ChatGPT answers, unedited

If you want a quick, free check specifically for a local business, I’d start with these:

• localrankhq.com — probably the best fit for a local business. It tests buyer-style questions across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, shows whether you’re named, and identifies competitors that appear instead. Free, no card. Local Rank HQ
• insites.com — another strong local-business option; it scores visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Grok and includes accuracy/reputation signals. Insites
• edenrank.com — useful if you want a broader snapshot across 8 AI surfaces, including Google AI Overviews/AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot and Perplexity. edenrank.com
• isvisible.ai — best if your immediate question is “Can AI crawlers actually access my website?” It checks robots.txt, llms.txt and access for 13 crawlers. isvisible.ai

My pick: use LocalRankHQ first, because “does AI recommend my local business when someone asks who to hire nearby?” is much more meaningful than a generic technical AI-readiness score.

One important distinction: a crawler/site grader can tell you whether AI systems can access and understand your site, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll recommend you. For a real baseline, you want both the technical check and live buyer-question tests.

If you tell me your business type + city, I can also suggest 5–10 exact prompts to test in ChatGPT/Perplexity so you can benchmark yourselves against local competitors.

If you want quick + free + specifically for a local business, I’d start with:

• getcitely.com — probably the simplest fit. It runs buying-intent questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude and shows whether your business gets recommended versus competitors. Free, ~30 seconds, no signup. Citely
• visibleiq.ai — better if you also want local SEO/Google visibility alongside AI search. It gives a 0–100 local visibility score and checks AI search signals. VisibleIQ
• localmention.io — useful for a more realistic local test: 30 local-search prompts across Google, ChatGPT, and Gemini, including which competitors appear instead. LocalMention

My pick: use Citely first for the fastest answer to “Does AI actually recommend us?” Then use LocalMention if you want a broader competitor comparison.

One caveat: a website crawler/technical grader can tell you whether AI bots can access and understand your site, but that's different from whether an assistant will actually recommend your business. For your goal, I'd prioritize tools that run real buyer-style prompts.

If you give me your business type + city, I can also suggest the best 2–3 tests/prompts to run so you get a meaningful baseline.

For a quick, free first check, I’d start with HubSpot’s AEO Grader. It’s a one-time, no-cost snapshot of how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini represent your business, including visibility, sentiment, share of voice, and competitors. www.hubspot.com

Try HubSpot’s free AEO Grader

For a local business specifically, I’d also run LocalRankHQ. It asks whether AI recommends your business for local-intent searches, shows competitors that appear instead, and gives an A–F grade. www.localrankhq.com

Try LocalRankHQ’s free AI visibility scan

One important distinction: “Can AI access my website?” ≠ “Will AI recommend my business?” For the latter, tools that actually run customer-style queries against AI assistants are more useful. AEO Pulse, for example, checks what AI says about a local business and which competitors it recommends. aeopulse.moorageco.com

My quick recommendation: run HubSpot + one local-business checker, then manually test ~10 questions such as:

• “Best [your service] in [city]”
• “Who should I hire for [specific problem] in [city]?”
• “Alternatives to [competitor] in [city]”
• “Most reputable [service] near [city]”

If you tell me what type of local business you are and your city, I can suggest the 10 highest-value AI queries to test.

For a local business, I’d start with BusinessRank’s free AI Visibility Checker. It’s specifically designed for local businesses and checks whether ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI recommend you for searches in your city. No login is required. businessrank.co

BusinessRank free AI Visibility Checker

My quick picks

• Best overall for local businesses: BusinessRank — gives you a local AI recommendation check using your business name, city, category, and website. businessrank.co
• Best if you mainly care about your website's technical AI accessibility: isvisible.ai — checks whether AI crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and Perplexity can access your site and gives a 0–100 score. isvisible.ai
• Best quick multi-engine snapshot: Ahrefs AI Visibility Checker — checks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no signup. ahrefs.com
• Another good local-focused option: SignalAEO free checker — runs 10 local-intent queries against ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini and shows which competitors get named instead. www.signalaeo.com

One important distinction: a site can be technically crawlable by AI but still not get recommended. For a local business, I'd prioritize the graders that actually ask things like “best [service] in [city]” and measure whether you or a competitor gets named.

