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The short version
Which AI recommends local businesses most? We asked ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews the same buying questions every day for three weeks, for six real businesses: 7,642 answers in all. "Most" turns out to mean three different things.
- Names any business at all: Perplexity (78% of answers), then ChatGPT (66%). Gemini, AI Mode and AI Overviews named a business in fewer than half. (At all)
- Longest shortlists: Perplexity and ChatGPT, about 3 businesses each time they recommend. AI Overviews, under 2. (Shortlists)
- Names your business: ChatGPT (26%) and AI Overviews (24%). Perplexity, despite naming the most businesses, named the business we were tracking in only 8%. (Your business)
- The winner changes by business. For a Vancouver electrician, Perplexity was best. For a Massachusetts roofer, Perplexity was the worst, at 1%. (By business)
- Online businesses were almost never named by any of them. (Online)
How we compared them
The short answer: the same questions, the same days, the same place, all five AI systems.
Our tracker, LLM Visibility Lens, asks each business's buying questions every morning, logged out, from the business's own area. It records whether each answer names a business, which ones, and whether it names the business we're tracking. This study covers 30 September to 21 October 2026 and six businesses that all five AI systems checked:
- Two local service firms: Kato Electrical (a Vancouver electrician and our public demo) and a Massachusetts roofer.
- A dental training institute in Miami, whose questions come from dentists choosing courses.
- Three online businesses: a mobility equipment store, a sod farm and an industrial software company.
The other businesses stay anonymous. A seventh business, a Florida shower door company, is left out of the comparisons: it isn't checked in Perplexity and had only 20 answers per AI system.
What this can't tell you. Six businesses aren't every market, and the questions were chosen for each business, not for the comparison. Treat the patterns as strong signals. Google AI Overviews only appear on some searches; when Google showed none, we report that separately and don't count it as "not named".
I sell this tracker, so weigh that. Kato's numbers can be checked in the demo.
Which AI names a business at all
The short answer: Perplexity and ChatGPT usually name businesses. Google's AI and Gemini often answer with advice instead.
| AI system | Answers naming at least one business |
|---|---|
| Perplexity | 78% (1,220 of 1,566) |
| ChatGPT | 66% (1,048 of 1,584) |
| Google AI Mode | 48% (766 of 1,580) |
| Gemini | 47% (736 of 1,582) |
| AI Overviews | 44% (581 of 1,330) |
On top of that, Google showed no AI Overview at all on 252 searches, 16% of the total. Counted against every search, AI Overviews named a business only 37% of the time.
Google explains on its page about AI features and your website that AI Overviews only appear when Google thinks they add something. We dug into when that happens in AI Overview tracking for near me searches.
Which AI gives the longest shortlists
The short answer: when they recommend, Perplexity and ChatGPT list about three businesses. AI Overviews list about two.
| AI system | Businesses named per answer (when naming) |
|---|---|
| Perplexity | 3.2 |
| ChatGPT | 3.1 |
| Gemini | 2.4 |
| Google AI Mode | 2.2 |
| AI Overviews | 1.9 |
A longer list sounds like more chances. It isn't always: the list can still leave you off.
Which AI names your business
The short answer: ChatGPT and AI Overviews named the business we were tracking most often. Perplexity named it least.
Across all six businesses:
| AI system | Answers naming the tracked business |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 26% (418 of 1,584) |
| AI Overviews | 24% (321 of 1,330) |
| Gemini | 19% (293 of 1,582) |
| Google AI Mode | 16% (259 of 1,580) |
| Perplexity | 8% (127 of 1,566) |
For the two local service firms only:
- ChatGPT: 36%
- AI Overviews: 35% (when one appeared)
- Google AI Mode: 28%
- Gemini: 19%
- Perplexity: 13%
So Perplexity is the most generous recommender overall and the least likely to name the business we tracked. It casts a wide net, over 3,800 business names in three weeks, mostly other people's. We saw the same pattern in when your own web page helps a competitor: Perplexity often read a business's own site and then named a competitor.
Before publishing, we checked that this wasn't a spelling problem, where Perplexity writes a business's name slightly differently and our tool counts it as someone else. It wasn't: none of the businesses we checked appeared under another spelling in Perplexity's lists.
