Invisible on Google, recommended by AI (and the reverse)

The short version

We compared Google's top 10 and AI answers on the same 67 buying questions, for five real businesses, over the same days. The two lined up far less than most people assume.

• 16 questions: named by AI, not in Google's top 10. A Vancouver electrician was never in Google's top 10 for "best electrician in Burnaby BC", yet ChatGPT named him in 12 of 12 answers. (AI only)
• 5 questions: in Google's top 10, ignored by AI. All five belonged to the two online stores. One ranked around position 2 for a lift-chair question and was named in 0 of 57 AI answers. (Google only)
• 18 in both, and 28 in neither. (The four groups)
• Ranking helps, but less than you'd think. Businesses in Google's top 3 were named in 33% of AI answers; those never in the top 10, in 9%. (By position)
• Local service firms and online stores split in opposite directions. (By business)

I've done Google SEO since 2010, and for most of that time "rank well" was the whole job. Now customers also ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. So I wanted to know: if you rank on Google, does AI recommend you too? And if AI recommends you, do you need to rank?

How we compared Google and AI

The short answer: for each question, we put the business's Google position next to how often five AI systems named it, over the same days.

Our tool, LLM Visibility Lens, asks each business's buying questions every morning from the business's own city. It asks in ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, and records whether each answer names the business. Since early October it also records where the business's own website appears in Google's normal results for the same question.

This study covers five businesses with at least eight days of data, 67 questions in all:

• Kato Electrical, a Vancouver-area electrician and our public demo
• a Massachusetts roofer
• a Florida dental training institute
• an online mobility store
• an online sod farm

Google positions cover 4 to 13 October 2026; the AI answers cover 2 to 13 October.

To keep it simple, each question falls into one of four groups:

• "On Google" means the business's site was in Google's top 10 on at least 3 of the roughly 10 days measured.
• "Named by AI" means the business was named in at least 20% of the answers across all five AI systems.

What this comparison can't tell you. The Google position is for the exact question as typed, from the business's city, and covers the normal top 10 results only. It doesn't include the map pack, where local businesses often appear for short searches. It's five businesses over about ten days of Google data, so treat the patterns as strong signals, not laws. The method is on the how it works page.

I sell this tracker, so weigh my view accordingly. Kato's numbers are all visible in the demo.

The four groups

The short answer: Google and AI agreed on 46 of the 67 questions (18 both, 28 neither) and disagreed on 21.

The disagreements are the interesting part. They run in opposite directions for different kinds of business.

Named by AI but not on Google

The short answer: AI recommended local service businesses on plenty of questions where their websites weren't in Google's top 10.

"Best electrician in Burnaby BC." Kato's site was not in Google's top 10 on any day we measured. Yet AI named him in 29 of 50 answers:

• ChatGPT: 12 of 12
• Google AI Mode: 10 of 12

On a short local search like this, Google usually shows a map pack, and the AI answers drew on list sites, directories and Google's own local data. We traced exactly which sources in Google Business Profile and AI answers.

The roofer. Twelve of its 17 questions fell in this group. Some examples:

• "Is there a roofing company in Andover Massachusetts that can come out today to look at storm damage on my roof": never in Google's top 10, but ChatGPT named the roofer in 11 of 11 answers.
• "Who removes ice dams from roofs in Andover MA": never in the top 10, but AI Overviews named it in 10 of 11.
• "Who fixes leaking roofs in Andover Massachusetts": in the top 10 on only 2 days, but named in 28 of 52 AI answers, including 8 of 8 AI Overviews.

The pattern: for local services, AI answers lean on sources that aren't Google's top 10. Those are directories, "best of" lists, booking pages, the business's own pages and Google's local data. We broke those down in which websites ChatGPT trusts.

On Google but ignored by AI

The short answer: the online stores ranked well on Google for some questions and were almost never named by AI.

