The short answer
On October 1, 2026 we put 19 buyer questions about agencies to ChatGPT and Perplexity, 38 answers in all. The answers relied on directory and review sites more than on agency websites: Semrush's agency directory was cited in 17 answers and Clutch in 16. To get recommended, get listed and reviewed on the sites the assistants cite, and keep your name, address and profile details identical everywhere.
Getting firms named by ChatGPT is our job, so we tested ourselves first. On October 1, 2026, we asked ChatGPT and Perplexity the questions a buyer asks when looking for a web or SEO agency in Ontario. The results apply to firms in other fields too.
How we ran the test
We wrote 19 buyer questions. A few examples: "Who is the best SEO company in Hamilton, Ontario?", "Which agency builds the best websites for law firms in Canada?" and "How much does local SEO cost per month in Canada?" We put each one to ChatGPT (GPT-4o with web search, set to a Canadian location) and to Perplexity through DataForSEO, which gave us 38 answers. For every answer we saved the text and each source it linked to.
We also asked both assistants one question about ourselves by name. Those two answers are left out of the counts below.
What the answers cited
Agency homepages were not the main sources. The sources linked most often were directories that list and review agencies.
| Source | Answers that cited it, of 38 |
|---|---|
| agencies.semrush.com (Semrush's agency directory) | 17 |
| clutch.co | 16 |
| sortlist.com | 7 |
| goodfirms.co | 5 |
| designrush.com | 4 |
We weren't named in any of the 38 answers. We aren't on any of those directories either. When an assistant builds its answer from a list, a firm missing from the list has a hard time getting into the answer.
Why directories carry so much weight
An assistant wants to name someone it won't be wrong about. A directory hands it a ready-made list with reviews, locations and categories, and that list comes from somebody other than the firm. Your homepage tells it what you say about yourself, while a review on another site tells it what a client says. We wrote more about this in how ChatGPT picks who to recommend.
For agencies, the directories are sites like Semrush and Clutch. For a law firm, a clinic or a contractor, they'll be different sites. You find them the same way, by asking an assistant your clients' questions and looking at what it links to.
Assistants mix up businesses with similar names
When we asked Perplexity what Locally Visible is, it mixed us up with two other companies: locallyvisible.com, a US dental marketing company in Georgia, and a German local SEO agency at locally-visible.de. It quoted the German firm's reviews, and it described us using an old page on our own site that no longer matches what we do. ChatGPT got the same question right, working from our current pages.
Consistent facts prevent this kind of mistake. When another business has a name like yours, the assistant needs some way to tell you apart. That means the same name, address and phone on every profile, the same one-line description, and structured data on your site that links to those profiles (the schema property for this is sameAs). If those details disagree, or there are none, the assistant fills the gap with whatever it can find. On October 1, our own structured data didn't link to any outside profiles.
What a Canadian firm can do
- Run the test yourself. Ask ChatGPT and Perplexity five or six questions your clients ask, with your city in them, and note who gets named and which sites get linked.
- Set up profiles on the sites that keep coming up, and ask real clients to review you there.
- Use the same name, address, phone and one-line description on every profile.
- Add structured data that matches your pages and links to those profiles.
- Fix or remove old pages. An assistant may quote an outdated page as if it were current, as Perplexity did with ours.
- Check again later and keep the dates, because an answer is a snapshot and it changes.
Expect it to take a while. New sources take time to show up in answers, which is why the first month can look quiet.
Where we come in
This is the work in AI search optimization, which is part of SEO + AI Visibility at $1,500 a month. It covers a dated check of the answers, pages an assistant can quote, citations on the sites assistants read, and a fresh check every week. We can't promise an assistant will name you, and nobody honest can. What we can do is show you what it says today and what it says next month. Law firms can see how this applies to them on law firm websites. Or start with the free visibility check.
Questions owners ask
Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my firm?
No, and nobody honest can. We can show you what it says today, do the work that changes what it draws on, and show you the answer again next month, with dates.
Which sources did ChatGPT and Perplexity cite most?
In our October 1, 2026 test of 38 answers about agencies, Semrush's agency directory was cited in 17 answers, Clutch in 16, Sortlist in 7, GoodFirms in 5 and DesignRush in 4.
Why would an assistant confuse my firm with another business?
When two businesses have similar names and few outside sources describe either one, the assistant fills the gap with whatever it finds. Perplexity mixed us up with a US company and a German one. Matching details on every profile, and structured data that links to those profiles, help it tell you apart.
If I rank on Google, will ChatGPT name me?
Not on its own. In our test the assistants relied on directories and review sites more than on the agencies' own pages, so being listed and reviewed on those sites matters too.
