What does ChatGPT say about my business? A 15-minute check

Quick answer: To see what ChatGPT says about your business, open a temporary chat with personalisation off. Ask five questions that your buyers ask, without your business name, and run each one two times. Then ask three questions about your business by name. Record who ChatGPT names, which facts are wrong, and which sources it cites.

On this page: The 15-minute plan · Clean test · Buyer questions · Fact check · Score sheet · Different answers · What to fix · FAQ

Most owners type their business name into ChatGPT and read the reply. That shows what ChatGPT knows about you. It does not show if ChatGPT names you to a buyer who does not know your name. This guide gives you both tests in one 15-minute check, with a spreadsheet and no paid tool.

How do you check what ChatGPT says about your business?

You check it in two parts. First, ask the questions that a buyer asks before they know your name. This measures if ChatGPT recommends you. Second, ask about your business by name and check each fact. This measures if ChatGPT describes you correctly.

Use this plan. The times are our estimate for one person and one assistant:

Minutes	Step	Output
0-2	Set up a clean chat with web search	A test that your history does not change
2-9	Ask 5 buyer questions, 2 runs each	10 answers
9-13	Ask 3 questions about your business by name	A list of correct and wrong facts
13-15	Score the answers	One row of numbers for this month

Key takeaway: A test with your name in the question shows what ChatGPT knows. A test without your name shows if buyers find you.

How do you set up a clean test?

Use a chat that your account history cannot change. Memory can personalise the answer, so you see a different answer from a buyer.

As of October 2026, OpenAI gives you two clean options:

1. A temporary chat with personalisation off. According to the OpenAI help page on temporary chat, you select Temporary, then choose “Unpersonalized” before your first message. That mode does not use memory, custom instructions, or plugins.
2. A logged-out browser window. OpenAI states that people who are not signed in can also use web search.

Then turn on web search. OpenAI says that ChatGPT searches automatically for some questions, and that you can select Search from the tools menu. Use Search for each question, because a search answer can show citations and a Sources list.

Location also changes the answer. OpenAI says that ChatGPT can estimate your general location from your IP address, and a VPN can change that estimate. Put the city in each question.

Key takeaway: Use an unpersonalised temporary chat or a logged-out window, turn on Search, and put the city in each question.

Which questions should you ask ChatGPT?

Ask the questions that your buyers type before they know your name. Do not put your business name in these questions. Write five questions, one from each of these types:

1. Category: “Who are the best bookkeepers for small businesses in Brisbane?”
2. Speciality: “Which IT support companies in Auckland work with law firms?”
3. Problem: “Our payroll takes two days each month. Who can help us fix it in Perth?”
4. Comparison: “Should a 20-person company use an agency or a freelancer for Google Ads?”
5. Alternative: “What are alternatives to [your largest competitor] in Melbourne?”

Use the words that your buyers use in sales calls. Ask each question two times, each time in a new chat. That gives you 10 answers. For each answer, record if ChatGPT names you, which competitors it names, and which websites it cites.

Key takeaway: Five buyer questions, without your name, run two times each, tell you more than one long question.

What does ChatGPT say about your business by name?

ChatGPT can describe your business well and still state wrong facts. Ask these three questions in a new temporary chat, with Search on:

1. “What does [business name] in [city] do, and who is it for?”
2. “What do customers say about [business name]?”
3. “How does [business name] compare with [competitor name]?”

Make a list of each fact that is wrong or old. Check services, location, service area, phone number, prices, team names, and any reviews or awards that ChatGPT says you have.

Then click each citation. OpenAI says that search results and citations can be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect. The cited page tells you where a wrong fact comes from. If the cited page shows an old address, that page is the one to correct.

Do not ask ChatGPT why it gave an answer. Rand Fishkin of SparkToro explains that AI tools cannot report how they made an answer. The cited sources are better evidence.

Key takeaway: The named questions find wrong facts. The citations show you which website to correct.

How do you score the answers?

Put the results in one table, and use it each month:

Measure	How to calculate it	Example
Mention rate	Answers that name you, divided by 10	3 of 10 = 30%
Top competitor	The competitor that ChatGPT names most often	Named in 7 of 10
Wrong facts	The number of wrong or old facts from the named questions	2
Your site cited	Answers that cite a page on your website	1 of 10

The example numbers show the format only, not real data. Record the date and the assistant in each row. Later, run the same questions in Perplexity, Gemini, and Google.

