What we ask
We build 20 searches per business (40 on Plus) from the way locals ask for a trade in a suburb: urgent, local, price and quality questions. Example: “emergency plumber Joondalup open now”. Searches stay fixed for a month so comparisons are fair.
Where we ask
ChatGPT (OpenAI API with web search), Gemini (Google API with Search grounding), and Perplexity (API). These are the three launch engines; Google AI Overviews is a later addition, and this page will list it, with a dated change-log entry, once we sample it. Each search includes the suburb, e.g. “I'm in Joondalup, WA”. Monthly reports save the engine and model version with every answer.
How often
Monthly reports and league tables: each search is asked once on each engine. Every answer that names you is asked again to confirm it, and a third time if the two disagree. A business counts as named for a search on an engine when it's named in 2 of 2 or 2 of 3 of its answers.
Free check
We ask each search on 3 AI engines and double-check every answer that names you.
We write 5 searches locals use for your trade in your suburb and ask each one on ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, through each provider’s official API (the direct connection AI companies offer to businesses). Each search includes your suburb, e.g. “I'm in Joondalup, WA”. Your result is saved with the date and time.
Each search is asked once on each engine. Every answer that names you is asked again to confirm it, and a third time if the two disagree.
What counts as named
Your business counts as named when the whole name appears in the answer as whole words.
How we match names
- We lower-case the name and the answer and drop accents.
- An apostrophe or hyphen inside a word is removed with no gap, so O’Brien matches OBrien.
- A hyphenated name matches both ways: Smith-Jones matches SmithJones and Smith Jones.
- En and em dashes, like other punctuation, count as a space, and “&” reads as “and”.
- We ignore the words Pty, Ltd, The, Clinic, Centre and Center.
- Part of a name doesn’t count.
On one engine, a search names you when you're named in 2 of 2 or 2 of 3 of its answers.
How a search counts
A search counts as named when at least one engine names you for it. Your result shows how many of the 5 searches named you, and on which engines.
Health services
For health services such as dentists and physios, results say “mentioned”, and the other practices AI mentions are listed A–Z.
Time
Results in about 2 minutes, emailed if longer.
What we measure
- Named rate: the share of searches where you're named (named in 2 of 2 or 2 of 3 of an engine's answers).
- Average spot: your average position when named.
- The question, with the suburb
- The engine and model
- The date and time
- The answer text and the sources listed
Last updated 20 Oct 2026
What “API-sampled” means
Answers are sampled through each AI provider's official API on the date shown (once on each engine, plus a double-check of every answer that names you). Consumer apps can differ by account, location and day. Monthly reports show you the exact answers we received.
League tables
Built monthly from the same method across all businesses an engine names for a trade and area. We report what each engine said, with the date and the question. Health services use “mentioned in AI answers” wording and alphabetical bands.
What we keep
For monthly reports and league tables we keep the answer text, the sources each engine listed, the engine and model, and the date and time of every answer, stored securely in our Cloudflare database. The free check keeps its result: which searches named you, on which engines, and when.
Corrections
See something wrong? Request a correction. We check and reply within 5 business days, and log every change on the table.
Change log
- Name matching: an apostrophe or hyphen inside a word is joined (O’Brien = OBrien), and a hyphenated name matches both spellings. Dashes split words.
- One method for the free check, monthly reports and league tables: each search once on each engine, with every answer that names you double-checked.
