Yext Research explainer · 1:54
Why don't AIs agree on who's best?
Asked nearly half a million local questions, four AI engines picked the same business first in 4% of cases.
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What this film covers
Asked nearly half a million local questions, Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude picked the same business first in 4% of cases. In 48% of cases, each named a different business first. When all four agreed, the winner's own website was a source 91% of the time, its profile was 95% complete against 80% for the typical shop, and it had a median of 568 reviews against 19. Start with your website, and keep every profile complete so every AI can read every location.
The research behind it
Yext Research · 2026-09-04Four AIs, one question, four different answersRead the report →Yext Research newsletter · free
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Transcript
Select a time to play the film from that line.
- 0:13My car's sunroof is leaking.
- 0:15So I ask four AIs for the best repair shop near me.
- 0:19Each one names a different shop first.
- 0:23That's not a fluke. At Yext Research, we asked all four nearly half a million local questions.
- 0:29They picked the same business first only 4% of the time.
- 0:33Almost half the time, each picked someone different.
- 0:36A full split happened 12 times as often as a full match.
- 0:40One question turned up 23 different businesses on average.
- 0:45Even the top-rated shop came first only 40% of the time.
- 0:49So when all four do agree, what does the winner have?
- 0:52Its own website was a source 91% of the time.
- 0:56Your website is the one place you write every fact yourself.
- 1:00Their profiles were 95% complete. The typical shop's were 80%.
- 1:05That means more categories, more details, more updates.
- 1:09They had a median of 568 reviews. The typical shop had 19.
- 1:14And they posted twice as often, 13 times a year against 6.
- 1:20Sound familiar? It's a lot of what got you to the top of Google.
- 1:24But AI answers move much more.
- 1:26And as AI remembers more about you and every question, they'll move even more.
- 1:31The more AI can find about your business, on your site and everywhere else, the better your odds.
- 1:38So make every location easy for every AI to read.
- 1:42Start with your website, and keep every profile complete.
