How to Appear on ChatGPT: A 5-Minute Visibility Test Any Business Owner Can Do

Last month, a chartered accountant in Hosur asked us why his phone stopped ringing. His Google ranking had not changed. His website traffic looked normal. But his new client enquiries dropped by 40% in three months. The reason? His potential clients had started asking ChatGPT for recommendations instead of searching Google. And ChatGPT had no idea his firm existed.

This is happening to thousands of businesses across India right now. People in Bengaluru, Hosur, Chennai, and Mumbai ask ChatGPT and Perplexity to recommend services every single day. If your business does not show up in those answers, you are losing customers without knowing it.

The good news? You can check your AI visibility in less than 5 minutes. Here is exactly how to do it.

Who This Guide Is For

This guide is for business owners, founders, and marketing managers who want to know one simple thing: does my business appear when someone asks an AI tool for a recommendation?

You do not need any technical skills. You do not need to install anything. You just need a phone or laptop and 5 minutes. By the end of this article, you will know exactly where your business stands on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Bing AI, and Gemini. You will also know what to do if you are not appearing.

The 5-Minute AI Visibility Test (Step by Step)

This test checks your business across the five biggest AI search platforms. Follow each step exactly as written.

Step 1: Test ChatGPT

Open chat.openai.com in your browser. You can use the free version. Type a question that a real customer would ask about your type of business in your city.

Run at least 3 different queries. Write down whether your business name appears in any of the responses. Also note which competitors ChatGPT mentions instead of you.

According to a February 2025 report by Similarweb, ChatGPT receives over 3 billion visits per month globally. A growing share of those users ask it for business recommendations. If you do not appear, those customers go to the businesses that do.

Step 2: Test Perplexity

Open perplexity.ai. Type the same queries you used in ChatGPT. Perplexity works differently because it searches the live web and cites its sources. Check two things: does your business name appear in the answer, and does Perplexity link to your website?

Perplexity is growing fast in India. According to its own published data from late 2024, the platform serves over 100 million queries per month. Many of those are local business queries.

Step 3: Test Google AI Overviews

Open Google on your phone and search for your service. Look at the top of the results page. If you see a box with an AI-generated summary before the regular search results, that is the AI Overview. Check if your business gets mentioned in that summary.

Not every search triggers an AI Overview. Try queries that start with "best", "top", or "recommend". These are the ones most likely to show AI-generated answers. Google rolled out AI Overviews across India in late 2024, and they now appear on a growing number of search queries.

Step 4: Test Bing AI and Gemini

Open bing.com/chat and run the same queries. Then open gemini.google.com and repeat. These platforms have smaller user bases in India, but they are growing. Testing them gives you the complete picture.

Step 5: Score Yourself

After testing all five platforms, fill in your results:

Why Most Indian Businesses Score 0 Out of 5

Most small and medium businesses in India score zero on this test. That is not because they are bad businesses. It is because AI search works completely differently from Google search. Here are the most common reasons businesses do not appear.

No schema markup on the website. Schema markup is code that tells AI tools what your business does, where you are located, and what services you offer. Without it, AI platforms cannot understand your business. A 2024 study by Schema App found that only 33% of websites use any schema markup at all. For Indian small businesses, that number is much lower.

Inconsistent business information. Your business name says "Kumar Consulting Pvt Ltd" on your website, "Kumar Consulting" on Google Business Profile, and "Kumar & Associates" on Justdial. AI tools see these as three different businesses. They lose confidence and skip you entirely.

No content that answers questions. AI tools look for content written in a question-and-answer format. If your website only has a homepage and a contact page, there is nothing for AI to extract and recommend.

According to a 2025 Botify study, websites with structured data and FAQ content are 40% more likely to appear in AI-generated search results compared to websites without these elements.

What to Do If You Scored Zero

A zero score is not permanent. Most businesses can start appearing on at least one AI platform within 2 to 8 weeks by making specific changes. Here is what works.

Fix 1: Add Schema Markup to Your Website

Add LocalBusiness or ProfessionalService schema to your homepage. Include your business name, address, phone number, services, and operating hours. Use the exact same information that appears on your Google Business Profile.

You can test your schema markup using Google's Rich Results Test. If the test shows errors or warnings, fix them.

Fix 2: Make Your NAP Data Identical Everywhere

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. Pick one exact format and use it everywhere. Your website, Google Business Profile, Justdial, Sulekha, IndiaMART, LinkedIn, and every other listing must show the exact same information.

For example, if your address is "13, Rayakotta Rd, Old Rayakottah Hudco, Hosur, Tamil Nadu 635109", do not write "No. 13, Rayakotta Road, Hosur" on another platform. AI tools treat small differences as signals of unreliability.

Fix 3: Add FAQ Content to Your Website

Write a list of 10 to 15 questions your customers actually ask. Answer each one clearly in 2 to 4 sentences. Add these to your website with proper FAQ schema markup.

Think about what someone in Bengaluru or Hosur would type into ChatGPT when looking for your service. Those exact questions should be on your website with clear answers.

Fix 4: Complete Your Google Business Profile

Fill in every single field. Add your services, business description, photos, operating hours, and at least 5 customer reviews. Google AI Overviews pull heavily from Google Business Profile data. An incomplete profile means zero AI visibility on Google.

The Platforms That Matter Most in India

Not all AI platforms carry equal weight in India right now. Here is the priority order based on current user numbers.

ChatGPT has the largest user base. OpenAI reported 300 million weekly active users globally in late 2024. India is one of its top 5 markets. When a customer asks ChatGPT for a business recommendation, they trust the answer. Getting mentioned here should be your top priority.

Google AI Overviews matter because Google dominates search in India with over 95% market share, according to StatCounter. AI Overviews now appear above the regular search results on many queries. Even businesses with strong SEO rankings can lose clicks if the AI Overview recommends someone else.

Perplexity is the fastest-growing AI search platform in India. It searches the live web in real time, which means changes to your website show up faster on Perplexity than on ChatGPT. Many professionals and business owners in Bengaluru and other metro cities already use it daily.

Bing AI and Gemini have smaller audiences in India but are growing. Testing on these platforms catches opportunities your competitors miss.

This is exactly what OptiScale Advisors does. We test your business across all five AI platforms with 10 real customer queries each. We capture screenshots of every result. We show you exactly where you appear, where you do not, and what your competitors are doing differently.

Our AI Visibility Audit costs 15,000 rupees and includes a 45-minute video walkthrough of the findings. We serve businesses across India, with offices in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. We also serve clients in Bengaluru, Chennai, and other cities across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

If you want to know where your business stands on these platforms today, book a free 15-minute discovery call with OptiScale Advisors. No sales pitch. Just answers.