How to check whether AI tools mention your business

You can't log in to a dashboard that shows how often ChatGPT recommends you. But you can check what the main AI tools say about your business, track changes over time, and see some AI-driven visits in your analytics. This guide gives you a simple, repeatable routine.

AskThe same questions, in a fresh session, every month or quarter
FixCorrect wrong facts at the source
SpotLook for AI-driven visits in your data

Stage 1 of 3: Ask

Build a question list, choose the tools, and record what each one says. See Part 1.

Stage 2 of 3: Fix

Find where wrong details come from, and check the basics if you're missing. See Part 2.

Stage 3 of 3: Spot

Check referrals in Google Analytics, Search Console, and what your leads tell you. See Part 3.

Part 1: Ask the tools directly

Build a question list

Write 10 to 20 questions, in your customers' words, across three types:

Brand questions: "What does [your business] do?", "Is [your business] any good?", "What are [your business]'s opening hours?"
Category questions without your name: "Who are the best commercial cleaners in Bristol?", "Recommend an accountant for small creative agencies in Austin."
Problem questions: "How do I stop my office Wi-Fi dropping out?", "What should a small restaurant look for in a booking system?"

Brand questions test whether the facts are right. Category and problem questions test whether you appear at all.

Choose the tools

At minimum:

ChatGPT (with search, where the tool decides to search or you ask it to)
Google, both regular search with AI Overviews, and AI Mode where available in your country
Perplexity
Microsoft Copilot
Gemini, if your customers use it

Run the checks consistently

Use a fresh session. Log out, or use a private window and a new chat, so your own history and saved preferences don't skew the answers.

Ask each question the same way each time. Copy and paste from your list.

Ask from the right place. For local questions, location matters. Results from your office may differ from what customers across town see.

Record the results in a simple spreadsheet: date, tool, question, mentioned (yes/no), position in the answer, facts correct (yes/no), sources cited, and competitors mentioned.

Ask twice for the most important questions. If the answers differ a lot, note that. Variability is normal.

What to look for

Wrong facts: old address, old prices, services you no longer offer, a former owner's name.
Missing entirely from category questions where competitors appear.
Which sources get cited. If tools cite a directory, a review site or a competitor's comparison page rather than your site, that tells you where AI tools are getting their information.
Sentiment: are you described in terms that match your reviews?

Part 2: Fixing what you find

If facts are wrong, find where they come from. Check the cited sources first. Then check your own site, your Google Business Profile, major directories and social profiles for the outdated detail. Correct it at the source. There's no form to correct ChatGPT directly, though most tools have a feedback button on answers, which is worth using for clear errors.

If you're missing, check the basics:

Check the basics

0 of 4 done

Can the AI search crawlers reach your site? Check robots.txt and any firewall or bot-blocking settings. See How ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews choose what to cite.
Is your site indexed in Google and Bing? See Google Search Console and set up Bing Webmaster Tools.
Does your site have a page that clearly answers the question you asked? See Writing content AI assistants can quote.
Are you present and well reviewed on the sites that get cited? See Reviews, directories and mentions.

Saved in this browser only.

Changes take time to show up, because indexes need to refresh and answers draw on many sources. Check again next month, not next day.

Part 3: Spotting AI-driven visits in analytics

Google Analytics

Visits from people who click a link in an AI tool often appear as referral traffic. In GA4, go to Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition, and change the dimension to Session source. Look for sources such as:

chatgpt.com
perplexity.ai
copilot.microsoft.com
gemini.google.com

ChatGPT often adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to links it cites, which makes those visits easier to spot. You can create a custom channel group or an exploration that groups these sources together as "AI assistants". See Understanding traffic sources.

Some limits to keep in mind:

Not every AI-driven visit carries a referrer. Some arrive as direct traffic, especially from apps.
People who read about you in an AI answer may later search your name or type your address, so the visit is credited elsewhere.
Traffic from Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode generally appears as Google organic search, not as a separate source.

Google Search Console

Google has said that clicks and impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode are counted in Search Console's Performance report, under the Web search type, together with regular results. There isn't a separate AI filter there at the time of writing. Watch for patterns such as impressions rising on question-style queries while clicks stay flat. See Reading Search Console.

Ask your leads

The most reliable signal is often the simplest: add "ChatGPT or another AI tool" as an option to any "How did you hear about us?" question on your forms and in your intake calls.

A simple tracking template

Date	Tool	Question	Mentioned?	Facts right?	Sources cited	Competitors named	Notes
2026-10-01	Perplexity	Best bookkeeper for restaurants in Denver	No	n/a	Directory A, Review site B	Firm X, Firm Y	Check our listing on Directory A

Frequently asked questions

Are there tools that track AI mentions automatically?

Yes, a growing number of tools track brand visibility across AI assistants by running many prompts on a schedule. They can be useful for larger brands, but results depend heavily on which prompts they run, and AI answers vary by user and session. Check the current plans, and treat their scores as a trend, not an exact measurement. A manual monthly check is enough for most small businesses.

Why does ChatGPT give different answers each time?

AI tools generate answers rather than retrieving a fixed list, and they may search differently each time. Personalization, location and the exact wording of the question all have an effect. That's why you track trends across several questions instead of reacting to one answer.