Free AI Visibility Check: Does ChatGPT Recommend Your Business?

By Leon Harris, Founder & AI Creative Director · Updated October 2026

A customer in Makati asks ChatGPT for the best clinic, salon or restaurant nearby, and your competitor's name comes back instead of yours. You want to be the name it suggests, with the right address, hours and phone number. This article gives you a free 30-minute check: ten questions to copy, a simple scoring sheet and a list of fixes in the right order.

Set up the check (5 minutes)

Write down your exact business name, category, city or barangay, main service, two nearest competitors and three real questions customers ask you. Then make a sheet in Google Sheets or on paper with these columns: Prompt, Tool, Mentioned (Y/N), Recommended (Y/N), Wrong facts, Sources cited, Notes. Use a private or incognito window, signed out if you can, so your own history does not shape the answers. Treat this as a rough check, not a measurement. Answers change with wording, account, location and time, so run each prompt twice and look for the pattern. For background on why customers now ask AI, see how AI search is changing the way customers find you.

The ten prompts

Swap the brackets for your details.

• best [category] in [city or barangay]
• best [category] near [landmark or mall] for [family, budget, etc.]
• recommended [service] in [city] with prices
• is [business name] legit?
• [business name] reviews
• [business name] vs [competitor]
• [business name] contact number, address and opening hours
• saan may magandang [category] sa [city] na affordable?
• legit ba ang [business name]?
• saan ako pwedeng magpa-[service] sa [city] ngayong weekend?

Where to run them

Run the list in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, then type the shorter versions into normal Google. ChatGPT can search the web and link to sources, and free users have access to search; usage limits change, so if no sources appear, type "search the web and show sources". Gemini has a free version with usage limits. When an answer has sources, a Sources button opens the list of links; Google says that if the button is missing, no links were provided for that answer. Perplexity states that each response includes citations and links to the original sources. On Google, an AI Overview appears only when Google decides it helps, so write "no AI Overview shown" when it does not. Google's AI Mode help page lists the Philippines, with English and Filipino among the supported languages. Confirm what you see on your own phone.

Score every answer

For each answer, mark four things. Mentioned: your name appears. Recommended: you are named as a good option, not merely listed. Wrong facts: hours, address, phone, prices, services or open/closed status. Sources: every website the AI cites, or "no sources shown". Then add it up, for example: mentioned in 12 of 40 answers, recommended in 5, wrong facts in 3. That one line is your starting score.

Read the sources: they are your to-do list

AI answers lean on pages that already exist. List the domains that show up: Google Business Profile and Maps, your Facebook Page, local directories, review sites, news and blog roundups, your own website and your competitors' sites. Open each one. Is your business listed? Are the details right? When a competitor is recommended, look at which pages are cited for them; those are the places you also need to appear. If an AI states a wrong fact, it is usually repeating an old page, so fix it at that page. You cannot edit the AI's answer directly.

Fix in this order

1. Make your name, address and phone number identical on Google, Facebook, your website and directories.
2. Complete your Google Business Profile: categories, hours, services, photos, description and replies to reviews.
3. Add plain About, Services and Prices, and FAQ pages to your website as normal text, with service areas, price ranges, hours and answers to real customer questions.
4. Claim or correct listings on the directories the AIs actually cited.
5. Ask every customer for an honest review, not just the happy ones, and offer no discounts or freebies in return.
6. Correct wrong facts at their source.

There is no secret trick. Google's Search Central page on AI features says there are no additional technical requirements and no special markup needed, and that inclusion is not guaranteed; a page simply has to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet. Google's local ranking guidance says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Never buy fake reviews or fake listings; Google's policy removes fake engagement and bans paid reviews.

Re-run monthly, and know the limits

Repeat the same prompts in the same tools each month and add a new column to your sheet. Expect noise; judge the trend over two or three months, not one answer. If you appear nowhere, do not panic or pay a stranger who promises guaranteed AI placement. Paid AI visibility tools exist, but this check is free and good enough for most small businesses. If you have a website, Google Search Console's Performance report counts traffic from AI features under the Web search type. For tools that audit your site, see free AI tools to audit your marketing.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• How AI Search Is Changing How Filipino Customers Find Your Business
• AI Prompts That Turn One Property Listing Into a Week of Content
• TikTok Shop Philippines for Small Sellers: Setup, Fees, Affiliates and AI Product Videos

Sources: developers.google.com · support.google.com · support.google.com · support.google.com · perplexity.ai · support.google.com · support.google.com · searchengineland.com