Does ChatGPT Recommend Your Business? Check It...

More of your customers now start the same way: they open ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google's AI Overview and ask, "Who should I call for this near me?" The assistant answers with two or three names. If yours is not one of them, that customer may never reach your website at all.

Most small business owners have never seen those answers. A few websites will check them for you: they send your business name to the AI companies through paid connections on their own servers and show you what comes back. You do not need that. You can ask the same questions yourself, in the assistant you already use, and see exactly what a customer sees. It takes about 20 minutes, and you keep the full answer with its sources.

This is the prompt we now run in our own website audits, and how to read what comes back.

Why running it yourself is better

When you run the check in your own ChatGPT or Perplexity, you get the answer a real person gets, from your area, through the same app your customers use. A check run through a paid connection on someone else's server usually gets a more generic answer, without your area or the app's own search settings.

It is also free, and you can run it as often as you like. Run it today, fix a few things, run it again in a month, and compare. That before and after is worth more than any score.

What you need

An AI assistant that can search the web. ChatGPT with search turned on, Claude with web search turned on, Perplexity, Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot all work, and a free account is enough for most of them.
Five facts about your business: its name, its website, what it sells, where it sells, and, if you like, two or three competitors you already know.
A private browser window for the Google and Maps check at the end.

Only public facts go into the prompt. Never paste customer names, invoices, client or patient details, or passwords into an AI assistant.

The fastest way: fill in the form

Go to the AI visibility prompt page. Type your business name, website, what you sell and where, choose whether your customers are local, in a region or anywhere in the country, and pick the assistant you will use. Press Write my prompt. The page writes the full prompt with your details in it, gives you a Copy button and a link that opens a new chat in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity or Copilot, and shows the settings to choose in that assistant.

Nothing you type leaves the page. It sends nothing and saves nothing; you copy the prompt and paste it yourself.

You can also open the page with details already filled in, which is handy if you help other businesses. This link fills in the made up example used below and picks Claude:

https://jwatte.com/tools/ai-visibility-prompt/?business=Example%20Foundation%20Co.&city=Burleson&state=TX&reach=local&towns=Crowley,Joshua,Mansfield&assistant=claude

Open that example to see it. The page only fills fields that are empty, only with values that make sense, and tells you what it filled. The short address jwatte.com/visibility opens the same page.

The prompt, if you would rather copy it by hand

Copy this into a new chat. Replace every part in square brackets with your own details, and delete the service area options that do not apply. The same text lives at jwatte.com/tools/ai-visibility-prompt/prompt.txt if you want to link to it or save it.

You are helping a business owner see how customers find businesses like theirs today. Use live web search for every step. Do not answer from memory. If you cannot search the web right now, reply only "I can't search the web right now" and stop.

Business: [BUSINESS NAME]
Website: [WEBSITE ADDRESS]
What it sells: [MAIN SERVICES OR PRODUCTS, separated by commas]
Where it sells: [CITY, STATE]
Service area: [LOCAL: these nearby towns: TOWN, TOWN, TOWN] [REGIONAL: STATE OR METRO AREA] [NATIONAL: customers anywhere in the country]
Competitors I already know (optional): [NAME, NAME]

Step 1. The searches real customers use.
List 20 searches someone would type into Google or ask an AI assistant when they need what this business sells. Mix these kinds:
- ready to buy: "[service] near me", "[service] in [city]", "[service] [nearby town]"
- comparing: "best [service] in [city]", "[business] reviews", "[business] vs [competitor]"
- cost and questions: "how much does [service] cost in [state]", "do I need [service] if ..."
- for a regional or national service area, searches without a city: "[service] for [type of customer]", "best [category] companies"
Use the business's own wording from its website where it fits. Label each search with its intent (buying, comparing or learning) and its reach (local or national). Do not give search volumes; you cannot measure them.

Step 2. Who shows up.
Search the web for the 10 searches from Step 1 most likely to bring a paying customer. For each one, list the first businesses or websites that come up (up to 5, with links) and say whether [BUSINESS NAME] is:
- named (listed or recommended by name),
- cited only (its website is used as a source, but the business is not named), or
- not mentioned.

Step 3. Answer as you would answer a customer.
Answer each question below as if a customer had asked you, using web search, and show your sources:
a) "Who would you recommend for [MAIN SERVICE] in [CITY, STATE]?" (for a national service area: "Who are the best [CATEGORY] companies for [TYPE OF CUSTOMER]?")
b) "Is [BUSINESS NAME] a good choice for [MAIN SERVICE]? What do customers say about them?"
c) "What does [MAIN SERVICE] cost at [BUSINESS NAME], and how does that compare with others?"
For each answer, say whether [BUSINESS NAME] was named, cited only or not mentioned, and who you recommended instead.

