How to ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini about your business: a manual check

Before you start: write your question set

Use the same questions in every app, word for word, so the answers are comparable. Mix questions that do not name you (to see whether a stranger would be pointed your way) with questions that do (to see whether the assistant knows you and describes you correctly).

1. 01Three discovery questions: “What are the best [category] businesses in [city]? Please name specific businesses.”, one about a specific service, one about an urgent need or a time.
2. 02Two by-name questions: “What do you know about [business name] in [city]?” and “Is [business name] a good choice for [service]?”
3. 03Optional: one comparison question, such as “How does [business name] compare with other [category] businesses in [city]?”

ChatGPT

1. 01Open a new chat. If you can, use a temporary chat or a signed-out window so your history and saved memories do not steer the answer.
2. 02Check whether web search is on for the reply. Answers with live search usually show sources; answers without it come from the model’s training and can be out of date.
3. 03Ask each question in its own new chat, so earlier questions do not influence later ones.
4. 04Copy the full reply and any listed sources into your log.

Perplexity

1. 01Start a new thread for each question. Perplexity searches the web by default and lists the sources it used.
2. 02Note which sources were shown: your site, directories, review sites, articles. These are the pages that shaped the answer.
3. 03Copy the reply and the source list into your log.

Gemini and Google’s AI answers

1. 01Ask the same questions in Gemini in a new chat, and note whether it shows sources or uses Google Maps results.
2. 02Separately, search the same questions on Google and note whether an AI-generated overview appears at the top and whether you are in it. Not every search shows one.
3. 03Copy what you see, including the businesses shown on any map listing, into your log.

Log it the same way every time

Answers change between runs, so one check is a sample, not a verdict. Repeat the same set every few weeks and look for patterns rather than reacting to a single answer.

• Date and time, app, whether you were signed in, whether web search was on, and the city you were in.
• The question, exactly as typed.
• Were you named? In what position? Who else was named?
• Anything wrong said about you: address, hours, services, prices.
• The sources cited, if any.

Automating part of this

The manual check is free and worth doing. The free AskedAboutYou scan automates one part of it: five customer-style questions to one search-grounded model (currently Perplexity Sonar through its API), with every reply shown word for word with sources and a timestamp. It does not show what every ChatGPT or Gemini user sees; nobody outside those companies can. Use both: the scan for a repeatable sample, the manual check for the specific apps you care about.