Answers · Updated
Mostly from city "best of" lists and directories it finds through search. In our 2026 Dallas–Fort Worth study, ChatGPT cited outside websites in 109 of 110 local answers, most often directory and review sites such as Birdeye, Bestprosintown, Expertise.com, ThreeBestRated and, for lawyers, Avvo. Those lists are where its answer starts.
When someone asks ChatGPT for the best plumber, dentist or lawyer in a city, it searches the web, reads a handful of pages and writes a short answer naming a few businesses. In our study of 110 of those answers across 12 industries, it linked to outside sources in 109. The most-cited were Birdeye's city directories (26 answers), Bestprosintown and Expertise.com (25 each), ThreeBestRated (19), and DFW Professionals and Avvo (16 each).
That matters for businesses it skips. When we checked the list pages ChatGPT cited against the top-rated businesses it left out, 58% weren't on at least one of those lists, and 39% weren't on any of them. Great reviews on Google Maps don't carry over automatically: ChatGPT's local answers lean on Bing and these third-party lists, not your Google Business Profile.
The practical move is to find out which lists ChatGPT reads for your category and city, check whether you're on them, and get listed with details that match your own website and listings. A free AI visibility report shows the exact answer, who it names, and which lists it used.
See where your business stands
Find out whether ChatGPT and Google's AI name your business for your main service in your city. We work with one business per category in each city.
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