How to Check if ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini & Claude Recommend Your Store
More shoppers now ask AI what to buy — but unlike a Google ranking, you never see whether AI named your store or a competitor. Here is how to check, what to measure, and how to track it over time.
Why checking matters
AI recommendations are already a high-intent channel — AI-referred shoppers convert markedly better than traffic from other sources, and adoption is growing faster than any other discovery channel. But it is an invisible one: when ChatGPT suggests three brands for “best pre-workout,” you have no dashboard telling you whether you were one of them. You can’t optimize what you can’t see, so the first step is simply to look.
If you haven’t yet, start with the companion guide: how to get your Shopify store recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity & Gemini. This article is about measuring where you stand.
How to check manually (step by step)
1. Write down your real buying queries
List the questions a shopper would actually ask an assistant before buying from a store like yours — for example “best magnesium supplement brands,” “where to buy organic dog treats,” or “affordable minimalist watches.” Aim for 5–10 queries that map to your best categories.
2. Ask each engine — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude
Run every query on all three assistants. They draw on different sources, so the same question can name different stores on each one. Ask as a shopper would, without hinting at your own brand.
3. Vary the phrasing and repeat
AI answers are probabilistic — the same prompt can return different brands on different runs, and change again as models update. Re-run each query a few times and try alternate phrasings so you see your typical visibility, not a one-off.
4. Record more than “mentioned or not”
Capture four things for every query:
- Mentioned? Was your store or product named at all?
- Position. Were you first, or buried at the end of the list?
- Competitors. Which brands appear instead of — or ahead of — you?
- Share of voice. Across all your queries, how often do you show up versus the leaders in your category?
5. Track it on a schedule
One snapshot isn’t enough. Re-check on a regular cadence so you can see whether your fixes are working and whether competitors are gaining ground. Trends beat single answers.
The catch with manual checking
Done properly, manual checking is a lot of work: several queries, three engines, multiple runs each, repeated every week — and then organizing the results into something you can act on. It’s doable for a quick baseline, but hard to sustain. That’s exactly the gap automated AI-visibility tracking fills.
Let Citely check it for you
Citely runs your buying queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude automatically, records who gets recommended, and shows your visibility, position and competitors over time — plus the sentence each assistant wrote about you, and the exact fixes to improve. There is a free plan.
Add Citely to Shopify — freeFrequently asked questions
Why do AI assistants give different answers each time I ask?
AI models are probabilistic, so the same question can return different brands on different runs, and answers also change as models update. That's why a single check isn't reliable — you need several phrasings and repeated checks over time to see your true visibility.
Which AI engines should I check?
At minimum ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, since they cover the majority of AI-assisted shopping. Perplexity and Gemini also cite live web sources, while ChatGPT increasingly does too — so the same query can surface different stores on each one.
What should I measure, not just whether I'm mentioned?
Track four things: whether your store is named, in what position, which competitors appear instead, and your share of voice (how often you appear across many queries). Trends over time matter more than any single answer.
Can I automate checking whether AI recommends my store?
Yes. Instead of manually asking each engine, tools like Citely run your buying queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude on a schedule, record who gets recommended, and show your visibility and competitors over time.