Answers / Getting named by AI

What questions should I test in ChatGPT about my business?

Matt Turley, Continuum. Updated November 5, 2026.

The kinds of question to write, how to word them, and how to keep the test fair.

The short answer

What questions should I test in ChatGPT about my business?

Test ten questions in your customers’ own words, without your business name: who to hire for a specific job in your area, how much it costs, who is honest, who does emergency work, who is local and family run. Mix broad questions with specific ones, and keep the list fixed so you can re-run it later.

Five kinds of question

Best-of: the best business for a job in your town.
Specific need: who to call for a particular problem, such as an emergency or an unusual service.
Trust: who is honest, does not upsell, or is licensed.
Price: what a job costs and who is fair on price.
Shape: who is local, family owned, or open at a particular time.

How to word them

Use the words customers use, not your industry’s words. Add the place. Leave out your name and your competitors’ names, because a customer who knows a name does not need to ask. Write plain questions the way someone would type them into a phone.

Our own logged questions for local trades are in the research, where you can see how a homeowner’s question differs from a marketing phrase.

How to keep the test fair

Freeze the list. Changing questions between runs makes the results incomparable.
Ask each question three times, with web search on, and count only what appears in two of three.
Record the date, the tool and the businesses and sites named.
Re-run the same list a month later to see whether anything moved.

Skip the typing

The free AI visibility check writes buyer questions for your business and asks four AI engines for you. For the full three-run version across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, see the AI Answer Check.

Want to see what the AI tools say about you?

Enter your business and the free check asks four AI engines the questions your customers ask, then shows whether you were named. No signup. It is a first look; the paid reports repeat each question several times.

Run the free AI visibility check. Or book a call and talk it through.

Book a call →See all services and prices →

FAQ

Straight answers

How many questions are enough?

Ten gives a useful picture without turning into a project. Fewer than that can be thrown by one odd answer; many more is hard to re-run.

Should I ask about my competitors by name?

Not in the main test. Use a separate small set later if you want to see how the tools describe them, but keep it apart from the customer-question list.

Does the location need to be a city?

Use the place your customers name: a city, a neighborhood or a region. Test the wording they would use and the area you really serve.

What if the answers name no one?

Then the tool is not finding a clear set of businesses to name for that question. Look at the sites it cites, since being described on those is how names get on the list.

Keep reading

Run the free AI visibility checkFree. Four AI engines, no signup.How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business for free?A do-it-yourself method and a free tool.How often does ChatGPT change who it recommends?Why one answer is a coin flip.AI visibility audit for small businessWhat a good audit checks and what it should cost.How do I get my business mentioned in ChatGPT answers?What ChatGPT reads before it names a business.Does ChatGPT recommend my business?The AI Answer Check: three tools, three runs per question.Who AI recommends in 2026The original research behind these answers, by industry.

Sources

1. Who AI recommends in 2026, by industry, Continuum, October 2026: Used for how many businesses the AI tools named, how often two tools agreed, and which kinds of sites the answers cited. Every answer is published as JSON.