Key takeaway: Track a mention rate across many answers. Do not track your position in one list.

Why does ChatGPT give a different answer each time?

ChatGPT builds each answer from probabilities, so the same question can give a different list each time. In a January 2026 study, SparkToro and Gumshoe.ai had about 600 volunteers run 12 prompts through ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s AI tools. The total was 2,961 runs. The tools gave the same list of brands less than 1 time in 100. They gave the same list in the same order less than 1 time in 1,000.

The same study found that a visibility percentage across many prompts and runs is a reasonable measure. It also said that a “ranking position in AI” is not a valid measure.

For this reason, the check uses two runs of each question as a minimum. For a monthly report, use 10 or more questions and three runs of each.

Key takeaway: One answer is a sample, not a result. Count how often you appear across many answers.

What should you fix first?

Fix wrong facts first, because a wrong fact can send a buyer to the wrong address or price. Then fix why ChatGPT does not name you.

1. Wrong facts. Correct the facts on your own website first. Then correct each directory, review site, or partner page that ChatGPT cited with the wrong fact.

2. ChatGPT cannot read your site. OpenAI uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search. OpenAI states that sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Check your robots.txt file. Ask your host if a firewall blocks it. OpenAI says that a change to robots.txt can take about 24 hours to have an effect.

3. Search providers do not index your pages. OpenAI says that ChatGPT search sometimes sends queries to other search providers, and its help page lists Microsoft. Scan your site with the free Bing Webmaster Tools.

4. Your pages do not answer the buyer question. A competitor can appear for “IT support for law firms in Auckland” when you do not. Check that one of your pages states that work, client type, and city clearly. If not, write that page. Our guide to what AEO is and how it differs from SEO explains the method.

5. Other websites do not mention you. If the same lists and directories appear in many citations for your buyer questions, get your business onto them, with correct facts.

OpenAI also states that ChatGPT ranks search results with many factors and that placement is not guaranteed. You control the inputs, not the output.

Key takeaway: Correct wrong facts this week. Then fix crawler access, page clarity, and outside sources, in that order.

Frequently asked questions

Can I ask ChatGPT what it knows about my business?

Yes, but that question is only half of the check. It shows how ChatGPT describes you to a person who already knows your name. It does not show if ChatGPT names you to a new buyer. Ask buyer questions without your name first, then check each fact in the named answers.

Why does ChatGPT not mention my business?

Check three causes first: crawler access, unclear pages, and few outside mentions. Check that your robots.txt file allows OAI-SearchBot. Check that one page states your service, client type, and city clearly. Then look at the sources that ChatGPT cites for your buyer questions. If your competitors are on those sources and you are not, that is the gap to close.

Does ChatGPT show the same answer to everyone?

No. OpenAI states that memory and location can change an answer, and chance changes it too. SparkToro research from January 2026 found that AI tools give the same brand list less than 1 time in 100 for the same prompt. For this reason, run each question more than once, and measure how often you appear across all answers.

How do I correct wrong information that ChatGPT gives about my business?

Correct the source, not the chat. Click each citation, and find the page with the wrong fact. Update your own website first. Then update the directory, review site, or partner page that has the old fact. Ask the same named questions next month to see if the answer changes.

How often should I check what ChatGPT says about my business?

Check each month, with the same questions, settings, and table. AI answers change often, so one check shows little. After three to six months, the trend in your mention rate shows if your changes have an effect. Our AI Search Visibility Checklist lists the checks in order.

Do I need a paid tool to track ChatGPT answers?

No. A spreadsheet and 15 minutes give you a first result. A paid tool helps when you track many questions, assistants, or locations each week. Before you buy one, check that it reports a mention rate across many runs, not a single “ranking position in AI”.

What to do after your first check

• Ask buyer questions without your name first. Then ask about your business by name.
• Use an unpersonalised temporary chat or a logged-out window, with Search on.
• Measure a mention rate across many answers, not a position in one list.
• Correct wrong facts at the source that ChatGPT cites.
• Repeat the same check each month, and compare the trend.

At 2102, an AI-assisted content programme for a medtech client gave a 25% lift in search visibility.

For a full check across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google, our AI search visibility service starts with that audit and a ranked fix list. To automate the monthly check, see AI implementation. For ads, see paid ads, or read about how we work.

If the check shows a competitor in your place, read why ChatGPT recommends your competitor.

Book a 30-minute call and we will show you what ChatGPT says about your business today.