You can't fix what you haven't measured. Right now, someone in Cary is asking an assistant who to call, and you don't know whether your name comes up.
That is a ten-minute question to answer. Here is how to do it properly.
Why audit what AI assistants say about you first?
Because guessing is expensive. Owners often jump straight to changes: a new page, a new plugin, a new agency. Then nothing visibly moves, and nobody knows why.
A baseline fixes that. You write down what the assistants say today. You change things. You check again.
It also settles a nagging question. Are you mentioned, ignored, or described wrongly? Each one has a different cause and a different fix.
Do this before you touch the website. It takes an afternoon at most, and the notes will be useful for months.
Which questions would a Triangle customer actually ask?
Not "tell me about [your company]." Customers who don't know you can't type your name.
They type problems and places. Build a list of 10 to 15 prompts across a few types:
- Discovery: "Who is the best [your service] in Raleigh?"
- Neighborhood: "Recommend a [your service] near Durham that handles [specific job]."
- Comparison: "Which [your service] in the Triangle is best for a small business?"
- Situation: "My [problem] just broke. Who can fix it in Wake County this week?"
- Trust: "Is [your company] any good?"
Use the words your customers use, not your industry's. Ask yourself what a neighbor would say over the fence.
Include a few prompts for services you want to grow, not only the ones that already pay the bills.
How do you run the same prompts across ChatGPT and Google?
Run every prompt, word for word, in each place. Changing the wording changes the answer, and then your comparison is worthless.
Cover at least three:
- ChatGPT. Use a fresh chat for each prompt so earlier questions don't color the answer.
- Google. Search the same prompt and look for the AI answer at the top of the results, if one appears.
- One more assistant. Pick whichever your customers are likely to use.
Log out of accounts or use a private window where you can. Assistants may tailor answers to history and location, so note where you were when you ran the test.
Some prompts will return no AI answer at all on Google. Write that down too. It's data.
How should you record the results so they are comparable?
One spreadsheet. One row per prompt per assistant. Same columns every time.
Suggested columns:
- Date
- Assistant
- Exact prompt
- Were you mentioned? (yes, no)
- Position in the list, if there is one
- Which competitors were named
- Anything stated about you that is wrong
- Sources the assistant cited, if any
That last column matters more than it looks. When an assistant shows its sources, it is telling you which pages it trusts. Those pages are your to-do list.
Keep the tone dull and factual. No "kind of mentioned." Either your business appeared or it didn't.
What does it mean if a competitor is named and you are not?
It doesn't mean they are better. It means they are easier for an assistant to understand and trust.
Open their website, their Google Business Profile and their reviews in three tabs. Then open yours. Compare plainly:
- Does their site say exactly what they do and where, in plain words?
- Is their profile complete, with categories, services and photos?
- Do they have more recent reviews, and do those reviews describe the work?
- Are they listed on sites the assistant cited?
You are looking for the gap, not for something to copy. The gap is usually one of three things: unclear pages, a thin profile, or a thin review history. Often it is all three.
What if the assistant gets your facts wrong?
This happens, and it's fixable. Wrong hours, an old address, a service you dropped years ago.
Don't argue with the chatbot. Find where the wrong fact lives. Check your website, your Google Business Profile, and any directory listings. Assistants pull from many places, and old or conflicting information in any one of them can win.
Common culprits:
- A previous phone number or address on a directory you forgot about
- A services page that still lists what you no longer offer
- Hours that differ between your site and your profile
- A business name written three different ways
Make every source say the same thing. Consistency is dull, and it works.
Which website and profile fixes follow from each finding?
Match the finding to the fix.
You are not mentioned at all. Your site probably doesn't say clearly what you do and where. Write service pages that name the service, the cities you cover and the kinds of customers you help. Our SEO and analytics work starts with exactly this kind of clarity.
A competitor is named, you aren't. Close the profile gap first. Complete every field of your Google Business Profile, then compare reviews.
Your reviews are thin or stale. Ask recent customers, consistently. That is the core of reputation management, and it feeds both Google and the assistants.
Facts are wrong. Clean up the sources, as above.
You want to understand how assistants treat your content. Our AI and automation work covers that ground.
Fix one thing at a time where you can. Otherwise you won't know which change helped.
How often should you repeat the check?
Every quarter is a sensible rhythm for most local businesses. Assistants change, your competitors change, and your own site changes.
Also repeat it after any big change: a redesign, a new service, a move, a new phone number.
Use the same prompts and the same spreadsheet. Add a few new prompts each time, but keep the original set so the comparison holds.
Don't panic over one odd answer. Assistants can vary from one run to the next. Look for patterns across prompts and across months.
Your next step
Open a blank spreadsheet today. Write ten prompts a Triangle customer would type. Run them in ChatGPT and Google, and fill in the columns.
If the results leave you with more questions than answers, or you'd like a second pair of eyes on what the gaps mean, get in touch and send us the spreadsheet.