Can buyers find your business in AI search?

Start with two different questions

Does ChatGPT know your business when you name it? And does it suggest you when a buyer asks for help? The first checks how your name is understood. The second checks whether a new buyer can find you.

Check both before changing your site. This guide gives you a small, repeatable test for Google and AI search. It will show what appeared in your checks, not your rank across every answer or market.

Download the prompts and blank results checklist (.txt). No email needed. Fill it in using your own tools.

1. Choose one customer type, service and market that matter to your business.
2. Save your Google starting point and write your six prompts below.
3. Run each prompt three times per AI app, each in a new chat. Save the full answers and links.
4. Use the findings to choose a useful fix. Keep the same test for your next check.

1. Check what Google can find

In your own Search Console property, open URL Inspection for your homepage and the service pages you want buyers to find. Save the index status and the page address Google has chosen. A live test checks whether a page may be indexed; it does not prove the page is in the index.

Then save clicks and impressions from the search performance report. Keep the date range, country, device and search type with the numbers. Where rows are available, separate searches for your name from searches for a service. If rows are missing, record that gap.

Also search Google for your business name and a few phrases a buyer would use without knowing your name. Record the exact query, date, place and device. Keep ordinary results, ads, Maps and AI answers separate. A first-page check is a dated sample, not a fixed rank everywhere.

2. Choose six prompts and keep them fixed

Replace the bracketed words with your real business, customers and service. Write a natural question for your market; the wording below is a starting point. Keep your name out of D1–D4. Do not keep changing the questions until your company appears.

Use ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode where available. Keep each app's results separate. Google AI Mode is not the Gemini app. You can include Claude, but note whether account history, memory or business context may affect its answers.

For each app, run all six questions three times in new chats: 18 answers, of which 12 do not name you. New chats alone may not remove account context. Record what you can verify about memory, personalisation and search settings. If a tool is unavailable, record “unavailable”.

Note the date, time zone, language, actual location, app and displayed model. Select web search where the app allows it. Record whether you saw evidence that search ran; a selected search button alone does not prove that it did. Asking about the US does not mean your test ran from the US.

3. Record what each answer actually shows

Use one record per answer. Save the exact prompt, full response and source links. Keep the evidence in your own tools, with any private account details out of public screenshots.

A source name shown as a button is not always a saved link. If you cannot inspect its destination, mark it unverified. Open sources before treating a model's claim about your business as a fact.

4. Choose the fix the evidence supports

• A key page is not indexed: inspect the stated reason and check access, index settings and the chosen page address. Fix a demonstrated fault first.
• The business is described wrongly: check whether your site clearly states your current services and who they help. Check relevant public profiles for old information.
• Your name is known but buyer searches miss you: review the pages buyers need to judge your service. Add clear scope, useful examples and evidence you can support. Absence alone does not tell you the cause.
• You get mentions but few links: inspect the cited sources and whether your own pages provide useful source material. Do not turn a mention into a claimed site visit.
• Visits arrive but enquiries do not: check the offer and next step. If enquiries arrive then stall, use our lead follow-up worksheet.

Google's guidance for AI features points to normal search eligibility and useful content. It does not require a special AI file or special markup. This checklist helps choose what to investigate; it cannot promise a recommendation.

5. Compare again after useful changes

Keep the prompt wording, repeat count, market and settings as close as you can. Log changes in the site, account or model. Put a new market or new question set in a separate test.

Set exclusion rules before you run the test. A wrong prompt or reused chat is a reason to exclude a run; an answer that leaves your business out is not. Keep uncertain and excluded runs visible.

Count completed answers before calculating a rate. For the four buyer prompts, report mentions out of 12 only if all 12 valid answers were collected. A small set of answers does not measure market share.

Keep search exposure, site visits and suitable enquiries separate. Google's AI-feature traffic is included in Search Console's Web totals; do not add a subset twice. If referral or enquiry records are missing, report unknown. A percentage increase from zero is not defined.

At Kata, we plan indexing checks after seven days and outcome reviews after 28 and 56 days. Those are our review windows, not a ranking deadline. We keep making useful fixes and compare the combined change with our starting point.

Follow Kata's experiment and published changes, or talk with us about growth for your service business.