HVAC · Mundelein · 2026-10-20 · Engines: ChatGPT (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), Perplexity
| Engine | Answers naming you | Score |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT (OpenAI) | 1 of 5 | 12 |
| Gemini (Google) | 2 of 5 | 20 |
| Perplexity | 2 of 5 | 36 |
| # | Business | Times named | Avg position | Share of voice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birchwood Furnace & Cooling | 15 | 1.5 | 36% |
| 2 | Juniper Home Comfort | 12 | 2.1 | 29% |
| 3 | Calder Creek Mechanical | 6 | 2.0 | 14% |
| 4 | Fernhill Comfort Heating & Air (you) | 5 | 2.6 | 12% |
| 5 | Ridgemont Heating Co | 4 | 2.2 | 10% |
The sites the AI tools cited when answering these questions on the audit date. Being present and accurate on them, and on your own website, is part of the fix plan.
| Site | Times cited |
|---|---|
| yelp.com | 9 |
| bbb.org | 5 |
| angi.com | 5 |
| birchwoodfurnace.example | 3 |
| reddit.com | 3 |
| nextdoor.com | 3 |
| juniperhomecomfort.example | 2 |
Questions where AI named someone else and not you.
| Engine | Question | Named instead |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT (OpenAI) | Who is the best furnace repair company in Mundelein, IL? | Birchwood Furnace & Cooling, Juniper Home Comfort, Ridgemont Heating Co |
| ChatGPT (OpenAI) | My heat stopped working tonight in Mundelein, IL. Who should I call? | Birchwood Furnace & Cooling, Calder Creek Mechanical, Juniper Home Comfort |
| Perplexity | My heat stopped working tonight in Mundelein, IL. Who should I call? | Juniper Home Comfort, Birchwood Furnace & Cooling, Calder Creek Mechanical |
| Gemini (Google) | My heat stopped working tonight in Mundelein, IL. Who should I call? | Juniper Home Comfort, Birchwood Furnace & Cooling |
| Perplexity | Best HVAC company near Mundelein, IL | Birchwood Furnace & Cooling, Juniper Home Comfort, Ridgemont Heating Co |
| Gemini (Google) | Best HVAC company near Mundelein, IL | Birchwood Furnace & Cooling, Calder Creek Mechanical |
| ChatGPT (OpenAI) | Who installs new furnaces in Mundelein, IL at a fair price? | Birchwood Furnace & Cooling, Ridgemont Heating Co |
| Gemini (Google) | Who installs new furnaces in Mundelein, IL at a fair price? | Ridgemont Heating Co, Birchwood Furnace & Cooling, Juniper Home Comfort |
| ChatGPT (OpenAI) | Recommend an AC repair service in Mundelein, IL | Calder Creek Mechanical, Birchwood Furnace & Cooling, Juniper Home Comfort |
| Perplexity | Recommend an AC repair service in Mundelein, IL | Calder Creek Mechanical, Juniper Home Comfort, Birchwood Furnace & Cooling |
| Priority | Area | Action |
|---|---|---|
| P2 | Website | No AI answer cited fernhillcomfort.example. Add pages that answer the exact questions customers ask, starting with: furnace repair, furnace installation, AC repair. AI answers quote pages that answer the exact question asked. |
| P2 | Off-site presence | Be present and accurate on the sites AI cites in this market: yelp.com, bbb.org, angi.com, reddit.com, nextdoor.com. These are the third-party sites the AI tools actually cited for your questions in this audit. |
| P3 | Competitors | Study what Birchwood Furnace & Cooling, Juniper Home Comfort, Calder Creek Mechanical have that you don't: review count, recency, listings, pages. These are the businesses AI names instead of you. |
How the score works. Each question is asked of each AI engine. Being named first earns 1.0 point, second 0.8, third 0.6, fourth or fifth 0.4, lower 0.2, and not named 0. The score is the average across all answers, times 100. AI answers change from run to run. When each question is asked more than once, the range shows that spread. A change smaller than the range is noise, so read the trend across months, not a single number.
Benchmarks. 45% of US consumers said they used AI tools for local recommendations in 2026, up from 6% in 2025, and 47% won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews (BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026). ChatGPT recommended 1.2% of 350,000+ locations studied, and those averaged 4.3 stars (SOCi 2026 Local Visibility Index). In a study of ~200,000 local AI queries, business websites were 42% of cited sources and Google Business Profile 28.5%, and 52.8% to 59.3% of recommended businesses were within 5 km of the searcher (BrightLocal Local AI Visibility Study 2026).
What this report can and can't tell you. It shows what the AI tools said on the audit date. Those studies show correlation, not proof that any single change causes a recommendation, and AI answers vary between runs. We track the same questions every month, alongside your reviews, listing accuracy and the calls and website visits you can measure, so you can judge the results yourself.
No one can guarantee that an AI engine will recommend a business. This audit is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAI, Google, Perplexity or Anthropic.