How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?

Use the customer's words, not your business name. Searching for your own name only tells you ChatGPT knows you exist. The question that matters is the one a stranger asks before they've heard of you: "best plumber in Plano TX", "who is the best divorce lawyer in Frisco", "emergency vet open late in Arlington". Write down two or three of these for your main services.

Ask in a clean session. Logged-in ChatGPT remembers past chats and can lean toward businesses you've mentioned before, so use a private window or a logged-out session, and make sure web search is on (the answer should show links). For Google, open AI Mode (google.com/search?udm=50 followed by your question) rather than relying on whether an AI Overview happens to appear: in our study, AI Overviews didn't trigger on "best [business] in [city]" questions, while AI Mode answered all of them.

Record three things for each answer: whether you were named, the businesses named instead, and the sources linked. The sources are the useful part. In our 2026 Dallas–Fort Worth study ChatGPT cited outside sites in 109 of 110 local answers, mostly city "best of" lists and directories, so the links show you which lists you need to be on.

Check more than once. The answers are written fresh each time, and in our five-week re-check of 57 top-rated businesses neither engine named, 12 were named later by at least one. A free Renownly AI visibility report runs the ChatGPT and Google AI Mode checks for your category and city at once and shows both answers word for word.