Free AI Visibility Checker for Local Businesses — Is ChatGPT Recommending You? | LeadLocal SEO
Free tool · runs real AI prompts

AI Visibility Checker: is ChatGPT recommending you — or your competitor?

Your customers now ask ChatGPT and Gemini who to hire. This free AI visibility checker runs the real questions buyers in your industry ask, live, and shows you exactly who the AI recommends. Unlike brand-monitoring tools built for big companies, this one checks the "best [service] near me" questions that decide local buying.

Check my AI visibility

Free instant score — no signup. We ask ChatGPT & Gemini live.

…or see a sample result first
Why this matters

What is AI visibility — and why local businesses can't ignore it

If you've ever wondered "is my business showing up on ChatGPT?" — this page answers it in 60 seconds. AI visibility is whether AI assistants — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews — name your business when someone asks a question you should win. Roughly a third of consumers now use AI search tools, and when an AI answers "who's the best plumber near me," there's no page two: one or two businesses get named, and everyone else is invisible.

Most AI visibility tools are built for big brands tracking mentions across the internet. Local buying works differently — it's "best [service] in [city]," "emergency [service] near me," "most trusted [service]" — so this checker tests exactly those questions for your industry, in your city, on the real engines.

Methodology

How the ChatGPT visibility check works

This is a live check, not a simulation:

The fix side of this is called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — structuring your reviews, content and business data so AI engines choose you. Want the full playbook? Read how to get recommended by ChatGPT.

ChatGPT SEO checker

A ChatGPT SEO checker for the questions that actually drive revenue

Classic SEO checkers grade your website against Google's ranking factors. A ChatGPT SEO checker has to answer a different question: when a buyer asks an AI assistant for a recommendation, do you come up? That depends less on keywords and more on review strength, structured data, quotable content and consistent business information — the signals AI models use to decide who's trustworthy enough to name.

If your check shows you're invisible, that's fixable — and it's precisely what our AI search optimisation service does. It also compounds with local SEO: AI engines lean on the same review and profile signals that drive the Google Map Pack.

The numbers

Why AI visibility matters for local businesses

🤖

~25%

of Google searches now trigger an AI Overview.

🔍

68%

of searches end without a click — the AI answers them, so there's no "page two" to catch you.

💰

~5×

AI-search visitors convert at roughly five times the rate of traditional organic visitors.

🏆

~1%

of businesses are ever named by AI assistants — winner-take-few.

🗣️

~1 in 3

consumers already use AI tools to help choose local services.

📍

One answer

When AI answers "best [service] near me," one or two businesses get named — everyone else is invisible.

How it decides

How AI decides which local business to recommend

AI doesn't rank web pages the way Google does — it synthesises an answer from the sources and signals it trusts. For a local query like "best [service] in [city]," the factors that decide who gets named are:

Here's the useful part: these overlap almost entirely with what drives the Google Map Pack — so fixing your AI visibility lifts your local rankings at the same time.

ChatGPT vs Gemini vs Perplexity vs Google AI Overviews

Not every AI engine picks the same way — but for local, the signals rhyme: ChatGPT leans on authoritative sources and consistent business reputation. Google AI Overviews pull heavily from Reddit, YouTube and your Google Business Profile. Perplexity is citation-first, leaning on Reddit and review sites. Gemini is tied to Google's index and your Business Profile. The takeaway: a complete Google Business Profile, a steady flow of reviews, and third-party mentions move all four.

By industry

AI visibility by industry

The questions change by industry, but the pattern is the same — get named, or be invisible:

Run the checker for your industry above to see the exact questions — and who the AI names.

Common questions

AI visibility, answered.

What is an AI visibility checker?+
An AI visibility checker tests whether AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews mention or recommend your business when people ask relevant questions. This one is built specifically for local businesses: instead of generic brand monitoring, it runs the local buying questions your actual customers ask — "best plumber near me," "most trusted dentist in Vancouver" — and records who the AI names.
How does the ChatGPT visibility check work?+
Enter your business name, city and industry. The tool generates the five most common buying questions for your industry, asks them live on ChatGPT and Gemini, and parses the answers: were you named, and which competitors were recommended instead? You get an instant visibility score, plus the full competitor breakdown in your free report.
Why is my business not showing up in ChatGPT?+
AI assistants recommend businesses they can verify and trust: strong review profiles, consistent business data, structured website content they can quote, and mentions on sources they rely on. If your site has no question-and-answer content, no LocalBusiness or FAQ schema, and your review count trails competitors, AI engines default to naming the businesses with stronger signals.
How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?+
Build the signals AI engines trust: grow review volume and velocity, add LocalBusiness and FAQ structured data, publish question-and-answer content matching what buyers ask, keep your business data consistent everywhere, and make sure AI crawlers aren't blocked. This practice is called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — read our AEO & GEO service page or the full ChatGPT playbook.
Is this AI visibility checker really free?+
Yes. The visibility scan and score are free with no signup. The full report — every competitor the AI named, the actual AI answers, your AEO readiness score and a prioritized fix list — is also free; we just ask for your email to send it.
How do I show up on ChatGPT?+
Build the signals it trusts: a complete Google Business Profile, a steady stream of positive reviews, consistent business information across the web, third-party mentions, and structured, quotable content. Run the checker above to see where you stand, then fix the gaps.
How do I rank on ChatGPT?+
There's no "ranking" on ChatGPT the way there is on Google — ChatGPT recommends businesses it considers trustworthy for a query. The way to get named is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): strong reviews, accurate listings, and content that answers buyer questions clearly.
Does ChatGPT use my Google reviews?+
Yes — reviews (on Google and elsewhere) are one of the strongest signals AI assistants use to decide which local business to recommend. Volume, rating and recency all matter, which is why reviews are a core part of the fix.
Which AI engines matter most for local businesses?+
ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews (and AI Mode), Gemini and Perplexity. The good news: they lean on overlapping signals — reviews, your Google Business Profile, and third-party mentions — so improving those lifts your visibility across all of them.
How is this different from Semrush or Ahrefs' AI checker?+
Those tools are built for big brands tracking mentions across the whole internet. This checker is built for local businesses — it runs the exact "best [service] near me / in [city]" questions your customers ask, live, on the real engines, and shows who gets named in your market.

Built by Michael Coombe, founder of Lead Local SEO — 18 years in digital growth, 1.8M+ leads generated · Last updated July 2026