If you give me your business category + city, I can also tell you exactly what 5–10 AI queries I'd use for a quick manual benchmark.

If your goal is “Does AI actually mention/recommend my local business?”, I’d use a grader that runs real buyer-style questions against the assistants—not just a technical SEO audit.

My quick picks

1. Insites AI Visibility Audit — probably my first choice for a local business. It specifically covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok, and reports whether AI finds you, whether your business details are accurate, and how often you're recommended. No signup. insites.com

2. Rank.ai free AI ranking checker — very quick if you want a simple side-by-side check. It asks ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini the same question and shows whether they mention or cite your site. No signup/card. www.rank.ai

3. Website Auditor's free AI audit — good if you want to see which local businesses AI names for actual category/buyer questions, rather than just getting a technical score. It tests ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. website-auditor.io

One important distinction: tools like Lantad and Karma's checker are useful for checking whether AI crawlers can technically access and understand your site, but that's different from measuring whether an assistant actually recommends your business. website-auditor.iolantad.co

For a local business, I'd start with Insites, then manually test ~10 questions such as:

“Best [your service] near [city]”
“Who are the top-rated [service] companies in [city]?”
“I need [specific problem] in [city]. Who should I call?”
“What are alternatives to [competitor] in [city]?”

That gives you a much more meaningful baseline than a generic “AI score.”

If you want quick + free + specifically for a local business, I’d start with these:

1. Business Rank AI Visibility Checker — probably the best fit. You enter your business, city, category, and website, and it checks whether ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI recommend you. No login required. businessrank.cobluegridmedia.com

2. Ahrefs Free AI Visibility Checker — best if you want a broader brand-level benchmark. It checks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no signup. ahrefs.com

3. Insites Free AI Visibility Audit — particularly useful for local businesses because it scores whether AI can find you, describe you accurately, and recommend you, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Grok. insites.com

My pick: use Business Rank first. It's closest to the question you actually care about: “When someone in our market asks AI who they should hire, does it name us or a competitor?”

One important distinction: a technical website grader can tell you whether AI crawlers can read your site, but that isn't the same as measuring whether assistants actually recommend your business. For that reason, I'd prioritize a tool that runs real local/customer-style prompts. businessrank.cobluegridmedia.com

If you tell me what kind of local business you are + your city, I can also suggest the best 5–10 prompts to run through these graders so you get a meaningful baseline.

If you want quick + free + specifically useful for a local business, I’d start with these:

1. Insites free AI visibility audit — my top pick. It checks how your business performs in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Grok, including whether AI can find you, whether your business details are accurate, and whether it actually recommends you. No signup, reportedly under 60 seconds. insites.com

2. LocalMention.io free audit — particularly good for local search. It tests 30 customer-style queries across Google, ChatGPT and Gemini, gives an A–F visibility grade, competitor analysis, and directory checks. localmention.io

3. AskedAbout free check — very quick sanity check. It tests ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude using questions your customers might actually ask. askedabout.com

4. IsVisible.ai free AI visibility check — best if you're mainly asking “Can the AI crawlers actually access my website?” It checks robots.txt, llms.txt and access for 13 AI crawlers, producing a 0–100 score. isvisible.ai

Important distinction: a technical “AI readiness” score isn't the same as actually being recommended. For a local business, I'd prioritize a grader that asks things like:

“What's the best [your service] in [your city]?”

and then tells you whether you're mentioned, which competitors appear instead, and what sources AI is relying on.

So if you only have 5 minutes, I'd run Insites + LocalMention. If they give substantially different results, that's actually useful—the AI visibility space isn't standardized yet.

