The short answer: Set a timer for 30 minutes. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity five questions a Nairobi buyer would ask, without your name in them. Write down who each one names. Do it once more later the same day. If you appear in fewer than a third of the answers, you have work to do. This page gives you the questions and a score sheet.
This is the short version of our main guide, How to know if AI recommends your business. That guide explains the whole picture. This one is the quick test you can run before lunch.
You need a laptop or a phone, a notebook, and the timer on your phone. No paid tools. No sign-ups beyond the free versions of each assistant.
Minutes 0 to 5: pick your five questions
Do not ask what you would like people to ask. Ask what a Nairobi buyer would type when they need you. Use plain words, include the place, and leave your own name out.
Here are five examples we used in our own test, so you can see the style. Swap in your own trade.
- Who can fix a slow WordPress website in Kenya?
- Best agency for Google Business Profile and local SEO in Nairobi?
- Which Nairobi agencies manage WordPress sites and SEO?
- Who can help my Nairobi business get more enquiries from Google?
- Who do you recommend for a monthly SEO service for a mid-sized Kenyan business?
If you sell something else, for example tyres, catering, dental work or legal help, write five questions in the same style: the job, the place, and a sign of what the buyer cares about. Add one question with the words “near me” if your customers come from one area.
Minutes 5 to 20: ask four assistants
Open ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. Paste each question as it is. Do not add your name, and do not ask a follow-up. You want the first answer.
For every answer, write down:
- Were you named? (Yes or no.)
- Were you recommended, not just listed?
- Was a link to your site shown?
- Which businesses were named instead?
That is 20 answers. It goes quicker than it sounds. Most take under a minute to read.
Minutes 20 to 30: score it
Count how many of the 20 answers named you. Then use this table.
| Answers that named you (out of 20) | What it suggests |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 | AI mostly does not know you. Start with your business details and one clear page per buyer question. |
| 3 to 6 | You show up sometimes. Look at which questions you appear in and write more pages like them. |
| 7 or more | You are doing well. Check that what the assistants say about you is correct, and keep testing monthly. |
These bands are our rule of thumb for a small test, not an industry standard. Twenty answers is a snapshot. It will tell you which way you lean, and it will not give you an exact score.
Then do the two things most people skip. Run the test again later the same day, because answers change. And read the names that came up instead of yours. Those are the businesses AI is sending your customers to.
What our own test showed
We ran a bigger version of this on ourselves on 30 October 2026. We asked five AI tools 20 questions that did not contain our name, three times each. Here is how often each tool named SEO Smart.
| Tool | Answers | Named SEO Smart |
|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | 60 | 19 |
| Gemini | 60 | 14 |
| Claude | 55 | 10 |
| Google AI answer | 60 | 3 |
| ChatGPT | 60 | 2 |
Source: SEO Smart’s own test using DataForSEO, 30 October 2026. 20 buyer questions without our name, 3 runs each. Claude and Gemini did not accept the Kenya location setting, so they ran without it. Six Claude calls failed and are left out.
The same business can look strong on one assistant and invisible on another. That is why you test all four. We were named most on Perplexity and least on ChatGPT. If we had only checked ChatGPT, we would have thought we did not exist.
We also saw other names come up again and again. One agency was named in 79 answers across the whole test. That is the number to beat, and you can only see it by writing the answers down.
What to do with your result
- Not named at all: check that your name, address and phone match on your website, Google Business Profile and directories. Then write one page that answers your most common buyer question.
- Named, but with wrong facts: fix the source. Wrong details usually come from old listings. We found assistants giving us the wrong founding year and the wrong address.
- Named on some tools only: compare the tools. Perplexity shows its sources, so click through and see which pages it used.
Our guide to getting AI to mention your brand goes through the fixes in order. For why a competitor keeps getting named, read why ChatGPT names your competitor and not you.
Key points
- You can test whether AI names your business in 30 minutes with free tools.
- Ask five Nairobi buyer questions on four assistants, without your name, and score the 20 answers.
- Write down who was named instead of you. Those are the businesses AI is sending your customers to.
- Results differ a lot between assistants, so one tool never tells the whole story.
- In SEO Smart’s own test on 30 October 2026, Perplexity named the agency in 19 of 60 answers and ChatGPT in 2 of 60.
Questions people ask
Do I need a paid account to run the test?
No. The free versions of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity are enough for a first check.
Why do answers change when I ask again?
AI assistants do not look things up the same way every time. That is why we ask each question more than once.
Should I put my business name in the questions?
Not for this test. Real buyers who do not know you will not type your name. Add one or two questions with your name only to check that what the assistants say about you is correct.
How often should I repeat the test?
Once a month, with the same questions, so you can compare.
Come and see where you stand
Short on time? Bring your five questions and we will run them with you in Nairobi, on all four assistants, in front of you.
Mehul Shah, Founder and Managing Director, SEO Smart Limited
Mehul Shah is the Founder and Managing Director of SEO Smart Limited, a specialised SEO, GEO and AEO agency based in Kenya. With nearly 20 years of experience, Mehul helps agencies and businesses build scalable SEO strategies, performance-optimised websites, and conversion-driven content marketing frameworks.