Do ChatGPT and Copilot mention your business? How to check, for free, in 20 minutes

You can check whether AI assistants mention your business for free, and it takes about 20 minutes. Bing Webmaster Tools shows how often Microsoft Copilot cites your pages. Google Search Console shows how often your pages appear in Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google Analytics shows who actually visits from ChatGPT and other assistants. And asking the assistants the questions your customers ask shows who they recommend: you, or a competitor. Here's each check, step by step, checked against Microsoft's, Google's and OpenAI's own pages on 31 October 2026.

Check 1: Bing Webmaster Tools, for Copilot

Microsoft launched an AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools in February 2026. Its announcement says it shows how your content appears "across Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations". It's free.

1. Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools and add your site. If your site is already in Google Search Console, Bing can import it.
2. Open AI Performance.
3. Read three numbers: total citations (how often your pages were shown as a source in AI answers), cited pages (which pages) and the questions behind the citations.

Microsoft says the data "represents a sample of overall citation activity", so treat it as a trend, not an exact count. A June 2026 update added labels for the intent behind each question (such as Informational, Commercial or Local), topics, a citation share for each question, and a way to compare two time periods.

What it doesn't show is visits. For our own site, the report counted 104,800 Copilot citations in three months, while Copilot sent us 3 visits in October. The full numbers are in what AI assistant citations actually sent us.

Check 2: Google Search Console, for AI Overviews and AI Mode

Google Search Console now has a generative AI performance report. Google's help page says it shows data about how your site performs in generative AI features on Google Search, covering AI Overviews and AI Mode. You can see how your impressions in those features change over time and which pages get the most.

1. Open Search Console for your site.
2. Go to Performance and open the generative AI report.
3. Look at which pages appear and whether the trend is going up.

It reports impressions: how often a link to your site was shown in an AI feature. Google notes the report may not appear for sites with very few AI impressions yet.

Check 3: Google Analytics, for actual visits

Citations and impressions tell you that you were shown. Analytics tells you who came.

1. In Google Analytics, open Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition.
2. Change the main column to Session source.
3. Look for chatgpt.com, copilot.com, perplexity, gemini and claude.ai.

In our data, ChatGPT sent far more visits than any other assistant, and those visitors were the most likely to click through to a product. Your mix may differ, which is exactly why it's worth checking.

Check 4: Ask the assistants what your customers ask

The reports only show where you already appear. To see where you don't, ask the assistants directly. Use your customers' words, not your brand name:

• "What's the best [your product] for [your type of customer]?"
• "[Your product type] near [your town]" (for a local business)
• "Is [your brand] legit?" and "[your brand] reviews"
• "[Your brand] vs [a competitor]"

Ask ChatGPT, Copilot and Perplexity the same questions and write down three things for each: whether you're named, whether the facts about you are right (prices, opening hours, policies), and who's named instead. Repeat it monthly with the same list so you can see changes.

What to do with what you find

• You're cited, and the facts are right: keep those pages up to date. Microsoft's guidance for AI answers favours clear headings, tables and FAQ sections, and content that's refreshed regularly.
• You're cited, but the facts are wrong: fix the page the assistant is reading first, so your price or policy is stated plainly on your own site.
• You're not named, a competitor is: look at what that competitor's page answers that yours doesn't. Usually it's one direct answer to the exact question.

The full checklist from Microsoft and Google, step by step, is in our AI Search for Business guides.

Our recommendation, if you want it tracked for you

The four checks are free and enough to start. If you'd rather have the same questions checked every day across several assistants, an AI-visibility tracker does it. For a small business, SE Ranking Core is the one we'd try first: it includes AI-visibility tracking for 25 prompts a day across 5 AI engines, plus rank tracking and a site audit, and its 14-day trial doesn't ask for a card. If you already use Semrush, its AI Visibility Toolkit tracks prompts on Google AI Mode and ChatGPT for $99 a month, without a free trial. Both checked on the vendors' own pages on 31 October 2026.