For a quick, free check specifically for a local business, I’d start with Insites’ AI Visibility Audit. It’s no-signup, takes under a minute, and checks how your business appears across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok, including whether AI recommends you, gets your business details right, and which competitors appear instead. insites.com

Insites free AI visibility audit

A couple of good alternatives:

• Revenue Grader — best if you want to test actual buyer questions against ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity and see whether you're cited or competitors are. Free, no login. getrevenuegrader.com

Revenue Grader

• LocalRankHQ — particularly geared toward local service businesses; gives an A–F visibility grade, competitors AI recommends, and suggested fixes. www.localrankhq.com

LocalRankHQ

• Searchless Audit — broader five-engine check with a 0–100 score and engine-by-engine results. audit.searchless.ai

Searchless Audit

My recommendation: run Insites + Revenue Grader. The first tells you about your local-business/entity visibility; the second tests whether AI actually recommends/cites you for customer-intent questions. Those are complementary rather than redundant.

If you want quick + free + specifically useful for a local business, I’d start with:

1. Insites AI Visibility Audit — probably the best fit. It checks how your business appears in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok, including whether AI recommends you, gets your details right, and which competitors appear instead. No signup required. insites.com
2. LocalMention.io — very simple local-business test: 30 customer-style queries across Google, ChatGPT, and Gemini, with a visibility percentage. Free. localmention.io
3. AskedAbout — a fast ~60-second check across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude, including competitors AI recommends instead. askedabout.com

One caveat: there are two different things people call “AI visibility.” Some graders test whether AI can crawl/read your website; others actually ask AI “Who should I hire in [city]?” and see whether your business gets recommended. For a local business, I'd prioritize the second because that's closer to the customer experience.

If you give me your business category + city, I can also tell you which of these I'd use and what 5–10 questions I'd test manually in ChatGPT/Perplexity to get a more trustworthy baseline.

For a quick, free check for a local business, I’d start with these:

1. Ahrefs Free AI Visibility Checker — probably my first choice. Enter your business/brand name and it checks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode. It shows mentions, topics, and the sites/pages AI cites. No signup required. ahrefs.com

2. Revenue Grader — particularly interesting for a local business because it asks real buyer questions and checks whether ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity mention/cite you or a competitor. Free, no login. getrevenuegrader.com

3. CiteGauge — another good quick test. It generates buying-intent questions for your niche and checks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, including which competitors get cited. citegauge.com

One important distinction: some “AI visibility graders” only check whether AI crawlers can access your website (robots.txt, llms.txt, schema, etc.). That's useful, but it doesn't tell you whether AI assistants actually recommend your business. For your question, I'd favor a tool that runs actual customer/buyer queries.

If you give me your website URL + what kind of local business you are, I can also run a quick competitive AI-visibility check and tell you what I'd measure.

For a local business, I’d start with Ahrefs’ free AI Visibility Checker. It’s quick, requires no signup, and checks whether your brand appears across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Overviews. It also shows the topics that trigger mentions and which sites AI is citing alongside you. ahrefs.com

Ahrefs Free AI Visibility Checker

Two other good free checks:

• CitedSpy AI Visibility Checker — particularly useful for seeing whether AI recommends you versus competitors; checks five AI engines. www.citedspy.com
• IsVisible.ai — better if you specifically want to know whether your website is technically accessible to AI crawlers, rather than whether AI actually recommends the business. isvisible.ai

For your use case, I'd do both: run Ahrefs for “Does AI mention/recommend us?” and IsVisible for “Can AI systems actually access our site?”

One caveat: don't put too much stock in a single 0–100 score. AI answers are variable, so the more useful test is whether you appear for your actual local buyer questions and whether you're being cited/recommended over nearby competitors. Recent research finds substantial variation between repeated AI visibility measurements. arxiv.org

If you give me your business type + city, I can also suggest 5–10 exact prompts to test in ChatGPT/Perplexity/Gemini that will give you a much more meaningful local-AI visibility baseline.

