Waseit
Waseit Study · 2026-07

UK businesses in AI answers

When a customer asks “who is the best plumber in Leeds?” or “which letting agent should I use in Manchester?”, the AI assistants answer with names. We asked the questions real buyers ask - the same ones our audits use - to Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, across 20 trades and 13 UK cities. Here is who wins, and why.

1464

AI answers analysed

100%

of answers name specific businesses

7.1

businesses cited per answer on average

3%

overlap between assistants - that is all

Rankings · 120 answers

What the AIs answer in London

The podium of cited businesses, trade by trade. The all 3 AIs badge marks the rare names every assistant agrees on.

accountant

  1. 1
    Deloitte
    3× · ChatGPT Perplexity
  2. 2
    PwC
    2× · ChatGPT Perplexity
  3. 3
    KPMG
    2× · ChatGPT

bakery

  1. 1
    Dusty Knuckle
    3× · Gemini Perplexity
  2. 2
    E5 Bakehouse
    3× · Gemini Perplexity
  3. 3
    Bread Ahead
    3× · Gemini ChatGPT

beauty salon

  1. 1
    Harrods Beauty Salon
    3× · ChatGPT Perplexity
  2. 2
    The White Room
    2× · ChatGPT
  3. 3
    Cowshed
    2× · ChatGPT

dentist

  1. 1
    ODL Dental Clinic
    2× · Perplexity
  2. 2
    Smile Cliniq
    1× · ChatGPT
  3. 3
    Bupa Dental Care
    1× · ChatGPT

driving school

  1. 1
    AA Driving Schoolall 3 AIs
    5×
  2. 2
    BSMall 3 AIs
    4×
  3. 3
    Red Driving School
    3× · ChatGPT Perplexity

electrician

  1. 1
    BESA Electrical Services LTD
    2× · Perplexity
  2. 2
    Whitton Electrical Ltd
    2× · Perplexity
  3. 3
    West & West Ltd
    2× · Perplexity

estate agent

  1. 1
    Savillsall 3 AIs
    6×
  2. 2
    Knight Frankall 3 AIs
    5×
  3. 3
    Foxtons
    4× · ChatGPT Perplexity

garage

  1. 1
    The Garage
    2× · ChatGPT Gemini
  2. 2
    Empire Garages, Enfield
    2× · Perplexity
  3. 3
    Hampstead Garage
    1× · ChatGPT

gas engineer

  1. 1
    Gas Safe Register
    2× · ChatGPT Perplexity
  2. 2
    Aspect
    2× · Perplexity Gemini
  3. 3
    Best Gas London
    2× · Perplexity

hairdresser

  1. 1
    Hershesonsall 3 AIs
    6×
  2. 2
    Larry King
    3× · ChatGPT Gemini
  3. 3
    Josh Wood Colour
    3× · Gemini Perplexity

hotel

  1. 1
    The Savoyall 3 AIs
    5×
  2. 2
    The Connaughtall 3 AIs
    3×
  3. 3
    Claridge’s
    3× · Gemini Perplexity

insurance broker

  1. 1
    Aonall 3 AIs
    5×
  2. 2
    Gallagherall 3 AIs
    4×
  3. 3
    Marshall 3 AIs
    4×

letting agent

  1. 1
    Foxtonsall 3 AIs
    5×
  2. 2
    Knight Frankall 3 AIs
    4×
  3. 3
    Dextersall 3 AIs
    4×

locksmith

  1. 1
    The London Locksmith
    2× · ChatGPT Perplexity
  2. 2
    London Locks
    2× · ChatGPT Perplexity
  3. 3
    Why they are recommended
    2× · Gemini

marketing agency

  1. 1
    Saatchi & Saatchi
    3× · ChatGPT Gemini
  2. 2
    Grey London
    2× · ChatGPT Perplexity
  3. 3
    Ogilvy UK
    2× · Gemini ChatGPT

