How to Check If ChatGPT Is Recommending Your Business (And What to Do If It's Not)

Last week, I asked ChatGPT a simple question: "What are the best digital marketing agencies in Singapore for small businesses?"

LOOP wasn't mentioned. Neither were most of the agencies I know. But a handful kept showing up — across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview.

That got me thinking. If I'm not showing up when AI recommends businesses in my industry, how many potential clients are finding my competitors instead of me?

If you run an SME in Singapore, you should be asking yourself the same question. Here's how to find out — and what to do about it.

Why This Matters Right Now

Gartner predicted a 25% drop in traditional search volume by 2026 as people shift to AI-powered answers. That shift is already happening.

When someone asks ChatGPT "best gym in Malacca" or "affordable CRM for small business," they get a direct answer — not a list of 10 blue links to click through. If your business isn't in that answer, you don't exist in that conversation.

This isn't future talk. It's happening today. IMDA's latest data shows GenAI adoption among Singapore SMEs tripled from 4.2% to 14.5% in one year. Your customers are already using AI to make decisions.

The question is: are they finding you?

How to Check Your AI Visibility (5-Minute Test)

You don't need special tools for this. Open these four platforms and run the same searches.

Step 1: Pick Your Test Queries

Write down 5-10 questions a potential customer might ask. Be specific — think like someone who doesn't know your brand yet.

Good queries:

• "Best [your service] in [your city]"
• "How much does [your service] cost in Singapore"
• "[Your service] for small business"
• "Who should I hire for [your service]"
• "[Your service] vs [alternative]"

Bad queries:

• Your company name (of course AI knows you if you search your name)
• Generic one-word searches like "marketing"

Step 2: Test Across 4 AI Platforms

Run each query on these platforms and record whether your business is mentioned, linked, or completely absent.

ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) — The most popular AI assistant. Ask conversationally, like you're asking a friend for a recommendation.

Perplexity (perplexity.ai) — AI-powered search engine. Shows sources alongside answers. Pay attention to which websites it cites.

Google AI Overview — Search your queries on Google and check the AI-generated summary at the top of results. This is where most people look first now.

Microsoft Copilot (copilot.microsoft.com) — Bing-powered AI. Different training data means different results — you might show up here but not on ChatGPT, or vice versa.

Step 3: Score Your Results

For each query, mark your result:

If you're invisible on 3 or more queries across multiple platforms, you have an AI visibility problem. The good news: it's fixable.

What Makes AI Engines Recommend One Business Over Another?

AI engines don't work like Google Search. They don't rank pages by backlinks and keywords alone. They synthesise information from across the web and recommend businesses based on several factors.

Entity recognition. Does your business exist as a clear, well-defined entity online? AI needs to understand what you are, where you are, what you do, and who you serve. This means structured data on your website, a complete Google Business Profile, and consistent information across directories.

Content authority. Have you published useful, original content that answers the questions people ask? AI engines heavily favour websites with substantive, expert content — especially content structured with clear headings, FAQ sections, and direct answers.

Third-party mentions. Are other websites, directories, reviews, and publications talking about you? AI engines triangulate information. If only your own website mentions your business, that's a weak signal. If review sites, industry directories, and news outlets also mention you, that's a strong signal.

Freshness and structure. Updated content with proper schema markup (structured data that tells AI engines exactly what your content is about) gets prioritised. A website last updated in 2023 with no schema is effectively invisible to most AI engines.

5 Quick Wins to Improve Your AI Visibility

You don't need a massive budget to start. Here are five things you can do this week.

1. Complete Your Google Business Profile (30 minutes)

This is the single biggest quick win. Fill in every field: business description (use natural language, not keyword stuffing), services with descriptions, business hours, photos (at least 20), and attributes. Google's AI Overview pulls heavily from GBP data.

2. Add FAQ Schema to Your Website (1-2 hours)

Write 10-15 frequently asked questions about your business and services. Add them to your website with proper FAQ schema markup. AI engines love structured Q&A — it's exactly the format they're trained to parse and cite.

3. Get Listed on 5 Industry Directories (1 hour)

Submit your business to SGPBusiness, Yellow Pages Singapore, Yelp, and 2-3 industry-specific directories. Ensure your name, address, and phone number are identical everywhere. These third-party mentions help AI engines verify your business exists and is legitimate.

4. Publish One Authoritative Blog Post (Half a day)

Write a comprehensive guide about your core service — 1,500+ words, with clear headings, specific data, and answers to common questions. Title it as a question your customers actually ask. This gives AI engines something substantial to cite.

5. Update Your Website's Robots.txt (15 minutes)

Make sure AI crawlers can actually access your site. Add explicit permissions for GPTBot (ChatGPT), PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended. Many websites block these crawlers by default — which means AI engines literally cannot read your content.

What's an AI Visibility Audit?

The manual process above works, but it's time-consuming and doesn't scale. That's why we built LOOP's AI Visibility Audit — a free, automated tool that tests your business across multiple AI platforms and delivers a branded PDF report showing exactly where you stand.

The audit checks your visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview for queries specific to your industry and location. It scores your current visibility, identifies gaps, and gives you a prioritised action plan.

No sales pitch. No obligation. Just data about where your business stands in the AI landscape.

The Bigger Picture: AEO

If this topic interests you, what you're really looking at is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) — a new discipline focused on making businesses visible in AI-powered search and recommendation engines.

Traditional SEO optimises your website for Google's blue links. AEO optimises your entire online presence for AI engines that give direct answers. The two aren't mutually exclusive, but they require different strategies.

We cover AEO in depth in our Complete AEO Guide. For now, start with the 5-minute test above. Know where you stand before you decide what to do about it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to improve AI visibility?

Most businesses can see initial improvements within 4-6 weeks of implementing the quick wins above. Significant, consistent citation across AI platforms typically takes 60-90 days of sustained effort — including content creation, directory listings, review building, and technical optimization.

Does paying for Google Ads help with AI visibility?

No. AI engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity don't factor in paid advertising when generating recommendations. They rely on organic content, third-party mentions, reviews, and structured data. Your ad spend won't get you mentioned in AI answers.

Is AI visibility the same as SEO?

Related but different. SEO focuses on ranking in traditional search results (Google's blue links). AI visibility — often called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) — focuses on being cited in AI-generated answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, and Copilot. A strong SEO foundation helps with AEO, but AEO requires additional strategies like schema markup, entity building, and authoritative content structured for direct answers.

Does AI visibility matter for micro-SMEs?

Absolutely. In fact, AI visibility can be a bigger equaliser for small businesses than traditional SEO. AI engines don't care about your marketing budget or domain authority the way Google does. They care about whether your information is clear, accurate, and well-structured. A 3-person company with excellent structured data and good reviews can get cited ahead of a 50-person agency with a sloppy website.

Can I check my AI visibility for free?

Yes. The manual method described in this article is completely free. You can also use LOOP's free AI Visibility Audit for an automated, comprehensive check across multiple platforms.