The best AI depends on the business
The short answer: each business had a different "best" AI system, sometimes by a wide margin.
| AI system | Vancouver electrician (Kato) | Massachusetts roofer | Miami dental training |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 15% | 57% | 40% |
| Gemini | 11% | 27% | 43% |
| Google AI Mode | 23% | 32% | 17% |
| AI Overviews | 11% | 60% | 36% |
| Perplexity | 24% | 1% | 10% |
Look at Perplexity:
- Kato: the best AI system, at 24%.
- The roofer: the worst, at 1% (5 of 357 answers), while ChatGPT named the roofer in 204 of 357.
The roofer's own site was read by Perplexity often. It just didn't say the name. Kato gets named partly because Perplexity reads the directories and "best of" lists where he appears; we listed them in the directories AI reads.
So "which AI should I care about?" has no general answer. It depends on where you're strong, and you only find that out by measuring your own questions.
Online businesses barely get named
The short answer: for the three online businesses, every AI system named them in under 4% of answers.
The AI systems weren't short of recommendations. Perplexity named a business in 71% of answers to the online businesses' questions, and AI Mode in 67%. They just named the big national retailers and specialists instead. Combined:
- ChatGPT: 3.2%
- AI Overviews: 2.5%
- Gemini: 0.6%
- Google AI Mode: 0.2%
- Perplexity: 0%
We looked at why in Invisible on Google, recommended by AI. Some of these businesses even rank well on Google for the same questions.
What this means for where to focus
- Don't pick one AI system on general advice. For two similar local firms, the best AI system was opposite.
- For local service firms, ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews are the most likely to name you, going by our data. Strong listings on the directories they read, and clear service-area pages, help both. See how to get recommended by ChatGPT and how to rank in AI Overviews.
- For Gemini, it's mostly your Google Business Profile. Gemini reads Google Maps more than anything else; see Google Business Profile and AI answers.
- For Perplexity, check the lists and directories it cites. It recommends a lot of businesses, so being on its sources matters more than your own site. Our comparison of Perplexity vs ChatGPT has detail.
- Measure your own questions in all five, daily if you can. Answers change from day to day, so one check proves little; see 5 AIs, same questions, 1,814 answers and SparkToro's research on AI consistency.
How to check your own
Ask your customers' buying questions in each AI system over a couple of weeks. Count how often each one names any business, and how often it names yours. Put the five side by side.
LLM Visibility Lens does this every day and shows each AI system's rate next to the others, with the number of answers behind each figure. The free question finder writes the questions to track from your website, plans start free, and agencies can report under their own name; see the agency plan. You can see Kato's five AI systems side by side in the live demo.
More reading:
- Why a single AI visibility score can mislead you
- How to report AI visibility to clients
- Google AI Mode for local businesses
- 5 AI systems, 35 questions
- Which websites ChatGPT trusts
- ChatGPT citations
- How to rank in ChatGPT
- Why there's no rank #1 in ChatGPT
- 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. OpenAI describes how ChatGPT finds current information in its ChatGPT search announcement. If you'd like me to look at which AI system matters most for your business, get in touch.
Questions people ask
Which AI recommends local businesses the most?
Perplexity named at least one business in 78% of answers in our data, and ChatGPT in 66%. Google AI Mode, Gemini and AI Overviews named a business in under half. But the AI that names businesses most isn't always the one that names yours.
Does ChatGPT recommend local businesses?
Yes. In our data, ChatGPT named at least one business in 66% of answers, usually about three, and named the tracked business in 26% overall and 36% for two local service firms. That was the highest of the five AI systems.
Is Perplexity good for local business visibility?
It varies more than any other AI system. Perplexity named the most businesses overall but the tracked business least: 24% for a Vancouver electrician, 1% for a Massachusetts roofer. It depends on whether you appear on the directories and lists it reads.
Why doesn't Google AI Overviews mention my business?
Often because Google shows no AI Overview for that search; in our data, none appeared on 16% of searches. When one did appear, it named a business in 44% of answers. For local service firms it named the tracked business in 35% of those, the second-best rate.
Which AI should a local business focus on?
The one where you're weakest compared with how often it names businesses in your trade, and you only find that out by measuring. In our data, the best AI system differed for every business: Perplexity for an electrician, AI Overviews for a roofer, Gemini for a dental training institute.
Do AI systems recommend online stores?
Rarely by name, in our data. For three online businesses, every AI system named them in under 4% of answers, while naming other businesses (usually national retailers and big specialists) in 41% to 71%.
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.