Short answer: We sell answer engine optimization, so we checked ourselves: ten questions our buyers ask, sent to ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini on November 9, 2026.
Not one of 70 answers named Advance Labs or cited our site. The answers cited agency-written "best of" lists, agencies' own service pages, and directories instead. Here is the method, the data, and what we are changing.
## method
How we checked
| Assistant | How we asked | Answers counted |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | OpenAI API, with web search | 20 (2 runs × 10 questions) |
| Claude | Anthropic API, with web search | 20 |
| Perplexity | Sonar API | 20 |
| Gemini | Gemini API, with Google Search grounding (not Google's AI Overviews) | 10 (the first run failed on our API quota) |
Every question went to the official APIs, not the consumer apps, so no answer was shaped by a logged-in history. "Named" means the answer text mentions Advance Labs; "cited" means advancelabs.dev appears in the sources the assistant returned. Both runs were on the same day. The questions ranged from "best AEO agency in Canada" and "white label AEO or GEO services for marketing agencies" to "our competitor shows up in ChatGPT and we don't, who can fix that".
## result
The result
No answer from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or Gemini named Advance Labs or cited advancelabs.dev, across ten buyer questions on November 9, 2026. Across all answers the assistants returned 674 source links from 244 different sites.
For contrast, a London, Ontario client whose site we built and track has been named for its main buyer question in every check since June. The method works for a client with a clear local question. It has not yet worked for us, on questions where hundreds of agencies compete.
## what_they_cited
What the assistants cited instead
| Question | Most-cited sites (times cited) |
|---|---|
| best AEO agency in Canada | longhouse.co (6), macraes.com (5), lengreo.com (4) |
| answer engine optimization consultant Ontario | clicktecs.com (14), aeotoronto.com (2), atlenix.com (2) |
| white label AEO or GEO services for marketing agencies | brandify.io (6), e2msolutions.com (3), nicodigital.com (3) |
| which agencies help companies get recommended by ChatGPT | geoagencies.com (6), gotcatalyst.com (6), firstpagesage.com (3) |
| GEO audit service for B2B companies | loudface.co (4), rocktherankings.com (4), ruess-group.com (4) |
| AI search visibility agency for SaaS companies | growfusely.com (4), rightleftagency.com (4), omnius.so (3) |
| tools to track brand mentions in ChatGPT and Perplexity | blog.hubspot.com (8), therankmasters.com (4), apify.com (3) |
Counts are across both runs and every assistant except Gemini, whose sources come back as redirect links that don't show the site. We left out OpenAI's and Google's own help pages.
## patterns
Three patterns worth knowing
01"Best of" lists written by the agencies on them
For "best AEO agency in Canada", the most-cited pages were lists. Every list we opened was published by an agency that appears on it, often in first place. Assistants cite them anyway, because they answer the question in the shape it was asked.
02One page per question beats one page for everything
One agency's Ontario AEO pages were cited 14 times for "answer engine optimization consultant Ontario". They are pages built for that exact question. Our services page answers a broader one, and was cited for none.
03Directories show up for "which agencies" questions
Agency directories were cited when the question asked for a list of providers. Being listed is cheap compared with outranking the agencies themselves.
What we did not find
No Reddit thread was cited in any answer. LinkedIn appeared twice: an agency's company page and one consultant's personal profile. Posts and articles were never cited.
## what_were_doing
What we are changing
- Pages that answer the exact questions: how to compare AEO agencies in Canada (disclosed, alphabetical, no ranking), and what hiring an AEO consultant in Ontario involves.
- Listings on the agency directories the assistants cited.
- A clearer description of who we are, everywhere the assistants read about us.
- Re-running the same 70 checks and publishing the number, whatever it is.
If you want to run the same check on your own company, the free version takes about a minute.
Run the free AEO audit## faq
Why publish a result where you weren't named?
Because it's the honest starting line, and anyone can check it. An agency that only shows wins is showing you marketing. We'll publish the re-run next to this one.
Can I check whether ChatGPT names my company?
Yes. Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the questions your buyers ask, write down who gets named, and repeat monthly. Use the same wording each time so the results compare.
Did you check Google's AI Overviews?
Not in this run. We used the Gemini API with Google Search grounding, which is close to but not the same as the AI Overview shown on Google's results page.
## related_guides
## check_yours
Want this done and re-checked every month? Our monthly maintenance re-runs your buying questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, ships the fixes that keep you out of the answers, and reports what moved. Or run the free check on your site first at advancelabs.dev/tools/audit.
See how it works