Step 1: leave your name out of the question
"Do you recommend Acme Accounting?" is the wrong test. Your name is already in the question, so ChatGPT will talk about you. That shows what it knows about you (and if what it knows is wrong, see what to do when ChatGPT is wrong about your company). It does not show whether it would bring you up when a buyer has never heard of you.
The right test is the buyer's question: "Who are the best accountants for contractors in Leeds?" Read the answer for two things: whether you are in it, and whether you are recommended or only mentioned in passing. If you are absent, you were not recommended in that answer.
The gap between the two is real. One company in SearchIntel Study 02 was named in the engines' own searches on 45 of 88 category questions in its home market. In the neighbouring market it was named once, across 89 questions and five runs of each. Asked about the company directly there, the engine described it accurately. It was known, but almost never named in the engines' own searches for that market's questions.
Step 2: write five questions a buyer would ask
Write them the way a customer would say them, not the way you would search:
- A "best" question: "best [what you sell] for [who buys it]".
- A "who should I use" question, with the place if you sell locally.
- A comparison: "[you] or [a rival], which is better for [need]?" This one does contain your name, so read it for how you are described, not whether you appear.
- A problem question: what sends someone looking for a business like yours.
- A price or trust question: "is [type of service] worth it", "who is reliable for [job]".
Keep the list. You will ask the same five again next month, and the comparison only works if the questions do not change.
Step 3: ask each one more than once
ChatGPT does not give the same answer every time. We run several repetitions of every question on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity for that reason (our methodology). One answer where you are missing is not proof you are never named, and one answer where you appear is not proof you always are.
We have published how much answers move on three other engines (details here). The first travel edition of our tracker used fixed UK travel questions, with data to 28 September 2026. When the same engine was asked the same question at the next capture, the mean overlap between the names in the two answers was 48% for Google AI Overviews (117 pairs), 47% for Google AI Mode (139 pairs) and 55% for Gemini (80 pairs). Periods and answer lengths differ, so that is not a ranking of engines. It shows that answers changed, not why. Those figures are for Google and Gemini, so do not read them across to ChatGPT. Our practice: ask three to five times, in a new chat each time, and count how often you are named. That count has a name: share of AI answers.
Step 4: check the other platforms
ChatGPT is one of six places a buyer might ask. They do not agree with each other. In SearchIntel Study 01, across 100 UK buying questions, only 5.3% of brand recommendations, counted for each question, appeared on all six platforms. The average was 2.26 platforms. ChatGPT and Claude had the lowest overlap of any pair: 22.2% of the names in their answers to the same question were shared.
ChatGPT can also be the hard one. In Study 02, the company above was named 222 times in the engines' own searches in its home market. Claude did 159 of those, Gemini 55 and ChatGPT 8. That is one company in one study, not a rule. It is a reason not to stop at a single platform, in either direction.
Step 5: write down who was named instead
For every answer, note three things: whether you were named, which businesses were named, and which websites ChatGPT linked. Across the 100 UK buying questions in SearchIntel Study 01, ChatGPT averaged 4.6 named brands and 4.0 citations per answer. Record every business named. They may not be the rivals you watch in Google.
Keep the linked websites with the names. They show which sources the answer cites. Working out how those sources shaped the choice takes a closer read. For what to do with that list, see how to check whether competitors appear in AI answers instead of you and why brands go missing from AI answers.
The quick way
Our free AI brand checker runs the questions you give it on five platforms at once. Enter your business name and up to five questions, and leave your name out of the questions. It puts them to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode live and shows which of them named you, and who they named when they did not. It takes about 30 seconds and needs no signup. It is a sample, not an audit: one pass of up to five questions.
What this check does not tell you
- Why. Being absent is a result, not a cause. The causes are a separate job.
- What every customer sees. You are sampling. Wording, location and the day all move the answer.
- Whether it sells. Being named is the first step. This check does not measure visits or enquiries.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just ask ChatGPT whether it recommends my business?
You can, but the answer tests the wrong thing. With your name in the question, ChatGPT describes you. To see whether it recommends you, ask the question a buyer would ask and check whether the answer recommends you or only mentions you.
Is there a free tool to check if ChatGPT recommends my business?
Yes. The free AI brand checker runs up to five of your questions on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode and shows where you were named. No signup.
Does ChatGPT give everyone the same answer?
No. Its answers vary from one run to the next, so we repeat every question. Treat a single answer as one reading.
How often should I check?
Monthly is our working rhythm, with the same questions each time. We compare repeated readings before treating a change as real.