How to check what ChatGPT says about your business

Before you start: set up a fair test

AI tools personalise their answers. If you have chatted with ChatGPT about your own business before, it may be more likely to mention you. To see what a new customer sees:

• Use a private or incognito window, or log out first.
• Check from the country your customers are in, if you can. Location changes the answer.
• Keep a simple spreadsheet with columns for the date, the AI tool, the question, the answer and your notes.

Then test each of the main tools: ChatGPT, Gemini (and the AI summary in Google Search), Perplexity and Claude.

Step 1: Write the questions your customers ask

Think about how a customer would ask for help, not how you describe yourself. Write down five to ten questions, for example:

• “Who is the best accountant for a small company in Malta?”
• “Which hotel in St Julian’s is good for families?”
• “Which estate agent should I use to sell my flat?”

Include the place and the type of customer where it matters. These are your discovery questions: they do not mention your business by name.

Step 2: Ask without naming your business

Ask each tool your discovery questions, one at a time, in a fresh chat. For each answer, note:

1. Are you mentioned at all?
2. Where? First, in the middle, or as an afterthought.
3. Which competitors are named?
4. Is your website linked? Some tools show the sources they used.

This is the most important test. It shows whether AI recommends you when a customer has never heard of you.

Step 3: Ask about your business by name

Now ask questions that name you directly:

• “What does [your business] offer, and how do I contact them?”
• “Is [your business] a good choice for [what you do] in [your area]?”
• “How does [your business] compare with other [businesses like yours] in [your area]?”

Check every fact against reality: your address, opening hours, prices, services, people and how long you have been around. Note anything that is wrong, out of date or missing.

Step 4: Look for patterns, not one-offs

AI answers change from one day to the next. A single answer can be a fluke. Repeat your questions on two or three different days and look at what keeps coming up.

A simple way to summarise it:

What to count	How to work it out
How often you are mentioned	Answers that name you, out of all your discovery answers
How often your site is linked	Answers that link to your website, out of the same total
Who you are up against	The competitors named most often
Mistakes	Each wrong fact, and which tool said it

Step 5: Find out where the mistakes come from

AI tools repeat what they read. When you find a mistake, search for that wrong detail online. It often turns up on:

• An old directory listing or business profile
• Your Google Business Profile
• A review site, such as TripAdvisor or Trustpilot
• An old page on your own website that is still live
• A news article or forum post from years ago

Fixing the source, then waiting for AI tools to pick up the change, is usually what corrects the answer.

Step 6: Decide what to do next

Your results usually point to one of three situations:

1. You are recommended and described correctly. Keep checking monthly, and keep your information up to date.
2. You are mentioned, but with mistakes. Fix the sources first. This is often the quickest win.
3. You are not mentioned at all. You need clearer information about what you do, more trusted mentions elsewhere, and content that answers your customers’ questions.

If you would rather have the full picture, with every answer saved as evidence, a comparison with your competitors and a plan to fix it, that is exactly what our AI Visibility Audit does.