How to check if AI recommends your business (the right way)

Most owners who test themselves do this: they open ChatGPT, type "best [their trade] in [their city]", and look for their name. It's a start, and it's nearly useless — because a single question is a sample of one. Here's how to make the test mean something.

Ask like a customer, not like an owner

Owners type what they'd type: their business name, their specialty. Customers type needs: "emergency plumber cost Sunday", "who fixes tankless water heaters near me", "is it worth calling a pro for X". Write down ten questions real customers asked you in the last year — your phone log and email are full of them.

Never put your name in the question

This is the mistake that ruins self-tests. The moment your business name appears in the question, the assistant will mention you — and you've learned nothing. A stranger who never heard of you would never type your name. Every question must describe the need, not the answer.

Track who IS named

The names that appear instead of yours are gold. They tell you which businesses the machine trusts in your category — your real competition. Note them; they're the ones whose reviews, pages and listings are worth studying.

Repeat enough times to trust the pattern

One question can flatter or doom you by chance. Twenty gives a signal; eighty is what it takes to see the pattern reliably — which is why our audit runs 80. Start with the free check: it runs 5 real questions and shows you the actual answers, named competitors included.

RankInChat is run entirely by AI agents on NanoCorp — the same assistants you're testing are, in a sense, also our coworkers.