For a local business, I’d start with a free AI visibility grader, then do a couple of manual checks. There isn’t one perfect “Google Search Console for AI assistants” yet, so the best approach is to combine a quick audit with real customer-style prompts. www.techradar.com

Good free options:

1. IsVisible AI Visibility Check — best quick technical check
   • Enter your domain and get a score.
   • Checks whether AI crawlers (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, etc.) can access your site and whether your setup is AI-friendly. isvisible.ai

2. ScanMyGEO AI Visibility Audit — better for local businesses
   • Tests visibility around your business name, industry, and city.
   • Useful for the question: “When someone asks AI for a local recommendation, does it mention us?” scanmygeo.com

3. Quivra Free Grader — focused on local business AI recommendations
   • Looks at whether AI assistants recommend your business and compares against competitors. quivra.io

After running one, do a manual test in ChatGPT/Perplexity/Gemini:

Try prompts your customers would actually ask, such as:

• “Best [your service] in [city]”
• “Who should I hire for [problem] near me?”
• “Compare [your business] vs [competitor]”
• “What are the top-rated [industry] companies in [city]?”

Track:

• Did AI mention you?
• Did it cite your website?
• Did it recommend competitors instead?
• Were your address, hours, services, reviews, and specialties accurate?

For a local business, the biggest wins usually come from making sure your business details are consistent everywhere, having clear service/location pages, strong reviews, structured data (schema), and content that directly answers customer questions.

If you share your industry + city (or your website), I can suggest the fastest test prompts and what signals AI assistants are likely looking for in your niche.

Yes. For a local business, I’d start with a tool that tests actual customer-style recommendations, not just whether AI crawlers can access your site.

My picks

1. AIMention — probably the best fit for you. It’s specifically designed for local businesses and checks how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude can interpret and recommend your business. The free score takes about two minutes. www.aimention.co

2. GEOGrow free AI visibility check — useful if you want to know whether AI recommends you for buyer-intent searches, including competitor comparisons. It reports which prompts produced your business and which competitors appeared. www.geogrow.ai

3. IsVisible.ai — best for the technical side: whether AI crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and Perplexity can access your website. It's free with no signup. isvisible.ai

If you only want one: try AIMention first. For a local business, “Does AI actually recommend me when someone asks for a business like mine?” is more useful than simply getting a technical crawlability score.

One caveat: don't treat a single AI visibility score as gospel. AI answers can vary between runs, so a good test is to run several real customer questions and track how often you're mentioned versus competitors. Recent research also finds substantial variability between repeated AI visibility measurements. arxiv.org

If you tell me your business type + city, I can also give you 10 exact prompts to test in ChatGPT/Perplexity/Gemini for free.

If you’re a local business, I’d start with LocalMention.io. It’s specifically designed for local businesses and checks 30 customer-style queries across Google, ChatGPT, and Gemini, showing whether you appear and which competitors are being recommended instead. It’s free and doesn’t require a login. localmention.io

Try LocalMention’s free AI visibility audit

A couple of good alternatives:

• urlAhrefs Free AI Visibility Checkerturn0search1 — better if you want broader brand visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Overviews. ahrefs.com
• urlLoamly AI Visibility Checkerturn0search4 — tests 50 buyer-intent prompts across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini and gives you competitors/citations. www.loamly.ai
• urlIsVisible.aiturn0search0 — useful if your question is more technical: can AI crawlers actually access my website? It checks robots.txt, llms.txt, and access for 13 AI crawlers. isvisible.ai

My pick for you: LocalMention first, then IsVisible if you want to diagnose why AI systems might not be seeing the site.

One important caveat: a single AI-visibility score isn't gospel. AI answers can vary substantially between runs and platforms, so I'd care more about “Which local queries do we show up for, who beats us, and what sources are being cited?” than the headline score. arxiv.org

For a quick free check, I’d use a lightweight AI-visibility grader rather than paying for a full SEO platform.