• The mobility store, lift-chair question. For "What is the best lift recliner chair I can order online for my dad…", its site averaged about position 2 on the 4 days it ranked. AI named it in 0 of 57 answers.
• The mobility store, travel scooters. For a question about foldable scooters for cruise and airline travel, it was in Google's top 10 on 8 days, averaging position 3. AI named it in 3 of 60 answers.
• The sod farm. For "which online sod farm sells grass varieties suited for the Deep South", it averaged position 2 on 5 days. AI named it in 0 of 54 answers.

What did AI recommend instead? For shopping questions, the big names: national retailers and the largest specialist stores. We saw Home Depot and Lowe's dominate the sod answers, and a handful of big mobility retailers dominate the scooter answers, in 5 AI systems, 35 questions.

A Google ranking often comes from one helpful page, such as a buying guide or a blog post. An AI recommendation comes from the business being known for that product across many sites. One good page can rank. It rarely makes you the AI's pick on its own.

Does a higher Google ranking help?

The short answer: yes, a bit. Never ranking hurts much more than ranking third instead of first helps.

The big drop is between "sometimes in the top 10" and "never". Being in the top 3 rather than further down made only a few points' difference.

Treat even this with care. The top-3 group is mostly the dental institute's questions, and the "never" group includes most of the online stores' questions. Part of the gap is the type of business, not just the ranking.

There's a reason Google's two AI features, AI Mode and AI Overviews, don't simply copy the top 10. Google's page on AI features and your website explains that they can run several related searches behind the scenes ("query fan-out") and draw on a wider set of pages. ChatGPT and Perplexity don't use Google's ranking at all: ChatGPT never linked to Google once in our Burnaby study, and OpenAI's crawler documentation describes its own search crawler.

Local services vs online stores

The short answer: local service firms were often named by AI without ranking, and online stores ranked without being named.

• The roofer is the clearest "AI only" case. It's well known locally, appears on the directories and list sites AI reads, and AI named it on all 17 of its questions, whether or not its site ranked.
• The dental institute is the clearest "both" case. It has a specialised offer in one city, and both Google and AI found it.
• The electrician is mostly "neither". His strength is Vancouver and Burnaby; his Coquitlam, Surrey and Squamish questions show nothing on either side. See We asked AI who to hire 80 times.
• The online stores never made it into AI answers, even where they ranked.

What to do in each group

Start by finding out which group each of your questions is in. Then each group has its own job.

1. Both: protect it. Keep the page fresh and keep your listings current, and watch both numbers. They can drift apart.
2. Google only: turn the ranking into a recommendation. Your page ranks, but AI names others. Make the page say clearly who you are, what you sell and why you're a good pick, in the first lines (see when your own page helps a competitor). Then get onto the comparison articles, review sites and "best of" lists AI cites for that product. For online stores, that means earning mentions in independent reviews and buying guides; one good blog post isn't enough.
3. AI only: don't assume Google will follow. AI already recommends you, which is valuable. But many customers still search Google, and for short local searches the map pack decides. Keep your Google Business Profile strong and build pages that can rank.
4. Neither: start with the open doors. If AI names nobody for that question, write the page that answers it outright. If it names a competitor, look at what it read. See how to get recommended by ChatGPT.

In every group, make sure AI can read your site: allow OpenAI's search crawler, and submit your sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools.

How to see your own

Look up where your site ranks on Google for each of your customers' buying questions. Then ask the same questions in each AI system over a couple of weeks and note whether you're named. Put the two side by side and sort each question into the four groups.

LLM Visibility Lens does this automatically. It records your Google position for every tracked question next to each AI system's named rate (Starter plan and up). On Pro and Agency, it sends a gap alert when you rank on Google but AI never names you, which is the "Google only" group above. The plans start free, and agencies can send reports under their own name; see the agency plan. You can see the electrician's numbers in the live demo.

More reading:

• same question, different AI answers
• Google AI Mode for local businesses
• AI Overview tracking for near me searches
• how to rank in AI Overviews
• how to rank in ChatGPT
• ChatGPT citations
• Perplexity vs ChatGPT
• spoken questions
• why there's no rank #1 in ChatGPT
• what one free check can and can't do

There's also a plain comparison with Semrush's AI visibility tool, the changelog, the FAQ page and the security page. If you'd like me to sort your own questions into these four groups, 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