plumber

  1. 1
    Pimlico Plumbersall 3 AIs
    4×
  2. 2
    My Plumber
    2× · ChatGPT Perplexity
  3. 3
    HomeServe
    2× · ChatGPT Gemini

recruitment agency

  1. 1
    Michael Pageall 3 AIs
    5×
  2. 2
    Robert Waltersall 3 AIs
    5×
  3. 3
    Reed
    4× · ChatGPT Perplexity

restaurant

  1. 1
    Gymkhana
    3× · Gemini Perplexity
  2. 2
    Core by Clare Smyth
    2× · Gemini ChatGPT
  3. 3
    The Ledbury
    2× · Gemini ChatGPT

solicitor

  1. 1
    Slaughter and May
    3× · ChatGPT Perplexity
  2. 2
    Linklaters
    3× · Perplexity Gemini
  3. 3
    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
    3× · Perplexity Gemini

wedding photographer

  1. 1
    Julia & You
    1× · ChatGPT
  2. 2
    The Beautiful Moment
    1× · ChatGPT
  3. 3
    Annie McElwain
    1× · ChatGPT

The 12 other cities

Manchester · Birmingham · Leeds · Glasgow · Liverpool · Bristol · Edinburgh · Sheffield · Newcastle · Nottingham · Cardiff · Brighton

Unlock the rankings for the 12 other cities

ManchesterBirminghamLeedsGlasgowLiverpoolBristolEdinburghSheffieldNewcastleNottinghamCardiffBrighton

Trade by trade, with the businesses each assistant recommends. Free, in exchange for your email.

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Chains & platforms

The names that come up everywhere

Cited in at least 3 of the 13 cities studied - AI visibility is already playing out at national scale.

01Reed

cited 37× · 13/13 cities

02Checkatradeplatform

cited 37× · 13/13 cities

03Hays Recruitment

cited 27× · 13/13 cities

04Red Driving School

cited 21× · 13/13 cities

05AA Driving School

cited 20× · 13/13 cities

06Aon

cited 20× · 11/13 cities

07TrustATraderplatform

cited 19× · 11/13 cities

08Michael Page

cited 29× · 10/13 cities

09Irwin Mitchell

cited 17× · 10/13 cities

10Marsh

cited 17× · 10/13 cities

11Which? Trusted Tradersplatform

cited 15× · 10/13 cities

12The Cutting Room

cited 15× · 10/13 cities

What the AIs read

The sources the AIs consult

Domains most cited as sources by Perplexity in its answers - being present on these sites is what existing in AI answers means.

  1. 1.
    reddit.com628 citations
  2. 2.
    checkatrade.com148 citations
  3. 3.
    threebestrated.co.uk143 citations
  4. 4.
    fresha.com120 citations
  5. 5.
    rightmove.co.uk108 citations
  6. 6.
    clutch.co108 citations
  7. 7.
    trustatrader.com100 citations
  8. 8.
    yell.com97 citations
  9. 9.
    mybuilder.com94 citations
  10. 10.
    facebook.com88 citations

The headline: Reddit is the single most-read source - cited more than four times as often as any trade directory. Threads written by strangers weigh more in AI answers than most official websites, and Three Best Rated, a directory many businesses have never claimed, outranks Yell.

Method

Methodology and limits

Data collected on 2026-07-31. For each of the 20 trades and each of the 13 cities, we asked 2 buying-intent questions (“Who are the best…?”, “List the most recommended…”) to Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity - the same questions our AI visibility audits use. All 244 sector-city cells were fully covered by all three assistants: a provider quota interruption partway through collection was re-collected to completion rather than published as a gap. Business names are extracted by the same parser as our product, tuned for precision over recall - the figures slightly undercount citations rather than inflate them.

Limits: AI answers vary from one session to the next - these rankings are a snapshot, not a permanent truth; that is exactly why continuous tracking exists. A business absent from these rankings is not “bad” - it is simply invisible to the AIs, and that can be fixed.

And your business - do the AIs recommend it?

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