How to Check If Your Business Shows Up in ChatGPT, Gemini & Perplexity

You don’t need to pay for anything to get a first read on your AI visibility. In about 20 minutes you can find out whether ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity mention your business when it matters. Here’s the exact method we use — and the point where a tool starts saving you real time.

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Step 1 — Think like your customer, not like you

Don’t search your own brand name — of course the AI knows that. Instead, write the questions a customer asks beforethey know you exist. For a dentist in Austin: “best family dentist in Austin,” “affordable Invisalign near me,” “emergency dentist open Saturday Austin.” Aim for 15–20 of these.

Step 2 — Ask each engine the same prompts

Run every prompt through the three that matter today:

ChatGPT — the default for most people now.
Google AI Overviews / Gemini — what shows above the classic results.
Perplexity — popular with researchers and buyers comparing options.

For each answer, note one thing: were you mentioned — yes or no? If yes, was it first, or buried under competitors?

Step 3 — Score it honestly

Tally a simple score: 1 point if you’re mentioned, 2 if you’re the top recommendation, 0 if you’re absent. Divide by the number of prompts. That percentage is your baseline AI visibility. Most small businesses are shocked by how low it is.

What a low score actually means

A low score isn’t a death sentence — it’s a head start. The businesses winning AI recommendations in 2026 are mostly the ones who simply noticed the problem first and did something about it.

Step 4 — Decide: by hand, or with a tool?

Doing this once is free and worth it. Doing it every week, across dozens of prompts and three engines, while tracking whether your changes help — that’s where it becomes a part-time job. This is exactly the gap AEO tools fill: they run the prompts on a schedule, store the history, and show you the trend.

If you reach that point, start with our roundup of the best AEO tools under $50, or read our hands-on SE Ranking review— it’s the one we reach for when a manual check turns up a problem worth fixing.

What to do next

Run the manual check this week and write down your baseline score. Then read AEO vs SEO so you know which fixes actually move that number — and which are a waste of your time.