How do I check what AI says about my business?
By Citeon · Published
Ask it the way a customer would, on more than one AI, more than once. Ask three kinds of question: what your business is, who is best at what you do in your area, and how you compare with a named competitor. Use a private window so your own history does not steer the answer, write down which businesses are named, what is said about you and which sources are cited, and repeat it every few weeks, because the answers change.
1. Ask the three questions that matter
By name: "What is [your business] ([your website])? What do they do and who are they for?" This shows whether the AI knows you at all, and whether what it says is right.
By need: "Who is the best [what you do] in [your area]?" This is the question that wins or loses customers, because it is how people ask for a recommendation.
By comparison: "[Your business] or [a competitor]: which is better for [a common need]?" This shows how you are positioned when someone is already deciding.
2. Ask more than one AI
ChatGPT, Gemini, Google's AI Overviews, Perplexity and Claude each search and decide in their own way, so they often name different businesses for the same question. Your customers do not all use the same one, so checking only one tells you about only one.
3. Keep the test fair
Use a private or incognito window, signed out where you can, so your previous chats and saved preferences do not shape the answer. Use the same wording each time. For local businesses, the area matters: say the suburb or city in the question rather than relying on where the AI thinks you are.
Ask each question two or three times. If you are named every time, that is a real result. If you are named once in three, you are on the edge.
4. Write down what you see
For each answer, note: were you named, and where in the list; what it said about you, and whether that is accurate; which other businesses were named; and which sources it cited, if it shows them. The sources are often the most useful part, because they show where the AI is getting its picture of your market.
5. What each result means
It has never heard of you: there is too little about you on the web, or it cannot read your site. Start with why ChatGPT doesn't know your business.
It describes someone else: another business with a similar name is being mixed up with yours. Use the same name, description and links everywhere you are listed, and say plainly on your About page who you are.
It knows you but recommends competitors: see why AI recommends competitors, and how to get recommended by ChatGPT.
6. Make it a habit, or let something else do it
Doing this by hand for a handful of questions once a month is worthwhile and costs nothing. Doing it every week, across several AIs and every question that matters to you, is where it becomes a job.
That job is what Citeon does: it asks the major AI engines your customers' questions every week, keeps every answer, shows what each one says about you by name, and tracks who gets named instead of you. You can run a free check to see one question answered by several AIs in about a minute.
Common questions
Why does my friend get a different answer from me?
AI answers are generated fresh each time and can depend on the wording, where the AI thinks you are, whether you are signed in, what it remembers from earlier chats, and plain chance. That is why one answer on one day proves very little, and why a fair test asks the same question several times in a private window.
Will asking ChatGPT about my business change what it tells other people?
Not in any way you can see or rely on. Your own questions do not move your business up in other people's answers. What changes those answers is what is publicly readable about you on the web.
How often should I check?
Monthly at the very least, and weekly if your market is competitive or you are actively changing your website. AI answers shift as the engines update and as competitors publish new pages.
Which AI should I check first?
Start with the ones your customers are most likely to use: usually ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and Gemini, then Perplexity and Claude. They search and decide differently, so being named by one says little about the others.
See which prompts your competitors win.
Start with a 7-day free trial. Cancel any time before it ends and you pay nothing.