Pulock Deb RoyUpdated Who Do AI Engines Recommend? We Asked About 12 UK Industries
We asked ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini to name the best provider in 12 UK industries, 108 answers in all. They named about 6 businesses per answer, 211 different businesses in total. Nearly half of the sources they cited were directories and review sites, not the businesses' own websites.
What did we ask?
We picked 12 industries, from private dentists to commercial cleaners, and gave each one a UK city. Each prompt had the same shape: "Who are the best private dentists in London, UK?"
We asked each prompt 3 times on each engine, so every industry has 9 answers. Every run was a fresh session with no account logged in. The engines were ChatGPT (the model is not shown when logged out), Perplexity through its API (model sonar), and Gemini (Flash-Lite). We ran all of it on 2 October 2026.
We counted businesses, not rankings. A business counts once per answer, however often the answer repeats it. This post shows counts and shares only. It does not name the businesses.
How many businesses does an AI engine name?
About 6 per answer. ChatGPT named 7.8 on average and Perplexity 7.0. Gemini named 3.3.
The number moves with the industry. Heating and boiler engineers in Glasgow got the shortest lists, at 4.2 businesses per answer. Accountants in Leeds and IT support companies in Manchester got the longest, at 7.4.
The lists also change from one answer to the next. Of the 211 businesses, 55 (26%) appeared in only one of the 9 answers for their industry. SparkToro reached a similar conclusion in its own research: AI engines are highly inconsistent when they recommend brands. One answer is a sample, not a verdict.
Where do the sources come from?
ChatGPT and Perplexity cited 588 source links across 186 different websites. We sorted every website by hand into three groups.
- 47% were directories and review sites, such as Trustpilot or industry listings.
- 43% were the business's own website.
- 10% were other sites, such as news, government, and trade bodies.
Gemini does not return a source list, so these shares rest on ChatGPT and Perplexity.
Does it change by industry?
Yes, a lot. Directories and review sites were the largest share of sources in 7 of the 12 industries. The business's own website was the largest in 4, and the two tied in 1.
The table is sorted by directory share, highest first.
| Industry | City | Named per answer | Different businesses | Own website | Directories and reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wedding photographers | Leeds | 6.4 | 18 | 13% | 88% |
| Jewellers for engagement rings | Birmingham | 6.7 | 19 | 27% | 65% |
| Vets | Bristol | 5.1 | 12 | 33% | 59% |
| Physiotherapists | London | 5.4 | 22 | 43% | 57% |
| Estate agents | Bristol | 6.2 | 15 | 43% | 50% |
| IT support companies | Manchester | 7.4 | 24 | 43% | 45% |
| Accountants | Leeds | 7.4 | 22 | 51% | 42% |
| Mortgage brokers | Glasgow | 5.6 | 11 | 30% | 41% |
| Family law solicitors | Manchester | 6.7 | 15 | 61% | 39% |
| Commercial cleaning companies | Birmingham | 5.8 | 18 | 57% | 37% |
| Heating and boiler engineers | Glasgow | 4.2 | 18 | 36% | 36% |
| Private dentists | London | 5.0 | 17 | 59% | 35% |
The remaining share in each row is other sites. Wedding photographers had the fewest own-website sources, at 13%. Family law solicitors had the most, at 61%.
Which directories did the engines cite?
Trustpilot appeared in the sources for 8 of the 12 industries, more than any other directory. The rest were tied to a trade:
- Bridebook and Hitched for wedding photographers, and also for the engagement ring jewellers.
- Checkatrade for heating engineers and commercial cleaners.
- Unbiased for mortgage brokers and accountants.
- WhatClinic and Top Doctors for private dentists and physiotherapists.
No other directory showed up in more than 3 industries. The ones that matter depend on the trade.
What can any business do with this?
- Look at where your own category is cited. Ask each engine the question a buyer would ask, with your city in it, and read the sources it links. If directories dominate, your profile there is part of how the engine sees you.
- Keep directory profiles accurate and reviewed. Name, services, location, and recent reviews should match your website.
- Answer buyer questions on your own site. In dentists, accountants, family law, and commercial cleaning, the business's own website was the larger share of sources.
- Check more than once. A business missing from one answer may appear in the next, so look at several answers over time before you draw a conclusion.
What are the limits of this research?
- One city per industry. An industry difference can partly be a city difference.
- The counts are a floor. We matched names against a list we reviewed by hand. A business that the extraction and the review both missed is not counted.
- Three engines, three repeats. Perplexity was the API, not the perplexity.ai website, ChatGPT's model was not shown, and Gemini returned no sources. Three repeats give counts, not probabilities.
- One capture day. Engines change, so these figures describe 2 October 2026.
- A control prompt. We also asked each engine 3 times about an invented service, a certified "Quantum Ledger Index" review from Leeds accountants. None of the 9 answers claimed that a Leeds accountant offers it. Two answers said they could not verify it and then listed real Leeds accountants, which we read by hand.
- Our location. We ran the prompts from outside the UK, so every prompt names its city. Answers to a person searching from inside that city may differ.
Sources
- New Research: AIs are highly inconsistent when recommending brands or products; marketers should take care when tracking AI visibility, SparkToro. Accessed 2 Oct 2026.
First published
Pulock Deb Roy is the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Ravenence, leading brand strategy, digital growth, and business development.
