The AI visibility audit: find out if ChatGPT recommends you.

Why every asbestos contractor needs to know what AI says about them

Buyers have not stopped searching. They have added a new step. According to Ofcom’s 2026 research, 54% of UK adults now use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini, up from 31% in 2024, and three in four online adults read AI-generated search summaries at least some of the time. Ofcom’s Online Nation research also found that around 30% of keyword searches now deliver AI-supported responses.

For asbestos work that matters, because the questions people ask are exactly the kind AI tools love to answer. Who can survey a school in Leeds over the holidays? Which licensed contractor near Bristol can remove pipe lagging from a boiler room? A facilities manager, a homeowner and a principal contractor can all get a short list of names without ever visiting a search results page. If you are not on that list, you may never know the enquiry existed.

An AI visibility audit tells you where you stand. It is the AI equivalent of checking your Google rankings, and very few asbestos contractors have ever done one. We explain the bigger picture in how AI search chooses asbestos companies. This guide is the practical, step-by-step version.

How AI tools decide who to recommend

AI assistants do not keep a secret list of favourite contractors. For anything current, local or commercial, they search the web, read a handful of sources and build an answer from what they can confirm. Understanding those sources is the key to the audit:

• Your own website comes first. In a BrightLocal study of 800 local searches, business websites made up 58% of ChatGPT’s local sources, followed by mentions of the business elsewhere (27%) and directories (15%). A 2026 study of Gemini found a similar pattern, with almost 60% of local citations pointing to the business’s own website.
• Bing matters more than most contractors realise. BrightLocal notes that ChatGPT is mostly powered by Bing’s index, while also drawing on Google review information. If Bing has never properly crawled your site, ChatGPT may struggle to find you.
• Your Google Business Profile is a major source. BrightLocal’s research into AI directory sources found that Google Business Profile accounted for 28.5% of local citations across the directories it studied. We cover keeping it fresh in Google Business Profile management.
• Answers change constantly. The same Steady Demand research reports that the domains behind ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answers can change heavily from one week to the next. One test tells you very little. A monthly routine tells you a lot.

Step 1: Set up a fair test

Consistency is everything. Before you start, decide how you will test so that next month’s results can be compared fairly with this month’s:

• Test in ChatGPT, Gemini, Google (looking at AI Overviews and AI Mode), Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. If Ask Maps is available in your area, try it in the Google Maps app too.
• Use a private browser window or a logged-out account where you can, so your own history does not influence the answers.
• Ask each question exactly as written, in a new chat each time.
• Record the date, the tool, the question, every business named, the order they appear in and the sources shown.
• Keep a simple spreadsheet. The same sheet becomes your monthly tracker.

Step 2: Use a test bank built for asbestos buyers

Generic prompts give generic results. The questions below are written the way real asbestos buyers ask them, grouped by the people who hire you. Replace the town and service with your own, and keep the wording identical every month.

If you are a surveyor or laboratory, weight the test towards the facilities manager and lab buyer questions. If most of your work is domestic, add more homeowner questions with the towns you want more work from.

Step 3: Score the answers

Scoring turns a pile of screenshots into a number you can track. Use the same scale for every answer:

With 16 questions, the maximum is 64 per AI tool. Add up your score for each tool and express it as a percentage. Then count how often each competitor is named. That gives you your share of the AI conversation in your area, and the names of the firms AI currently prefers.

Pay close attention to the sources shown. If AI keeps citing a competitor’s case study, a directory listing or a trade association page instead of your website, you have found exactly where your gaps are.

Step 4: Diagnose why you are missing

When AI tools leave you out, the cause is usually one of a small number of fixable problems. Check each one against your results:

Our 2026 audit of 204 asbestos contractor and surveyor websites found these gaps are common. Only 2% of the websites we checked passed all eight basic essentials, which means most firms have real room to move ahead.

Step 5: Fix in the right order

Not every fix takes the same effort. Work through them in this order for the fastest improvement:

1. Correct any wrong details AI tools are repeating about you, starting with your Google Business Profile and website contact details.
2. Write out your credentials with numbers and links to the HSE, ARCA, UKATA and UKAS registers.
3. Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and make sure search crawlers are allowed.
4. Make your business details identical across every directory and trade association listing.
5. Ask recent clients for reviews that mention the job and the town.
6. Build or improve the pages behind the questions you scored lowest on.
7. Publish case studies that prove the work AI tools are being asked about.

Credential and profile fixes can start to show in AI answers within weeks. New pages and reviews build up over months. The four stage clearance framework explains how these pieces fit together.

Step 6: Re-test every month

Run the same questions, in the same tools, at the same point each month, and record the scores in the same sheet. Look for three things: your score rising, competitors dropping out of answers you now appear in, and your own website appearing more often as a cited source. If a score drops, check what changed, because a new competitor page or a fresh batch of their reviews is often the reason.

Four myths about AI visibility

• “AI only recommends the biggest firms.” AI recommends the firms it can verify. A small, well-documented contractor can be named ahead of a larger firm with a thin website.
• “You can pay to appear in ChatGPT.” You cannot buy a place in the organic answers. Visibility is earned with clear, consistent information.
• “One file will fix it.” Technical files can help AI tools read your site, but they cannot replace credentials, pages and reviews.
• “If Google ranks us, AI will too.” Rankings help, but AI tools also rely on Bing, directories and reviews, and they describe you using what they can confirm.

DIY or done for you?

You can run this audit yourself in an afternoon each month, and we hope this guide helps you do exactly that. If you would rather spend that time on site, our team runs it for you. Our SEO and AI visibility plan includes a monthly AI visibility check across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI, fixes to the reasons you are left out, a new page or case study every month and a plain-English report.

We have over 20 years of experience in web design and digital marketing for the trades, our team includes an AI search strategist who completed the Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme at Saïd Business School, and we now work only in the asbestos sector. Whether you are a contractor, a surveyor or a laboratory, the best place to start is a free Four Stage Clearance. Unfamiliar terms are explained in our asbestos and digital glossary.

Sources: Ofcom, Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes 2026, as reported by ProfileTree; Ofcom, Online Nation 2025, as reported by Mobile World Live; BrightLocal, Uncovering ChatGPT Search Sources; BrightLocal, AI directory sources study; Steady Demand Research Index, AI Search Study, August 2026; OpenAI crawler documentation.