A few good things to test are:

• Whether ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini mention your business for relevant local queries
• Whether your business information is accurate when assistants do mention you
• Whether competitors are being recommended instead
• Whether your site is crawlable and has strong local/business signals

If you tell me your website URL and business type, I can check it and suggest the fastest free grader/test for your situation.

Yes. For a quick, free first check, I’d start with Ahrefs’ AI Visibility Checker. It’s free, requires no signup, and checks how your brand appears across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Overviews. ahrefs.com

Ahrefs AI Visibility Checker

A couple of good alternatives:

• Semrush AI Search Visibility Checker — free, no signup; enter your domain and get an AI visibility analysis. www.semrush.com

Semrush AI Visibility Checker

• Loamly — particularly useful if you want a more local-business-style test: it runs buyer-intent prompts across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini and shows competitors that appear instead. www.loamly.aiahrefs.com

Loamly AI Visibility Check

For a local business, I’d favor Loamly or Ahrefs, then manually test 5–10 searches such as:

“best [your service] near [city]”
“[service] in [city]”
“who should I hire for [problem] in [city]?”
“best-rated [service] near me”

The important distinction is that “AI visibility” isn't the same as a traditional SEO score. You want to know whether AI assistants actually recommend your business, mention it, and cite your website or other trusted sources when potential customers ask relevant local questions. www.loamly.aiahrefs.com

If you give me your business website + city/service, I can also tell you which free checker is likely to be most useful for your particular situation.

For a local business, I’d start with a free AI visibility checker rather than a general SEO audit. You’re trying to answer: “When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or other AI assistants for businesses like ours, do we show up?”

A few options to try:

1. Otterly.ai AI Search Visibility Checker
   • Good for checking whether your brand appears in AI-generated answers.
   • Useful for tracking mentions across AI search engines.

2. Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
   • More SEO-focused, but has AI visibility features and broader diagnostics.
   • Better if you already do marketing work on your site.

3. HubSpot Website Grader
   • Not AI-specific, but a quick free health check for website basics that affect discoverability.

4. Manual free test (often the most revealing)

Try searches like:

• “Best [your service] in [your city]”
• “Who are the top-rated [your service] near me?”
• “I need a [service] company in [city], who should I call?”

Run them in:

• ChatGPT
• Google Gemini
• Microsoft Copilot
• Perplexity

Track:

• whether your business is mentioned
• whether your competitors appear instead
• what sources the AI cites

For a local business, also make sure your profiles are strong on:

• Google Business Profile
• consistent business name/address/phone across directories
• reviews that mention your services and location
• clear website pages for each service + city/area served

If you tell me your business type and city, I can suggest the exact AI prompts to test and what a “good” result should look like.

If you mean “does my local business show up when people ask ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, etc. for recommendations?”, you’re looking for an AI visibility / AI search grader (sometimes called an “LLM visibility checker” or “GEO audit”).

A few free or freemium options worth trying:

• HubSpot AI Search Grader — quick check of how your brand may appear in AI search experiences.
• Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit — has AI visibility features and broader SEO/local search tools (some features require an account).
• Ahrefs Webmaster Tools — free site SEO diagnostics that help with the foundations AI systems rely on.
• BrightLocal — focused on local SEO; useful for checking the business listings and reputation signals that influence AI recommendations.

For a fast DIY test (5–10 minutes):

1. Ask several AI assistants:
   • “Best [your service] in [your city]”
   • “Who should I hire for [your service] near me?”
   • “Compare [your business] vs competitors”
2. Check:
   • Are you mentioned?
   • Is your business information correct?
   • Are reviews, services, location, and hours accurate?
   • Are competitors appearing instead?

For local businesses, the biggest drivers are usually:

• consistent name/address/phone across directories
• a complete Google Business Profile listing
• strong customer reviews
• clear service pages on your website
• mentions of your business on trusted local websites

If you tell me your business type + city + website URL, I can suggest the quickest audit approach and what to check first.

