Quick question before anything else. When someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation in your field, do you know if you come up?
I didn't. So this week I found out, and it stung.
Being online is not being found
AI tools don't recommend businesses because they exist. They recommend businesses they can verify. Think of a bouncer with a clipboard. You can be real, standing right there. Not on the list, not getting in. When ChatGPT answers “who should I hire,” its list is third-party sources: directories, reviews, articles, other people describing you. Your own website barely counts. You can have a real business, real skills, real work behind you, and still be a ghost in the exact place your next customer is asking.
That's not a theory. I tested it on myself.
This week I built
I built a free tool that scores how visible a business is to AI. Then I did the scary part. I ran my own business through it.
Score: 55 out of 100.
The tool's own words: “Present online, absent where buyers ask.”
It got worse. When I asked ChatGPT “what is AI by Janet,” it confidently described a venture-backed startup with a similar name. Not invisible. Mistaken for someone else. A company with Paul Graham's money answers when someone asks about me.
I'm publishing the number because that's the whole point. Mine is 55, in writing, and in 30 days you'll see what moves it.
Your quick win (under 10 minutes)
Open ChatGPT in a fresh chat. No history, no memory. Ask: “Recommend a [what you do] in [your city].” Then ask: “What is [your business name]?”
Screenshot both. That's your baseline. If you're in the answers, congratulations, protect it. If you're not, now you know, and knowing is the only place a fix can start.
Janet V.