You Don't Have to Ask ChatGPT About Your Business by Hand. These Tools Do It for You.

A customer mentions, almost as an afterthought, that "the AI told me to call you." Wonderful. Which AI? What did it say? Did it name you first, or fourth, behind the outfit with the van wrap and the suspiciously perfect rating? Here's the good news: you don't have to ask ChatGPT about your business by hand every Monday. There are tools that do it for you, and a couple of them cost less than a decent lunch.

Here's the short version: start with Google's own free report, add an automatic tracker if you want the full picture, and keep a 20-minute manual check in your back pocket for the free route.

Start with what Google gives you for free

Google has one real AI report, and it's in Search Console. Google's help page says the generative AI performance report "includes impressions for the following generative AI capabilities on Google Search: AI Overviews, AI Mode," and that as of August 31, 2026, Google has "rolled out these insights to all websites worldwide." It shows impressions by page, country, device, and date. It's free if your website is verified there, and it takes about two minutes to check.

It's also a site-level report, not a "how often did AI recommend my business" report. Google's launch post describes impressions, pages, countries, devices, and dates, and nothing about mentions or recommendations. Search Engine Roundtable noted it "still does not include any click data or query data." And Google's Business Profile Performance page lists calls, directions, and website clicks, with no AI or Ask Maps metric. So Google covers its own surfaces, loosely. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Copilot are on you.

Tools that check the assistants automatically

That's where an AI visibility tracker comes in. You give it the questions your customers ask, and it runs them across the assistants on a schedule and reports whether you're named. Prices below are as listed on each vendor's site in October 2026, and they change, so confirm before you buy.

• OtterlyAI. The Lite plan is listed at $29 a month for 15 prompts, daily tracking, and ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot. Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Claude are paid add-ons. The site says there's a free trial. The cheapest paid option here, and the right size for one shop.
• HubSpot AEO. Listed at $50 a month, or $45 a month paid annually, for 25 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, with share of voice, citations, and suggested prompts. HubSpot says you can track 25 prompts free with no credit card, and that you don't need to use HubSpot's CMS. It also offers a free one-time AI Search Grader if you just want a snapshot.
• Ahrefs Brand Radar. Custom Prompts start at $50 a month and cover AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude. Ahrefs says they're free in every paid Ahrefs plan from Lite up, so it's a natural fit if you already pay for Ahrefs. It's built for SEO pros, so it's more dashboard than a plumber needs.
• Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit. Listed at $99 a month per domain, billed annually, for 25 tracked prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, and Perplexity. Semrush's help center says the toolkit has no free trial, though its free plan includes a limited set of AI visibility features. Capable, but it's aimed at marketing teams.

Which fit a single-location shop? Honestly, OtterlyAI Lite and HubSpot AEO. Each gives you a couple dozen prompts, which is plenty for "best plumber in [your town]" and its cousins, at a price that won't need a budget meeting. Ahrefs and Semrush make more sense if you already use them. One caution: none of these vendors' pages promised "near me" results tailored to your town. Write your town into each prompt, and during any trial, read a few raw answers to make sure they sound local. Google's own docs say no special optimization is required for AI features, so you're buying visibility into the answers, not a secret ranking trick.

The free fallback: a 20-minute check

No budget, or want to see the real answers before you pay? Do it by hand, once a week:

• Prompts (8 to 10, worded like a customer, never reworded): "best [service] near [town]," "who should I call for [typical problem] in [town]," "[service] open Saturday near me," "is [your business name] any good," plus two or three specific jobs.
• Where: ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, and Ask Maps on your phone, in a private window.
• Log per answer: date, assistant, prompt, named or not, position, who else showed up, what it said about you, sources cited.

Watch the trend, not one week. AI answers wobble, and Google says AI Overviews "often don't trigger" when they aren't additive.

Two free extras worth two minutes

GA4 AI referrals. In Reports, Acquisition, Traffic acquisition, switch the dimension to session source / medium and look for chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai (this SearchPilot reference also lists gemini.google.com and claude.ai). OpenAI's help center says ChatGPT search "automatically includes the UTM parameter utm_source=chatgpt.com in referral URLs." Treat it as a floor, since plenty of people read a recommendation and never click.

A quick aside: Search Engine Journal reported that ChatGPT-attributed GA4 sessions fell 22% to 57% for sites Graphite tracks starting Oct. 9, after ChatGPT began opening some links without the utm_source tag, and that OpenAI confirmed a bug on Oct. 14 and began a fix on Oct. 15. If your numbers dipped, it may be tracking, not recommendations.

Ask new customers. Add "AI assistant (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.)" as an option on your intake form or first call. It catches the person who saw your name in an answer and then typed it into Google.

What to do with the answers

Named and described correctly? Keep going. Described wrong? Fix hours, services, and service area on your Business Profile and website so assistants have one story to repeat. Not named, and a competitor is? Read what the answer says about them. If it quotes recent, specific reviews, that's your clue.

Google describes Ask Maps as drawing on "reviews from our community of more than 500 million contributors," and Search Engine Land's hands-on testing found it "often narrows the field, interprets user intent, and frames businesses around qualities such as responsiveness, specialization, honesty, and repair-first thinking." That was a limited test in one area, so treat it as directional. Still, recent, specific reviews ("replaced the capacitor same day, explained the bill") give an assistant better material than "great service!" from 2022. A steady review request after every job, like the one More Good Reviews automates, keeps that material fresh. It can't guarantee a mention, and nobody can.

The bottom line

You don't have to play detective by hand. Check Search Console's AI report for free, pick an automatic tracker (OtterlyAI or HubSpot AEO are the right size for one location) if you want to see ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity answers without lifting a finger, and keep the 20-minute check as your no-cost backup. Then fix the wrong facts and keep fresh, specific reviews coming. It's directional, it's mostly automatic, and it's a head start on competitors who are still wondering.