Four AI answers, 17 names, two that repeat
For one trade in one US city, four answers from ChatGPT and Gemini name a median of 17 businesses. Only two come back in more than one answer. Nearly nine names in ten appear once, and for dentists, 10 cities out of 13 have no name that repeats at all.
17
businesses named at the median by four answers, for one trade in one city
In this article
Short answer: the "list" AI gives for your trade in your city is mostly one-off mentions. For every trade and every city we have four answers: two questions, two engines. They name a median of 17 businesses, but only 2 come back in more than one answer. Overall, 88% of names appear once, and just 7 businesses, in 6 cases out of 195, are named by all four answers.
2
at the median come back in more than one answer
56 of 195
trade and city pairs where no name repeats
In most trades, nobody holds a stable place in AI answers yet. The one-off mention is the rule, repetition is the exception.
What we measured
The data is the Waseit US study collected on 13 September 2026: 15 trades in 13 cities, 195 trade and city pairs (hotels, restaurants and bakeries set aside, their names often contain the city). Every pair received four answers: the study's two questions, asked of ChatGPT and of Gemini. 780 answers in all.
For each pair we count the distinct businesses named across the four answers, then, for each one, how many answers it appears in: one, two, three or four. Directories are counted separately, advice headings are removed, and variants of one name are merged when our cleaning recognises them.
Nearly nine names in ten show up once
The 195 pairs add up to 3,315 distinct business mentions. 2,907 appear in only one of the four answers, 88%. 364 appear in two answers, 37 in three, and 7 in all four.
Those seven fit on one line: Aon among insurance brokers in New York and Chicago, Hub International in New York, Robert Half among staffing agencies in Dallas and Denver, Droga5 among marketing agencies in New York, and Vain, an independent hair salon, in Seattle. That last one shows a stable place is not reserved for national chains.
Even the names that repeat rarely do so across engines. Of the 408 businesses named in at least two answers, 319 are named by one engine only, through its two questions. Just 89 are named by both ChatGPT and Gemini.
Trade by trade, seats held or open
| Trade | Distinct businesses | Named in 2 answers or more | Cities where no name repeats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staffing agency | 233 | 36% | 0 of 13 |
| Insurance broker | 286 | 18% | 1 of 13 |
| Driving school | 233 | 18% | 0 of 13 |
| Accountant | 221 | 14% | 3 of 13 |
| Plumber | 213 | 12% | 2 of 13 |
| Auto repair shop | 286 | 12% | 1 of 13 |
| Hair salon | 222 | 12% | 1 of 13 |
| Attorney | 189 | 11% | 4 of 13 |
| Marketing agency | 266 | 11% | 2 of 13 |
| Locksmith | 176 | 7% | 5 of 13 |
| Wedding photographer | 265 | 7% | 3 of 13 |
| HVAC contractor | 189 | 5% | 8 of 13 |
| Real estate agent | 193 | 4% | 8 of 13 |
| Electrician | 200 | 4% | 8 of 13 |
| Dentist | 143 | 3% | 10 of 13 |
Two worlds show up. In staffing and driving schools, every city has at least one name that comes back: the seat is held. For dentists, 10 cities out of 13 have none; for HVAC contractors, real estate agents and electricians, 8 out of 13. There the answers name practices and tradespeople, but never the same ones twice.
Between cities the gap is smaller. The share of names that come back ranges from 16% in New York and Dallas to 6% in Seattle. We draw no strong conclusion from that ranking: each city holds only fifteen pairs.
What this does not prove
That a name named once is rare.
Four answers is little. A business named once might be named again with other questions; our measure only says it did not come back here.
A noise-free count.
In a sample of 60 names mentioned once, 9 are not businesses (for example "Success Rate" or "Flexible Scheduling"). Removing them in the same proportion, the one-off share stays around 86%. Conversely, one business spelled two ways ("Randstad" and "Randstad USA") can be counted twice.
Answer length.
We cap output at 600 tokens for ChatGPT and 1,400 for Gemini; some lists are cut before the end.
What an app user sees.
These answers come from the APIs; the consumer app may add web search.
A trend over time.
One collection, on 13 September 2026.
What this changes for you
Being named once does not give you a place.
What sets the few stable names apart is that they come back from one question and one engine to the next.
In trades where nothing repeats
(dentist, electrician, HVAC, real estate), no business holds a stable place in your city yet. The question is not "who is ahead of me?" but "do I come back?".
In staffing, insurance or driving schools
, stable seats are often held by national names. Check who holds them in your city before concluding you are invisible for lack of reputation.
Measure in repeats, not appearances.
Ask several questions of several engines and count how many answers you are in.
That is what our free audit does: several questions, ChatGPT and Gemini, and for every name cited, the number of answers it appears in. Yours included.