AEO guide 03
Once a month, ask the main AI assistants the same few questions about your business, write down what they say, and check every fact. When something is wrong, find the site it came from and fix it there first, because assistants repeat what their sources say.
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Check the facts
Trace the source
Fix it upstream
Log and recheck
Why this matters
People now ask ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini in Google Maps, and Microsoft Copilot which business to call, when it is open, and roughly what a job costs. If an assistant gives the wrong phone number, old hours, or a service you stopped offering, the customer may never reach you, or may arrive annoyed. You will not see this happen unless you look.
You cannot edit an AI answer directly. Assistants build answers from sources such as your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business (formerly Apple Business Connect), Yelp, your own website, and other sites that mention you. A short, regular check tells you which source is wrong, so you can fix the fact where it lives instead of hoping the assistant changes its mind.
Responsible practices
Pick four questions and ask them the same way every month: who is best for your service nearby, who can help today, what the job costs in your city, and your business name with "hours and phone". Use a private or incognito window set to your city so past searches do not shape the answer.
AI answers change from one run to the next, even for the same question. One industry study (SparkToro, about 3,000 runs) found that two runs rarely returned the same list of brands. Ask each question two or three times and record "mentioned in 2 of 3 runs" rather than treating one answer as your position.
Look at your name, phone, address or service area, hours (including upcoming holidays), services, and any prices the assistant quotes. A wrong fact is something you can fix. Where you appear in a list moves around too much to track as a rank.
Click the links or citations under the answer and find the page that says the wrong thing. It is often an old directory listing, an out-of-date Yelp or Bing Places page, or an old page on your own site. Write down the source next to the error.
Correct the fact in your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business, Yelp, or website first. Then use the assistant's own feedback: in Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, click thumbs-down and choose a problem category; in ChatGPT, use thumbs-down or OpenAI's report form. Feedback alone rarely fixes a fact that a source still gets wrong.
Use one spreadsheet with the date, assistant, question, whether you were mentioned, whether the facts were right, and the sources cited. Recheck fixed items the next month, because corrections can take time to show. In your Google Business Profile, also look for "Pending" edits that came from Google's automated calls.
Worked example
Hypothetical example: a two-van heating and cooling company in a mid-sized city runs this check on the first Monday of each month and logs results in a shared spreadsheet. In this run, two assistants say the business is closed on Saturdays, which changed six months ago.
The fix was not in the AI tools at all. It was two out-of-date listings, found by clicking the sources and corrected where the assistants read them.
Monthly check
Write your four standard questions in a spreadsheet and keep the wording the same each month.
Put a 20-minute recurring check on the calendar, such as the first Monday of the month.
Run each question at least twice in a private window, set to your city.
For every wrong fact, record the source site that supplied it.
Fix the fact at that source before leaving feedback in the assistant.
Run the monthly check with your question list and share the log, including screenshots and the sources cited.
Correct wrong facts in the listings they manage and tell you which ones need your login or approval.
Report results as "mentioned in X of Y runs", not as a single AI ranking.
Avoid these mistakes
AI assistants decide what to show, change often, and can give different answers to different people, so mentions, citations, and recommendations are not guaranteed.
Questions business owners ask
You can send feedback. In Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, click thumbs-down, pick a category, and add details. In ChatGPT, use thumbs-down or OpenAI's content report form. Neither company offers a way to edit a business's facts directly, so the lasting fix is correcting the listing or page the answer came from.
AI assistants generate each answer fresh, and results shift with wording, location, account history, and model updates. That is why the check uses the same questions, asks each more than once, and records how often you appear rather than a single position.
Check that your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business, and Yelp listings are accurate and that no duplicate listings exist. Report the answer with the assistant's feedback tool and explain the mix-up in the details field. Keep screenshots and dates in your log in case the problem repeats.
Start with ChatGPT, Google's AI Mode, and either Gemini or Microsoft Copilot, plus Ask Maps and Apple Maps for the map apps. Those cover the main sources behind local answers. Add others if customers tell you they use them.
Primary guidance
Know what AI says about you