Does AI Recommend Your Business?
Being found online used to be the goal. Increasingly, making the shortlist matters too.
The way your customers search for businesses is changing
For more than 20 years businesses have invested heavily in websites, SEO, content and digital marketing to make sure prospective customers can find them.
And they still should.
But think about how you are using AI in your own life. You might already ask ChatGPT:
“We’re going to Rome for the weekend. Where should we eat?”
And you would think nothing of taking its suggestions into account. So why wouldn’t one of your potential customers ask:
“I need a financial advisor/solicitor/architect/engineering consultant/vet. Who should I speak to?”
Or, perhaps they already have a shortlist:
“I’ve narrowed my search down to these three businesses. Tell me which one I should choose, and explain why.”
That is an important change. AI isn’t simply helping people find information. It is increasingly helping them to consider options, compare them and make decisions.
Which creates a new question for every business:
When AI helps your customers decide who to consider, are you part of the conversation?
The Briscoe Recommendation Index is an AI visibility assessment developed to help businesses understand how they are being found, understood, trusted and recommended across this changing buying journey.
From Search Results to Shortlists
For years, businesses have competed to be found.
AI adds another challenge: Being considered.
A potential customer may now encounter, compare or even discount your business before they ever contact you.
The question isn’t only where you appear. It’s whether you make the shortlist.
Traditional Search
Search —> Results —> Websites —> Compare —> Decision
AI Assisted Search
Ask —> Suggested Businesses —> Compare —> Decision
Your business can be researched, compared and discounted before a potential customer ever visits your website.
This is about more than AI visibility
There are already tools that can tell you whether your business appears in AI search. The more interesting question is why AI should recommend you in the first place.
AI forms its view from the evidence it can find – your website and content is part of that, but what matters more is customer proof, leadership authority, media coverage, third-party references, credentials and the wider reputation surrounding your organisation.
You can’t optimise a reputation that doesn’t exist
That’s why we approach AI recommendation as a reputation and strategic communications challenge, not simply an SEO or technical one.
AI research – Human judgement
The BRI uses AI extensively.
But it isn’t an AI-generated report.
It combines structured testing across leading AI platforms with independent research, competitor analysis and professional interpretation.
The evidence is personally reviewed by Kevin Briscoe, drawing on almost 40 years of experience across journalism, editorial decision-making, PR, corporate communications and reputation management.
AI helps us see what is happening.
Experience and professional judgement help us understand why it matters – and what you should do about it.
Two ways to find out where you stand
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Recommendation Readiness Review
Complimentary
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Briscoe Recommendation Index™
£1,950 + VAT
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|---|---|---|
| Best for | An initial indication | A complete strategic assessment |
| Readiness assessment | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cross-platform AI testing | 3 buyer questions | Comprehensive testing |
| Independent research | — | ✓ |
| Competitor analysis | Initial observations | Full comparison |
| Reputation & authority assessment | Initial signals | Detailed assessment |
| BRI score | — | ✓ |
| Commercial implications | — | ✓ |
| Prioritised recommendations | — | ✓ |
| Six-month roadmap | — | ✓ |
| Personal review with Kevin | Short review conversation | Board-level findings presentation |
| Outcome | Is there something worth investigating? | What's happening, why does it matter and what should we do next? |
Start with the complimentary Readiness Review
If you’re curious but don’t yet know whether AI recommendation is an issue for your business, start here.
Complete our short Recommendation Readiness Assessment and we’ll test three real-world buyer questions across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.
Kevin will then talk you through the most interesting findings in a short review conversation.
It won’t give you all the answers.
It will tell you whether there are questions worth investigating.
Or go straight to the full BRI
If AI visibility, reputation and recommendation are strategically important to your business, the Briscoe Recommendation Index provides the complete evidence-based picture.
We assess how effectively your organisation is being found, understood, trusted and recommended, investigate the evidence influencing that position and compare what we’re seeing with relevant competitors.
You receive a board-level report covering your BRI score, key findings, competitor position, commercial implications, priority actions and a six-month authority-building roadmap.
Kevin presents the findings to you and discusses what they mean for your organisation and what should happen next. Get in touch now to book your assessment!
The technology has changed. Reputation hasn’t
For decades, good PR and strategic communications have helped organisations become better known, better understood and more trusted.
AI is now interpreting many of those same reputation signals when helping people decide which businesses to consider.
That creates a new challenge — but also a significant opportunity for businesses with genuine expertise, strong customer evidence and a reputation worth finding.
The starting question is simple:
Does AI recommend your business?
Frequently asked questions about AI visibility and recommendation
What is an AI visibility assessment?
An AI visibility assessment looks at how your business is understood and represented by AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude when people ask questions about businesses like yours.
It goes beyond simply checking whether your business appears. The more important questions are whether AI understands what you do, sees enough evidence to trust your expertise and reputation, and is prepared to include you when recommending or comparing businesses.
The Briscoe Recommendation Index examines those signals and helps identify what may be strengthening – or limiting – your position.
How does ChatGPT decide which businesses to recommend?
There isn’t a single factor that determines which businesses ChatGPT or other AI platforms recommend, and the answers can vary according to the question being asked.
AI systems can draw on a wide range of available information and signals when forming an answer. These can include your own website and content, independent media coverage, customer evidence, third-party references, credentials, leadership authority and the wider reputation surrounding your organisation.
That is why we believe AI recommendation is not simply a technical or SEO challenge. A business needs a reputation and body of evidence worth finding in the first place.
Can you guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No – and we would be very wary of anyone who says they can.
Businesses cannot control the answers produced by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude or other independent AI platforms. Nor can anyone guarantee that a particular business will always be recommended.
What you can influence is the quality, clarity and authority of the evidence those systems can find about your organisation. The Briscoe Recommendation Index helps establish your current position, identify the factors that may be influencing it and prioritise the actions most likely to strengthen your reputation and authority over time.
What's the difference between SEO and AI visibility?
SEO remains important. It helps search engines discover, understand and rank your website when somebody searches for relevant information.
AI-assisted buying can work differently. Instead of asking for a list of websites, a potential customer might ask ChatGPT which businesses they should consider, compare several suppliers or ask which one appears best suited to their needs.
That means being found is no longer the only issue. Your business also needs to be understood, trusted and considered. AI visibility therefore overlaps with SEO, but also brings reputation, authority, third-party evidence and strategic communications into the picture.
What's the difference between the Recommendation Readiness Review and the Briscoe Recommendation Index?
The complimentary Recommendation Readiness Review is designed as a starting point. We test three real-world buyer questions across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude and review the results with you to establish whether there are issues or opportunities worth investigating further.
The Briscoe Recommendation Index is a comprehensive strategic assessment. It combines wider AI testing with independent research, competitor analysis and an assessment of your reputation and authority. You receive a BRI score, commercial interpretation, prioritised recommendations and a six-month roadmap, followed by a board-level presentation of the findings.
The Readiness Review asks whether there is something worth investigating; the BRI establishes what’s happening, why it matters and what you should do next.
Does AI recommend your business?
AI is increasingly influencing which businesses customers discover, consider and choose.
The Briscoe Recommendation Index helps you understand how your business is being found, understood, trusted and recommended – and the reputation and authority signals influencing that position.
Start with the complimentary Recommendation Readiness Review or talk to us about a full BRI assessment.