How to check whether AI assistants recommend your business.

The do-it-yourself check

The check is simple: ask each assistant the questions a customer would ask, without naming your business, and record whether you are mentioned. Asking "what do you know about [your business]" tells you something, but not whether you get recommended to a stranger.

1. Open a private or signed-out browser window, so your account history is less likely to shape the answer.
2. Write five to ten questions a real customer asks before they call anyone.
3. Ask each question in ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and Google Search with AI Mode.
4. Record the answers using the sheet below, the same day.
5. Repeat on the same day each month, with the same questions.

The questions to ask

Ask the questions customers ask before they have chosen anyone: the problem, the place, and what they care about. An illustration for a heating company in one town, not a tested list:

• "Who repairs furnaces in [town]?"
• "My furnace is blowing cold air. Who can come out today near [town]?"
• "Which heating companies near [town] offer maintenance plans?"
• "Is it worth repairing a 15-year-old furnace or replacing it?"

The last one is a question with no business in it. It matters anyway: if an assistant answers it using your page as a source, that is visibility too. Include one or two questions like it.

Phrase the questions the way people talk, not the way you write ads. Customers say "my AC is making a grinding noise", not "HVAC repair services". If you are unsure what they say, read the words in your last twenty inquiries and borrow them. The closer the question is to a real one, the more the answer tells you.

What to record

Record who was named, where you appeared, and which sources the assistant cited, because the sources tell you what to fix. A simple sheet with one row per question per assistant is enough.

• Date, assistant and question. Exactly as asked.
• Businesses named, in order. Note whether you are in the list at all.
• Sources cited. Perplexity says each answer includes numbered citations linking to the original sources^[1]. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode surface relevant links^[2]. Write the sites down.
• Anything wrong. Old hours, a closed location, a service you do not offer. Those are fixes on your own listings.

After three months, look at the sources column. If the same directory, review site or article keeps appearing, that is where your presence matters most.

Why the answers vary

Answers vary because some assistants look things up at the moment you ask and then write the answer from what they find. Perplexity, for example, describes searching the internet in real time and then summarizing what it finds^[1]. A different moment can mean different pages found and a different answer written.

That is why one check is a snapshot, not a verdict. Look for patterns across months and across assistants, not a single result.

For Google specifically, there is no special trick. Google's guidance says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary^[2]. To be eligible as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet^[2]. Ordinary, sound search practice is the foundation.

Where ongoing tracking fits

Ongoing tracking fits once the manual check has shown you which questions matter and you want them checked more often than you can do by hand. Until then, the spreadsheet is enough.

Tracking software automates the same check. Ranked.ai is one way to do it: its plans list AI prompts tracked and daily rank tracking that covers desktop, mobile, maps and AI Mode^[3]. Its site describes a managed SEO service as well as software, so read what each plan includes before you choose.

Whichever way you track, keep your own monthly sheet of the questions that matter. A tool tells you what changed; it does not decide which questions are worth winning.

What nobody can promise

Nobody can promise that an AI assistant will recommend your business. The assistants decide what to say, and they change how they decide. Anyone selling a sure placement is selling something they do not control.

What you can do is make your business easy to find and easy to quote: accurate listings, honest reviews, and pages that answer real questions plainly. Be wary of any report that offers a single screenshot as proof, in either direction. One answer on one day proves very little. That work, and a monthly check like the one above, is what our Presence pillar covers. Reviews are part of it; see how to ask customers for Google reviews.

Related

• Presence: be found
• How to ask customers for Google reviews, the right way.
• Plain answers.

Sources

1. Perplexity Help Center, How does Perplexity work?. https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10352895-how-does-perplexity-work, accessed November 1, 2026.
2. Google Search Central, AI features and your website. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features?hl=en, accessed November 1, 2026.
3. Ranked.ai, Ranked AI: AI SEO Service and Software. https://www.ranked.ai/, accessed November 1, 2026.

Researched and drafted with AI from the sources listed. Reviewed and approved by Marcus Barber before publishing.

Digital Solomon runs GoHighLevel, Pabbly Connect and Ranked.ai in its own work. They are the only tools these guides name. This page has no affiliate links.