Ask ChatGPT "who's the best roofer in Detroit?" and you don't get a page of ten links. You get a short list: a handful of names, a sentence about each, and maybe a map. Either your business is on that list or it isn't.
So who makes the list? A new study gives one of the clearest looks yet.
What the study did
In September 2026, 8ight.AI, a company that sells AI visibility services, asked ChatGPT and Claude the same question for 39 trades in 49 cities and towns (32 in the US, 17 around Toronto): "Who is the best [trade] in [city]? Name specific businesses." It then checked the answers against 2,976 local businesses pulled from Google Maps for those same trades and places. The study was published on October 5, 2026, and covered independently by PPC Land.
Finding 1: review count tracked with getting named
The more Google reviews a business had, the more often ChatGPT named it:
- Under 25 reviews: named 3.4% of the time
- 25 to 99 reviews: 10.0%
- 100 to 249 reviews: 13.9%
- 250 to 999 reviews: 20.9%
- 1,000+ reviews: 22.2%
(The tier breakdown is from the study's data as reported by Lume Digital.)
Finding 2: star rating didn't separate anyone
Businesses ChatGPT named and businesses it skipped had the same median rating: 4.9 stars. A great rating didn't set anyone apart. Plenty of skipped businesses had near-perfect stars.
Finding 3: even the leader usually gets left out
In markets with four or more businesses checked, the business with the most reviews was still left off ChatGPT's list about three times out of four. Reviews help. They don't hand anyone a guaranteed spot.
Finding 4: each AI reads different places
This one surprises most owners. Per the study, ChatGPT cited Yelp in 0 of 1,412 answers, but cited the Better Business Bureau in 38.7% and a government or licensing site in 25.1%. Claude was the opposite: it cited Yelp in 202 of 218 answers and no government sites at all.
Only 28% of the businesses either engine recommended were recommended by both.
Finding 5: ask again, get a different list
When ChatGPT got the same question twice, a median of 39 minutes apart, only about 29% of the businesses named were named both times. One screenshot of one answer tells you very little.
Read it with the right caveats
- The study was run by a company that sells AI visibility work. (So do we. That's why we're showing you their method and links, not just a headline.)
- Questions went through each company's API with web search turned on, not the ChatGPT app on your phone. OpenAI says the app can use your location to find local results, so real customers may see different lists.
- It's a snapshot from September 2026. These systems change often.
- It shows what tracked with being named, not proof of what causes it.
Why this matters if you run a local business
Your rating isn't a moat. If you've spent years protecting a 4.9, that's great for customers, but on its own it didn't separate named businesses from skipped ones.
The AI shortlist is small and it shifts. There's no "page two" in a chat answer, and the list changes from one ask to the next. Showing up more often is the realistic goal. Anyone promising a permanent #1 spot in ChatGPT is guessing.
The sources aren't the ones you'd guess. Licensing records and the BBB showed up for ChatGPT; Yelp showed up for Claude. Which ones matter for your trade, and what they currently say about you, is different for every business.
You can't tell from one check. Because answers vary, you need repeated checks across several AI tools to know where you actually stand.
What we're not covering here
This post is the what. The how (which of these signals is holding your business back, in what order to fix them, and how to tell if it's working) depends on your trade, your city and who AI is naming instead of you. That's exactly what our check looks at.
Sources
- 8ight.AI, "Ask an AI for a roofer" (Study 01, published Oct 5, 2026): https://8ight.ai/research/how-ai-recommends-local-businesses/
- PPC Land, "ChatGPT names 3.4% of tested local firms with under 25 reviews, 8ight finds" (Oct 6, 2026): ppc.land
- Lume Digital, "Does ChatGPT Recommend Local Businesses? 2,975 Tested" (Oct 10, 2026): lumedigitalagency.com
- OpenAI Help Center, "Searching the web with ChatGPT": help.openai.com