Three in ten links AI gives to a business lead nowhere

Short answer: often nowhere. In 16,022 passages where ChatGPT or Gemini recommend a named business, they give 665 links, and we visited every one on October 11, 2026. Of the 474 that point to a business's own website, 141 lead nowhere: 82 to a domain that does not exist, 20 to a domain for sale, 30 to a site that no longer answers, and 9 to someone else, an empty page or a gambling site that took over the address. Links to directories and official registers hold up far better: 9 dead out of 191. ChatGPT rarely gives a link, 36 times in 10,105 passages, all for locksmiths, and 21 of those 36 are dead.

The answer names you, then sends the customer to an empty address.

What was measured

Our four studies, re-read on October 11, 2026: the same buyer questions ("a good dentist in Glasgow", "the best marketing agency in Leeds") put to ChatGPT (gpt-4o-mini) and Gemini through their APIs, without web search, in the United States (collected September 13, 2026), the United Kingdom (July 31), France (July 30) and Brazil (August 6). 3,600 answers, cut into passages; we kept the 16,022 that name a business. Gemini puts a link in 369 of its 5,917 passages (6.2%), ChatGPT in 36 of its 10,105 (0.4%): 665 links in all. We read each domain and sorted the links by destination: 474 to a business's own site, 99 to a platform (directories, review sites, social networks), 92 to an official body (registers, professional orders). Then we visited every URL on October 11, 2026, following each redirect to see where it lands. A domain that failed to resolve was asked again of two public resolvers, Google's and Cloudflare's, and counted as nonexistent only when both said so (6 were found by at least one, and judged on their visit). Sites that did not answer were tried twice more, the third time with another tool, with and without checking the security certificate. We then re-read the pages that did answer, looking for domains for sale, addresses taken over by gambling sites, and empty pages. The 38 links that land on another domain were read one by one: the same business at a new address (17), a business renamed or absorbed (16), a domain seller, a gambling site or another company (5). 26 sites refused our robot (403, 429): we count them neither as working nor as dead.

The addresses lapse where the businesses are small

Dead links follow the trade. Wedding photographers lose 38 of their 106 links, marketing and communication agencies 38 of 122, accountants 17 of 85, recruitment firms 2 of 38. The big names keep their domains; a studio, a freelancer or a small agency lets theirs lapse, and a parking page can take it over: 20 of the addresses given are now for sale, at GoDaddy or HugeDomains, and one of ChatGPT's locksmith addresses can be bought for $2,195. Three former business addresses now serve gambling sites. Some addresses look like names turned into domains: ChatGPT gives "a1locksmithatlanta.com" for A-1 Locksmith, and 11 of its 36 links point to domains that do not exist. Gemini makes typos: "Hurst" links to hurts.co.uk, which is for sale. Where a firm changed its name or was bought, the old address often still works because someone kept the redirect: Search Laboratory is now Havas Market, Mazars is Forvis Mazars, Beever and Struthers merged into Menzies, and all three links still land on the successor. The links that hold are those to platforms and official bodies: 5 dead out of 99 for directories and review sites, 4 out of 92 for registers. Last month we measured what an AI visitor is worth: the visitor AI sends is worth more, and SEO is being bought.

Google says keep the redirect for a year

Google's own documentation on changing a site's address, "How to move a site" on Search Central (last updated August 20, 2026, read on October 11, 2026), says it plainly: "Keep the redirects for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year." The businesses that followed it are the 16 renamed or absorbed firms whose old link still lands somewhere. The 20 domains now for sale, and the 3 taken over by gambling sites, show what can become of an address nobody holds anymore: an assistant that learned it keeps handing it out.

What it means if you are the business

Check the addresses an assistant could give for you, not only your own. Type your name as a domain, with and without your city (the dead links look exactly like that), and if the obvious one is free, owning it and pointing it to your site costs little. If you changed your name, merged or moved, keep the old domain and its redirect for as long as you can, a year at the very least. Renew your domain and your security certificate before they expire: 20 of the addresses given are for sale, 3 serve gambling, and 9 sites greet visitors with a security warning. A working link is no promise of a visit, and nothing here guarantees being named.

What this does not prove

• These are the models' answers through their APIs, without web search: the way our audit asks. Consumer apps with search switched on may link to live pages; the links here come from what the models learned.
• The answers were collected between July 30 and September 13, 2026, and the links visited on October 11: a site may have died after the answer was written. The question here is where the address leads today.
• 26 sites refused our robot, and some silent sites may block our network rather than everyone; a visitor's browser might get through. We count neither group as dead.
• "The business's site" means the domain answers under the business's name, not that the exact page linked is the right one.
• Four studies, one pass per question. The models have moved since.