractor pages. (Roofer)
• Dental training (Miami): almost no consumer directories. Associations, the state dental board, an implant maker, dental schools and social pages. (Dental training)
• Each AI system has its favourite. Gemini reads Google Maps. Google's AI Mode and AI Overviews read Google's own pages and Yelp. ChatGPT and Perplexity read BBB and "best of" list sites. (By AI system)
• A listing only helps if the directory names you. When Yelp was cited for the roofer, it was named 67% of the time. When Google Maps was cited for the electrician, 7%. (Named or not)

How we collected this

The short answer: every day, the same buying questions, five AI systems, and every link the answers cited.

LLM Visibility Lens, our tracker, asks each business's buying questions every morning from the business's own area, logged out. It asks in ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, and records every website each answer links to and which businesses it names.

This article covers three businesses with 17 tracked questions each:

• Kato Electrical, a Vancouver-area electrician and our public demo.
• A Massachusetts roofer (anonymous).
• A Miami dental training institute (anonymous). Its questions come from dentists looking for implant and aesthetic courses, so its sources are those a dentist sees, not a patient.

The counts below are the number of AI answers that cited each site between 30 September and 20 October 2026. We leave out the businesses' own websites and competitors' websites; those are covered in which websites ChatGPT trusts. The charts also leave out booking pages, utilities and store pages, which we mention in the text.

What this can't tell you. It's three businesses in three markets, not a survey of every trade. A directory that matters in Vancouver may not matter in Texas. It also doesn't cover dentists who see patients, or lawyers. We've started a separate study for those and will publish it when it has two full weeks of data.

I sell this tracker, so weigh my view. Kato's numbers can be checked in the demo.

Electricians

The short answer: Canadian home-service directories and "best of" list sites, plus Google's own pages.

BC Hydro, the power utility, also appeared in 138 answers, mostly for outage and safety questions, and Home Depot's store pages in 77 Perplexity answers.

Two things surprised me.

The regulator. ChatGPT linked Technical Safety BC in 58 answers. It reads the licensing body before saying who's qualified. Make sure your licence details there match your business name exactly.

Booking pages. Google's AI Mode linked public booking pages from scheduling apps (Housecall Pro in 82 answers, Jobber in 65). If you use one, its public page is something AI can read, so make sure it shows your full business name and areas.

Angi barely appeared for the electrician: 3 answers. In Canada, HomeStars does that job.

Roofers

The short answer: the big American home-service marketplaces, BBB and Yelp, plus manufacturers' contractor pages.

Yelp's desktop site appeared in another 77 answers.

The manufacturer pages are the hidden gem. AI read GAF in 27 answers and Owens Corning in 12. Both list certified installers. If you're certified, make sure your listing is complete.

There's an oddity worth knowing: Perplexity linked Checkatrade, a UK directory, in 42 answers for a Massachusetts roofer. AI makes mistakes about geography too.

Dental training

The short answer: almost no consumer directories. Professional bodies, the regulator and course listings do the work.

Further down: the University of Florida dental school (70 answers), the Academy of General Dentistry (67), Google Maps (67), CE Broker's course listings (42, Florida's continuing-education tracking system) and the American Dental Association (24, plus its CE and accreditation pages).

For a professional audience, AI goes to the official and professional sources: who's accredited, who counts toward licence renewal, which maker endorses the course. Yelp appeared in 49 answers, but it's not where the decision is made.

This is the pattern I expect for dentists and lawyers who see the public too: a mix of consumer directories and the profession's own registers. The separate study will show how much of each.

Each AI system reads different directories

The short answer: Google's AI reads Google, Gemini reads Maps, and ChatGPT and Perplexity read lists and BBB.

So "get on the right directories" depends on which AI your customers use:

• For Gemini, your Google Business Profile is close to everything.
• For AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google's pages, Yelp and the big marketplaces matter.
• For ChatGPT and Perplexity, BBB and independent "best of" list sites carry more weight.

We compared ChatGPT and Perplexity in detail in Perplexity vs ChatGPT for local businesses, and Google's AI in Google AI Mode for local businesses.

Being listed isn't the same as being named

The short answer: AI often reads a directory and then names someone else from it. What decides it is how strong your profile is there.

The clearest contrast is Google Maps in Gemini:

• The roofer was named in 64% of those answers.
• The electrician was named in 7%.

Same AI system, same kind of source. The difference is how each business's Google profile stacks up in its area for those questions. The electrician is named most for Burnaby and Vancouver; for Coquitlam and Surrey, Gemini reads Maps and names others. We showed the same pattern in Google Business Profile and AI answers.

A listing with few reviews, missing services or the wrong areas mostly helps the competitors listed next to it.

What to do, by trade

Start by finding out which directories AI actually reads for your questions. They're in the links of the answers, and a tracker collects them for you. Then:

1. Electricians and other trades in Canada: complete and maintain your HomeStars profile. Check your BBB listing, Yellow Pages and Google Business Profile. Make sure your licence details at the regulator match your business name exactly, and ask whether you can be considered for the "best of" list sites AI reads in your city.
2. Roofers and other trades in the US: make your Angi/HomeAdvisor, BBB and Yelp profiles as strong as your Google profile. Complete your manufacturer certification listing (GAF, Owens Corning) if you have one.
3. Professional and education services: make sure the association, the regulator and the CE listings describe your offer correctly, and that course pages say plainly what each course covers and whether it counts toward licence renewal.
4. Everyone: use the same name, address, phone number and service list everywhere. Google's guidance on business details in Search is a good checklist. Make sure AI crawlers can reach your own site too (OpenAI's crawler documentation).

More detail on picking actions: how to get recommended by ChatGPT, ChatGPT citations for local businesses and when your own web page helps a competitor.

How to see your own

LLM Visibility Lens shows, for each business, every site AI read and whether those answers named you. It also shows a "sites to get listed on" list that separates directories you can join from competitors' websites you can't. You can see Kato's in the live demo. The free question finder writes the buying questions to track from your website, and plans start free. Agencies can send reports under their own name; see the agency plan.

More reading:

• How to report AI visibility to clients
• Why a single AI visibility score can mislead you
• Invisible on Google, recommended by AI
• 5 AIs, same questions, 1,814 answers
• 5 AI systems, 35 questions
• How to rank in ChatGPT
• Why there's no rank #1 in ChatGPT
• How to rank in AI Overviews
• AI Overview tracking for near me searches
• Spoken questions
• What one free check can and can't do
• We asked AI who to hire 80 times

The method is on the how it works page. There's also a comparison with Semrush's AI visibility tool, the changelog, the FAQ page and the security page. If you'd like me to look at which directories AI reads for your business, get in touch.

Questions people ask

Harjeet Singh Bedi Founder, LLM Visibility Lens · SEO consultant, Bedi SEO

Harjeet has worked in SEO since 2010, first in agencies and now running Bedi SEO for local businesses, online stores and agencies. He built LLM Visibility Lens after clients kept asking whether they showed up in ChatGPT and other AI tools and nobody could give them an honest, measured answer. Every figure in this article comes from answers his tool collected.

Connect with Harjeet on LinkedIn