I scored 100 businesses on whether AI actually recommends them. Big brands are losing to indies.

Classic SEO measures whether you rank on Google. But AI answers are quietly eating the ten blue links, and that raises a different question with different signals: when someone asks ChatGPT, Claude or Google AI for a recommendation, can the model actually understand, trust and cite your business? I wanted real data instead of vibes, so I ran a controlled audit of 100 businesses — 25 local, 25…