Visus guide
How to check if ChatGPT mentions your business
Open a new ChatGPT chat and type "best [your service type] in [your location]" — for example, "best accountant in Manchester" or "plumber near Coventry". If your business name doesn't appear, you have an AI visibility gap. You can also run a free Visus audit to get a score and specific fixes in under 60 seconds.
Note. ChatGPT answers change with every session. A single manual test is directional. The Visus audit checks the underlying signals your page sends to AI systems — a more reliable measure than one-off prompts.
The 3-step manual check
Open a new, clean ChatGPT chat
Start fresh — don't use a chat that has context from a previous conversation. Use a private window if you want to remove personalisation.
Ask a buyer-intent question for your category
Type the kind of question a customer might ask: "best [your service] in [your town]", "recommend a [your trade] near [location]", or "who are the top [your business type] in [city]?". Be specific — vague questions return vague answers.
Note who appears — and who doesn't
If your business isn't mentioned, run the same query on Perplexity and Google (look for the AI Overview box). If you appear on Google but not in AI answers, the gap is in your AI-specific signals, not just your search rankings.
Why your business might not appear
ChatGPT doesn't scan your website in real time. It uses patterns from its training data and, where browsing is enabled, from Bing. The signals it relies on are different from traditional SEO:
- Unclear entity signals — your business name, type, and location aren't stated clearly enough for AI to confirm who you are
- No third-party corroboration — reviews, directory listings, and press mentions that cross-verify what your site claims
- No answer-ready content — your pages describe your services but don't directly answer the questions buyers ask AI tools
- Missing schema markup — structured data tells AI what type of business you are without relying on it guessing from prose
- Crawler access issues — GPTBot or PerplexityBot may be blocked in your robots.txt
Get your AI visibility score in 60 seconds
Free audit. No credit card. Returns your score, your top 3 gaps, and what to fix first.
Run free auditWhat to do if you don't appear
The quickest fixes, in order of impact:
- Check your robots.txt doesn't block GPTBot, PerplexityBot, or anthropic-ai
- Add a clear business description to your homepage: exactly what you do, where, and for whom — in one paragraph
- Add LocalBusiness or Organization schema markup with your correct name, address, and phone number
- Add an FAQ section that answers the actual questions customers ask AI tools
- Build third-party presence: claim your Google Business Profile, Yelp, and industry directories
The Visus free audit checks all of the above and returns a prioritised list. The Fix Pack (£19, one-off) gives you copy-paste schema markup, a business description, and FAQ content ready to paste into your site.
Checking Perplexity and Google AI Overviews too
ChatGPT is not the only platform that matters. Perplexity often updates faster than ChatGPT when you make on-page changes. Google AI Overviews appear at the top of search results for millions of queries. Check all three:
- Perplexity: search your buyer query at perplexity.ai — it shows its sources, which tells you exactly which pages it trusts
- Google: search your query in Google and look for the AI Overview box above the results
- ChatGPT: the manual test above — also try with browsing enabled if you have access
The Fozias case study shows what's possible: a Liverpool restaurant went from a score of 23 to 80 in 90 days and became the #1 Perplexity result for Kashmiri restaurants in Liverpool.
Frequently asked questions
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How do I check if ChatGPT mentions my business?
Open a new ChatGPT chat and type "best [your service type] in [your location]". If your business doesn't appear, run a free Visus audit to see which signals are missing.
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Why doesn't ChatGPT mention my business?
The most common reasons are unclear entity signals, missing third-party proof, no answer-ready content, and missing schema markup. The Visus audit identifies which gaps apply to your specific page.
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How long does it take to appear in ChatGPT after fixing my site?
On-page fixes can be picked up within 2–4 weeks. External signals like reviews take 4–12 weeks. Most businesses see Perplexity move first, then Google AI Overviews, then ChatGPT.
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Does ChatGPT use Google results to find businesses?
ChatGPT without browsing uses training data, not live Google. ChatGPT with browsing uses Bing. Perplexity uses its own index. That's why auditing your on-page signals matters more than ranking in Google alone.
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Is the Visus AI visibility audit really free?
Yes. You get a score out of 100 and your top 3 gaps. No credit card required. The Fix Pack (£19 one-off) gives you the full fix queue with copy-paste content.