Step 4. Where your answers came from.
List every website you relied on in Steps 2 and 3 (directories, review sites, news, "best of" lists, competitors' own pages), how many times you used each one, and whether [BUSINESS NAME] has a listing or mention there. Check each one; write "not checked" if you could not.

Step 5. A plain summary for the owner.
- A table: search | intent | reach | [BUSINESS NAME] named, cited only or not mentioned | who showed up instead
- The 5 searches where the business is missing but should appear, and the page, listing or profile change most likely to fix each one
- Any facts about the business that sources got wrong or disagree on (name, address, phone, hours, services, prices, owner)
- What you could not check

Rules: report only what you found in this search session, with links. If two sources disagree, say so. Say today's date and, if you know it, the location the search ran from. Do not guess.

Here is what the top of it looks like filled in for a made up example, a family foundation repair company in a suburb south of Fort Worth:

Business: Example Foundation Co.
Website: examplefoundation.example
What it sells: foundation repair, pier and beam repair, drainage correction
Where it sells: Burleson, TX
Service area: LOCAL: these nearby towns: Crowley, Joshua, Mansfield, Cleburne
Competitors I already know (optional): (left blank)

Where to paste it, and which settings to use

Checked October 28, 2026. These menus change every few months. If yours look different, pick the strongest model your plan offers, a middle or high thinking level, and make sure web search is on. Either way, the answer must show links; if it has none, the assistant did not search.

ChatGPT. Open a new chat at chatgpt.com or in the ChatGPT app and paste the prompt. Choose GPT-6 if your plan shows it, then set Thinking to High. Medium is fine if you are in a hurry; Extra High is slower and rarely helps with this check. On a Free or Go account, turn on Think. ChatGPT searches on its own when a question needs it, and the prompt tells it to; if you see a Search option (a globe icon or an item in the + menu), turn it on. Expect two to five minutes.

Claude. Open a new chat at claude.ai or in the Claude app and paste the prompt. In the menu next to the send button, choose Opus 5.5 if your plan has it, otherwise Sonnet 5.5, and under Effort choose High. Thinking stays on for these models. For web search, click + at the lower left of the message box and choose Web search; a checkmark shows it is on. In the newer Claude layout there is no switch and Claude searches when it helps. On Team and Enterprise plans an administrator has to allow web search first. Expect two to five minutes.

Gemini. Open a new chat at gemini.google.com or in the Gemini app and paste the prompt. Choose Pro if your plan offers it, with the highest thinking level shown. Free accounts may only get a lighter model; it still works, with shorter answers. Deep Think is not needed for this check. Gemini uses Google Search on its own; if you see a Search Google option in the message box, leave it on. Expect one to three minutes.

Perplexity and Copilot. Both search the web by default. In Perplexity, a Pro account can choose its strongest model; the default works too. In Copilot, use its deeper thinking option if it offers one.

Why these settings. The lowest settings tend to search less and return short lists, which hides who is really being recommended. The highest settings take much longer and rarely change the answer for this check. A middle or high setting is the right trade.

Then:

Check that the answer has links. If it has none, ask the assistant to "search the web and show your sources", or try another assistant.
Save the whole answer with the date and the assistant's name. Copy it into a document, or use the assistant's share button.
Run the same prompt in a second assistant. ChatGPT and Gemini often disagree, and your customers use both.
Run it again in four weeks, in the same assistants, and compare the two answers side by side.

Reading the answers

Each search ends up in one of three places.

Named. The assistant listed or recommended you by name. That is the goal. Note which sources it gave, because those are the sites keeping you there.

Cited only. The assistant read your website to write its answer but recommended someone else. This is more common than you would think, and it is the easiest gap to close. Your site is useful to the assistant; it just trusts other sources more when it recommends someone. Reviews and listings usually fix it, not a new website.

Not mentioned. You were not in the answer at all. Look at who was, and at Step 4, where the assistant lists the sites it relied on. Every directory, review site or "best of" list where your competitors appear and you do not is a to-do item.

Pay close attention to the wrong facts in Step 5. An old phone number, a former address or hours from three years ago are exactly what a customer will see, and they usually come from old directory listings you forgot about.

The Google and Maps check, by hand

AI answers are only half of it. Google still sends most local customers, and you can check your positions without any tool.

