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Does ChatGPT recommend my business? How to check

To check whether ChatGPT recommends your business, ask it 10 to 25 questions your buyers would ask, at least three times each in a fresh chat, and log whether it names you and whether it links to your site. ChatGPT doesn't send business owners a report of this, so you have to measure it yourself.

Below is that method step by step, what it found when we ran it on ourselves, and what to fix if you don't show up.

Decide what you're checking

"Recommends" can mean three different things, and it helps to track them separately.

  • Mentioned: the answer names your business.
  • Cited: the answer links to a page on your website as a source.
  • Described correctly: what the answer says about you is true.

An answer can name you and link only to a review site. It can also cite your page without naming you, or name you and get your prices wrong. Each of those has a different fix.

How to check by hand, step by step

1. Write 10 to 25 buyer questions. Use two kinds. Questions that use your name, like "What is [your business] and is it any good?" or "How much does [your business] cost?" And questions that don't, like "Best [your category] for small businesses" or "Most affordable [your category]." The second kind is where new customers come from, because they don't know your name yet.

2. Start from a clean session. Use a new chat, with memory and custom instructions off if you can, so your earlier conversations don't color the answer.

3. Ask each question at least three times. Answers change from run to run. One run that names you, or one that doesn't, proves very little.

4. Record five things for every answer. Were you named? Was your site linked? Which other URLs were cited? Which competitors were named? Did it say anything wrong about you?

5. Put it in a spreadsheet. One row per answer. Then count: how many answers named you, how many cited you, and which domains were cited most.

6. Repeat in Perplexity and any other assistant your buyers use, then do the whole thing again next month with the same questions so you can compare.

What we found when we checked ourselves

We ran this test on our own previous domain, showsupin.com, on October 15, 2026. The domain was one day old. We used 25 questions, each asked 3 times on each engine, through the OpenAI API with web search and the Perplexity API, for 150 answers. The site scored 0 out of 100.

  • 0 of 150 answers mentioned us, and 0 cited a page on our domain.
  • For the 14 questions that didn't use our name (84 answers), at least one of the three competitors we tracked was named in 49 answers.
  • For the 11 questions that did use our name (66 answers), 28 answers brought up a different product, ShowUpInAI. 16 answered as if we were it, and 12 asked whether we meant it. One answer opened with: "Do you mean ShowUpInAI (the service at showupinai.com)?"
  • Across all 150 answers, 116 included at least one citation. They made 510 citations to 294 different pages on 199 domains, led by g2.com with 26.

Two lessons came out of it. Our name was too close to an existing product, so we renamed to Answer Checkup. And for category questions the engines were citing review sites and comparison articles, not company homepages.

Limits of checking this way

The app is not the API. Our report measures through the OpenAI API with web search and the Perplexity API. Those approximate what people see in the consumer apps, but they are not identical. Settings, location and the model in use can all change an answer. OpenAI's API, for example, lets a developer pass an approximate user location to refine search results.

Answers move. Asking three times gives you a rate, not a verdict. Small samples swing a lot, so compare month to month with the same questions.

Manual checks take time. Twenty-five questions, three runs and two engines is 150 answers to read and log. That's an afternoon, which is why we automated it.

If you don't show up: what to fix

Work through these in order. The AI SEO guide goes into each one.

  1. Check robots.txt. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Blocking GPTBot is a separate choice that covers training, not search. Perplexity's search crawler is PerplexityBot.
  2. Make sure your facts are in the raw HTML, not only loaded by scripts.
  3. Add structured data (Organization, Product with Offer, FAQPage) that matches what's visible on the page.
  4. Publish an llms.txt that summarizes your business and links to your key pages. It's optional, but it helps agents that look for it.
  5. Answer buyer questions on your site in plain language, with real prices and details.
  6. Get listed and reviewed where the engines look. Check which domains your answers cite and make sure your business is accurately represented there. Only real reviews from real customers.
  7. Use one consistent name everywhere, so the engines don't confuse you with someone else.

For the research behind this list, see our guide to GEO.

FAQ

Can I check whether ChatGPT recommends my business without a tool?
Yes. Write 10 to 25 buyer questions, ask each one at least three times in a fresh chat, and log whether you are named and whether your site is linked.
Why does ChatGPT give a different answer each time I ask?
Answers are generated fresh for each request, and searches can return different pages. That's why a rate across several runs is more useful than a single answer.
If I block GPTBot, will ChatGPT stop mentioning me?
Not by itself. OpenAI documents GPTBot as its training crawler and OAI-SearchBot as the one used for ChatGPT search. Opting out of OAI-SearchBot is what keeps a site out of ChatGPT search answers.
Is a check through the API the same as using the ChatGPT app?
Close, not identical. The API approximates the app, but settings, location and model can differ. Treat API results as a consistent measurement you can repeat, not a screenshot of what every user sees.
How often should I check?
We'd check monthly. Re-check sooner after you change your site, your name or your listings.

Check your own site

Start with the free scan on the Answer Checkup homepage. It checks whether AI crawlers can read your site and whether your key facts, llms.txt and structured data are in place, which are the first things to fix before any answer can mention you.

Answer Checkup is not affiliated with OpenAI, Perplexity or Google.
Contact: [email protected]

Sources

All pages fetched and checked on October 15, 2026.