How Do I Check What AI Says About My Business?
How do I check what AI says about my business?
You ask it, the same way a customer would, and you write down what comes back.
That is genuinely the whole method. It takes about fifteen minutes and most business owners have never done it, which means most business owners have no idea how they are being described to people who have not met them yet.
Here is the routine we use.
What three questions should I ask?
One, the category question. "Who is the best [what you do] in [your town]?" This tells you whether you appear at all, and more importantly how you get sorted next to your competitors.
Two, the same question in a different tool. Ask it in ChatGPT and in Google's AI answers at minimum. They do not agree with each other and the differences are informative.
Three, the direct question. "Tell me about [your business name]." This one shows you the description a machine has assembled about you specifically, which is usually more revealing than the ranking.
Ask them in a logged out or private browser window. If you are signed in, the tool may be leaning on what it knows about you, and you want to see what a stranger sees.
What should I look for in the answers?
Not your position. Look at the language.
How did it categorize you? This is the big one. Look at how it sorted your competitors, then look at how it sorted you. If everybody else is described by the kind of work they do and you are described by your price, your location, or nothing in particular, that is worth knowing.
Is anything simply wrong? Old prices, a service you stopped offering, a name you no longer use, a location that has changed. Wrong information usually means an outdated source somewhere is outranking your own website.
Where did it get this? Many tools show their sources. Read them. If your own site is not among them, that is the finding.
What did it leave out? Sometimes the most useful thing is noticing that the machine never mentioned the work you most want to be known for. That is not the machine's fault. That usually means the website never made it the clearest thing on the page.
Save the answers in a document with the date on them. You cannot tell whether anything improved if you did not write down where you started, and it is very easy to misremember.
How often should I do this?
Every couple of months. Not weekly.
Machines change their answers on their own schedule and for reasons nobody outside those companies can see. Checking constantly will just make you anxious about movement that has nothing to do with anything you did.
And a word of caution I give clients on the phone. Do not treat any of this as a score. Our own company was described well by an AI answer engine, then dropped out of its answers entirely a couple of months later without us changing a single thing. Nobody can promise you a placement, and we would not try.
What this exercise is genuinely good for is different. It tells you what information exists about your business, how clear it is, and whether the clearest thing is something you chose. That last part you can actually control, and it is worth checking on now and then.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI tools should I check?
ChatGPT and Google's AI answers cover most of what your customers are using. Adding one more is fine. Checking six is not a better use of your morning.
Should I ask the question the way I would say it, or the way a customer would? T
he way a customer would, using the words they use for what you sell. If your customers say "web guy" and you say "digital solutions provider," ask it their way.
What if my business does not come up at all?
Common, especially for newer businesses and in crowded categories. Start with whether your website says clearly what you do and who you serve, because that is usually the gap.
Does asking repeatedly change my results?
No. You are not voting. You are just looking.
What do I do with a wrong answer?
Find the source. Correct it where you can, and make sure your own website states the accurate version plainly. Specificity and repetition are what eventually carry.
Can you run this for us and explain the results?
Yes, and we will tell you straight, including when the honest answer is that you do not have a problem. Call 979-217-1544 or email [email protected].
Tom Bruch has built websites since 1998 and is the owner of Aggieland Website Design.