Open a private (incognito) window, so your own search history does not change the results.
Search from your area if you can. If you are somewhere else, add the town to each search, like "foundation repair Burleson TX". A national business can search as it is.
Search the 10 searches from Step 2 of the prompt. For each one, write down your place in the map list, your place among the regular results on the first page, and whether Google's AI Overview at the top names you. Skip anything marked "Sponsored" when you count, since those are ads.
For your two most important searches, open Google Maps, search the same words, and note the star rating and review count for you and for the three businesses above you.

Positions shift with the searcher's location and history, so treat what you find as a snapshot, not a permanent rank.

Turning what you find into fixes

Scroll to compare columns and rows when the table extends beyond the box.

What you see	What it usually means	What to do
Not mentioned for "[service] in [your town]"	No page or profile clearly says you offer that service in that town	Add a real page for that service and for each main town you serve, with local jobs, photos and reviews. Add the service and the towns to your Google Business Profile
Cited only, never named	The assistant reads your site but trusts other sources to recommend	Get listed and reviewed on the directories and review sites from Step 4. Ask happy customers for reviews that mention the service and the town
A competitor named every time	They appear on more of the sites assistants rely on	Every site in Step 4 where they are listed and you are not is a to-do item
Wrong facts about you	Old listings disagree with your website	Fix the listings first, then make your site, your Google profile and every directory say the same thing
Strong on Maps, missing from the web results	Your Google profile is doing the work and your website is not	Add service and town pages, and make each page title say the service and the town
Strong on the web, weak on Maps	The Google profile is thin	Finish the profile: categories, services, hours, photos, and replies to every review

Work through it in this order:

Wrong facts about you, from Step 5 of the answer. Old phone numbers and addresses usually come from directory listings you forgot about.
Missing listings on the sites the assistant relied on, from Step 4.
A real page for each service and town you were missing from, from Step 2.
Reviews that mention the service and the town. Ask recent customers, and reply to every review.

The first two take an afternoon and change what assistants say faster than anything else.

The second prompt: turn the answer into a change plan

When the first answer comes back, the page also gives you a second prompt. Paste it into the same chat, so the assistant still has the searches, the competitors and the sources it just found. It reads your website (the home page, every service page, the about and contact pages, and any town pages), compares that with what it found, and writes a plan in four parts:

Part A, what your website says today: the services and towns it names, every phone number on every page (and whether they match), your hours, whether it shows prices and reviews, and whether each form says where the information goes.
Part B, the fixes in order: facts that disagree, your Google Business Profile, listings, pages to add for the searches you were missing from, a review request you can text to customers, one block of structured data, a short facts list for AI assistants, your forms, and prices.
Part C, a one page plan for this week, the next 30 days and the next 90 days, with who usually does each item and how to check it worked.
Part D, numbered instructions for whoever edits your website, with the exact text to paste and where it goes in your website builder.

We built it from what turns up most often in our own audits of 43 small and mid sized businesses. Forms that never say where your details go came up on 41 of them. A phone number, address or hours that disagree between the website, Google and the directories came up on 34. No page for a service or a town customers search for, on 26. No prices or price ranges, on 24.

The prompt tells the assistant not to invent anything. Where it needs a fact it does not have, like a license number or the year you opened, it writes [CONFIRM] and what you need to check. Fill in every one before anything goes live. It will not suggest paying for reviews or screening out unhappy customers, and it treats legal and privacy rules as questions for your lawyer.

Read Part C first; it is the plan. Hand Part D to whoever edits your site. The plain text copy is at prompt-2.txt.

A few honest limits

AI assistants make mistakes, even with search turned on. The prompt asks for links on every claim so you can check them yourself. Treat anything without a link as a guess.

Nobody outside Google and the AI companies knows exactly how many people type a given search. The prompt tells the assistant not to invent those numbers, and you should be wary of any tool that shows them to you with confidence.

And one run is one day's answer. The value is in running it again after you make changes and seeing the difference.

If you want it filled in for you

Our Mega Analyzer now builds this prompt from a scan of your site. It reads your business name, services and location from your own pages and leaves a bracket wherever it cannot find something, rather than guessing. It also gives you a link that opens the prompt page with those details filled in. You still run the prompt yourself, in your own assistant, so nothing about the answer passes through us. The same scan lists what on your own pages needs to change, and its fix prompt can write those changes for whoever maintains your site. On the scan's card, the second prompt also ends with the top things the scan found on your pages, each with the check it came from, so the assistant can confirm them and fold them into the plan.

If you work with small businesses, run it with them before you suggest any changes. Showing an owner the moment ChatGPT recommends their competitor, and the two directories it read to decide, explains the work better than any proposal.

Does ChatGPT Recommend Your Business? A Free Check You Can Run Yourself