The 5-Minute AEO Audit: Find Out If AI Can Recommend Your Business

You don't need special software to find out if AI can find your business. You just need five minutes and access to a few platforms you probably already use.

Here's the audit. Run these searches yourself — and pay close attention to what shows up and what doesn't.

Step 1: Search ChatGPT for your category

Open ChatGPT and type: "What are the best [your service] companies in [your city]?"

For example: "What are the best plumbers in Columbus, Ohio?" or "What are the best family dentists in Austin?"

Then try it again with your specific neighborhood or zip code.

What you're looking for: Does your business name appear? If yes — great start. If no — pay attention to which businesses do come up and how ChatGPT describes them. Those businesses have structured data, direct content, or trust signals that yours is currently missing.

Also notice how ChatGPT explains its recommendations. Does it cite specific reasons — years in business, service areas, certifications? That tells you what signals it's reading, and what you can work on.

Step 2: Do the same search in Perplexity

Go to Perplexity and run the same query. Perplexity is especially useful because it shows its sources — the actual web pages it pulled information from.

What you're looking for: Are your competitors being cited from their websites? What pages specifically — their homepage, a service page, an FAQ? That's where their AEO is working, and where yours might be missing.

If Perplexity can't name any local businesses at all for your query, that's actually a signal of opportunity. No one in your market has optimized yet, which means there's no incumbent to displace.

Step 3: Search Google with AI Overviews in mind

Type the same query into Google. If an AI Overview appears at the top — the blue-tinted box with an AI-generated summary — read it carefully.

Who does Google's AI mention? Is it pulling from specific websites, review profiles, or local listings? Are there citations shown?

What you're looking for: Your name in the AI Overview — or a clear understanding of why someone else's is there instead.

A few notes: AI Overviews don't appear for every query. They also vary by location and change frequently. Try a few different phrasings if you don't see one at first.

Step 4: Ask ChatGPT directly about your business

Now search your business specifically: "Tell me about [your business name] in [your city]."

What you're looking for: Does ChatGPT know who you are? What does it say? Is the information accurate?

This is often the most eye-opening part of the audit. ChatGPT might have outdated information. It might get your services wrong. It might confuse you with another business with a similar name. Or it might say it doesn't have information about you at all.

Any of those outcomes is fixable — but only once you know they're happening. Many business owners have no idea what AI is saying about them right now.

Step 5: Check for structured data on your site

This last step takes two extra minutes. Go to Google's Rich Results Test (search "Google Rich Results Test" to find it) and enter your website URL.

What you're looking for: Does your site have structured data — also called schema markup? If the test comes back empty or flags errors, that's a significant gap.

Schema markup is one of the primary ways AI systems understand what your business is, what services you offer, where you're located, and whether you're trustworthy. Without it, AI has to guess based on your text content alone — and it often guesses wrong or not at all.

What to do with your results

After running these five checks, you'll have a clear picture of where you stand:

• Whether AI can find and cite your business
• Which competitors are showing up instead of you
• What specific signals — structured data, direct content, trust factors — you're missing

If your business shows up accurately and prominently: You're ahead of most local businesses. The work now is maintaining and expanding that visibility as competition increases.

If your business doesn't show up, or shows up with wrong information: That's exactly what AEO is built to fix. The businesses showing up in these results didn't get there by accident. They have structured data, direct and useful content, and consistent information across the web.

All of that is addressable. And the earlier you address it, the bigger your advantage before competitors catch on.