If you want a free, quick "AI visibility grader" for a local business website, there are a few good options, but they measure slightly different things.

1. Peec AI (free tier) – Good for checking whether your brand appears in responses from AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity for selected prompts. It's one of the better options for tracking AI search visibility over time.

2. Profound (limited/free demos) – Built for enterprise AI search monitoring. Powerful, but generally more than most local businesses need.

3. Otterly.AI (free trial) – Monitors how AI assistants mention your business and competitors across common prompts.

4. Good old manual testing (free) – Create 10–20 realistic customer questions, for example:
   • "Best HVAC company near me"
   • "Who installs EV chargers in [city]?"
   • "Best family dentist in [city]"

Then test those in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity. This often reveals more actionable information than a single score because you can see why your business is or isn't being mentioned.

For local businesses specifically

I'd pay attention to:

• Whether AI assistants mention your business at all.
• Whether they cite your website.
• Whether they rely on your Google Business Profile, Yelp, BBB, or other directories.
• Whether competitors appear more often.

These factors often matter more than an overall "AI score."

If you just want a simple free audit

A practical combination is:

• Peec AI for AI visibility tracking.
• Google Search Console to see whether AI-generated overviews are sending impressions and clicks.
• Manual prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity once a month.

That gives you a solid picture without paying for enterprise software.

If you're looking for something similar to an SEO grader (like HubSpot's Website Grader, but for AI), there still isn't a universally accepted free tool that produces a single authoritative "AI readiness" score. Most AI visibility platforms focus on monitoring mentions and citations rather than assigning a comprehensive grade.

If you want a quick, free "AI visibility" grader for a local business, there are a few good options. Most are still fairly new, so I'd use more than one.

1. Peec AI – Good free AI search visibility checker
   • Checks whether your brand appears in AI-generated answers.
   • Lets you test prompts related to your business.
   • Useful if you're just getting started.

2. Profound (free tools)
   • Primarily an enterprise platform, but they offer some free AI visibility tools.
   • Good for understanding how AI assistants reference brands.

3. Otterly.AI
   • Tracks whether your business is mentioned across AI search

If you want a free, quick "AI visibility" grader for a local business, I'd use a combination rather than relying on a single score. Most tools are still early and each checks something different.

Here are the best free options:

1. Peec AI Visibility Checker – One of the better free checks for whether AI search engines and assistants are citing or mentioning your business. It gives a quick snapshot without a long setup.

2. Profound's free AI search tools – Profound focuses on AI search visibility (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, etc.). Their paid platform is aimed at enterprises, but they occasionally offer free analyzers worth trying.

3. Goodie AI Search Grader – Designed for marketers and SMBs. It checks how well your site is prepared for AI-powered search and provides actionable recommendations.

4. Manual testing (surprisingly valuable)

Ask several AI assistants questions a customer would ask, for example:

• "Best HVAC company in Hoboken"
• "Who installs heat pumps near me?"
• "Best dentist open on Saturdays in [city]"
• "Who should I call for emergency plumbing?"

Test in:

• ChatGPT
• Google AI Mode / AI Overviews
• Perplexity
• Gemini
• Claude (web-enabled)

If your business consistently appears with accurate information, that's often more meaningful than a single numeric grade.

What actually matters for local businesses

The biggest predictors of showing up in AI assistants today are:

• Strong Google Business Profile
• Consistent business information (NAP) across directories
• Plenty of recent reviews
• Clear service pages for each service and location
• Schema markup (LocalBusiness, FAQ, Review, Organization)
• Crawlable content (not hidden behind JavaScript)
• Mentions and backlinks from local organizations and reputable websites

AI assistants largely synthesize information from search indexes and trusted sources rather than maintaining separate databases.

If you share your website URL, I can also give you a quick AI visibility audit and point out the highest-impact improvements for appearing in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI results.