Why does ChatGPT give me a different answer every time?

Because AI answers are not fixed: they change with every request and, when web search is on, with the pages found at that moment. That is why each question should be asked at least three times: what matters is how often you appear, not whether you appear once.

Do I need the paid version of ChatGPT for this test?

No. The free version is enough. What matters is using a temporary chat or a session with no history, so the answer is not shaped by what the assistant already knows about you from earlier conversations.

If ChatGPT does not mention me, do I need a new website?

Not necessarily. The cause is often a technical block on AI crawlers, vague information on the main pages, or missing structured data: targeted fixes, not a rebuild. The test exists to show where to act before spending anything.

Does ChatGPT know your business? A 10-minute test

To find out whether ChatGPT knows your business, ask it the question a customer would ask, without naming yourself, and see who it recommends. It takes ten minutes, no paid tools and a sheet to note the answers. Below is the method step by step, the same one I use before touching any site.

Before you start: open a clean chat

AI assistants remember earlier conversations. If you have already talked about your business with ChatGPT, the answer will be skewed in your favour. Open a temporary chat (in ChatGPT the option is at the top right) or a private window without signing in. Do the same with Gemini and Perplexity: three assistants give a far more reliable picture than one.

Step 1: the customer's question, without your name

This is the test that really counts. Write the question the way someone who does not know you yet would write it, with your service and your area. Prepare three versions:

Category and city: "Who is the best shoe repairer in Mondovi?", "Recommend an accountant for freelancers in Bologna".
The problem: "Where can I get leather shoes resoled near Cuneo?", "Who can help me register as a freelancer in Bologna?".
The comparison: "What are the alternatives to [your best-known competitor] in my area?".

Ask each question three times. Answers change with every request, so a single try says little: what matters is how often you appear out of nine attempts per assistant.

Step 2: the question with your name

Now ask directly: "What do you know about [business name] in [city]?". Here you are not measuring whether it names you, but what it says about you. Check carefully:

are the address, opening hours and contact details correct?
are the services described the ones you actually offer?
does it confuse you with another business with a similar name?

An error here is worse than an absence: a customer who gets the wrong opening hours will not call a second time.

Step 3: look at the sources

Perplexity always shows numbered sources under the answer, and ChatGPT does when it searches the web. Note which sites are cited: your own site, Google Maps, TripAdvisor, a local newspaper article, an industry directory. That list tells you where assistants get their information in your category, and so where you need to be present too.

If your site never appears among the sources while a competitor's does, you have found your starting point. I cover this in more detail in why ChatGPT does not mention your business.

Step 4: check that your site can be read

Many sites block AI crawlers without the owner knowing, because of one line in robots.txt or a setting at the hosting provider. If GPTBot cannot get in, ChatGPT cannot read you, and no content will change that. You can check it for free with the VisibAI AI Crawler Checker: enter your address and see in seconds which bots are allowed and which are blocked.

How to read the results

Put everything in a simple table: assistant, question, how many times you appear out of three tries, position in the list, sources cited. The picture usually falls into one of three cases:

You never appear. This is the most common case. Most of the time AI simply lacks clear information about you: you need pages that state explicitly who you are, what you do and where you work.
You only appear when named. AI knows you exist but does not connect you to your category. Usually the link between your name, your service and your area is missing, on your site and on outside sources.
You appear, with wrong details. Outdated or inconsistent information across your site, Google and directories needs aligning: it is the fastest fix and the one that pays off most.

What to do after the test

The test tells you where you stand, not what to do. The next steps are almost always the same: open the site to crawlers, rewrite the main pages so they answer customer questions, add structured data and an llms.txt file, and work on the outside sources you saw cited in step 3. It is the work I describe in getting found on Google and on AI, and the foundation of every site I build.

If the manual test feels long, it is the same one I automated in VisibAI: dozens of questions repeated across several assistants, with a score from 0 to 100, the competitors that appear instead of you and a list of fixes. In November I am taking it to Web Summit in Lisbon, as one of the startups selected for the ALPHA programme.