Are Your Customers Finding You in ChatGPT and Perplexity?
The Quick Answer
Most HVAC contractors are invisible when homeowners ask AI engines for service recommendations. Run our free audit to see your visibility score (0-100) across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's AI Overview. Takes 90 seconds. No credit card. Start at mentionedinai.com.
Why This Happens (And Why It Matters)
When a homeowner asks ChatGPT "best HVAC company in [your city]," the engine pulls citations from web pages, reviews, local directories, and schema markup. Your Google Business Profile helps you show up in Google Maps. But AI engines don't use Maps the same way.
They need:
- Structured business data (schema markup saying "I'm an HVAC contractor in this city")
- Third-party citations (quotes on industry sites, contractor directories, local news)
- Authority signals (reviews, case studies, published content)
- Geographic specificity (service area pages, location-specific content)
Most contractors have zero of these. That's why 87% don't show up when AI engines answer service-recommendation questions.
The data backs this up: we ran 137 audits on real HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing contractors. The median visibility score was 32 out of 100. The top performers hit 79. That's a 47-point gap between invisible and discoverable. And it's fixable.
How to Fix It (Without Hiring an Agency)
1. Run the free audit first. Go to mentionedinai.com, enter your business name and city, wait 90 seconds. You get a score breakdown showing exactly which AI engines see you, which don't, and why.
2. Add schema markup to your website. This is the mechanical fix. Schema tells AI engines "I am an HVAC contractor" + "I serve these cities" + "My reviews are X." No coding required—use a plugin (Yoast SEO, All In One SEO, Schema Pro) or hire a contractor SEO person for $200-500. This alone moves most contractors from invisible (0-20) to discoverable (30-50).
3. Build your citation profile. Get listed on contractor directories (HVAC.com, FindALocalContractor.com, ServiceArea.com, HVAC Mentor). Answer questions on industry forums. The goal is simple: when an AI engine searches for "HVAC contractors in [city]," your name appears in third-party sources, not just your own website.
4. Publish service-area pages. One page per city or region you serve. Format: "HVAC Service in Springfield" + your story + reviews from Springfield customers + schema markup. AI engines love local specificity. This is how you differentiate from the national chains that show up everywhere.
5. Track it monthly. Run the audit again in 30 days. Did your score move? If yes, keep going. If not, the schema or citations aren't wired correctly. The free audit shows you the before/after so you can prove the fix works.
What NOT to Do
Don't skip schema markup. This is the foundation. Without it, all the citations and service-area pages are noise. Schema is what makes the signal stick.
Don't spray-and-pray citations. Getting listed on 50 low-quality directories doesn't move the needle. AI engines see through that. Target 5-10 high-authority contractor directories and industry sites instead. Quality beats volume.
Don't set it and forget it. Your competitors are waking up to AI visibility right now. If you audit once and then ignore it for six months, you'll fall behind. Monthly re-audits take two minutes and show you what's working.
Don't confuse this with Google ranking. You might rank #1 in Google Maps and still be invisible in ChatGPT. They use different signals. Winning both requires two separate strategies.
Don't trust the big agencies yet. Most SEO and digital marketing agencies don't know how to optimize for AI visibility. They're still focused on Google. Do the audit yourself, understand the score, then hire someone who understands AI engines specifically.
How Mentioned Helps
The free audit is built on data from 137 real contractor audits published under an open CC-BY-4.0 license. That means you can re-run the test yourself or share the methodology.
For contractors who want to track AI visibility monthly and compete in hot markets, we offer a $97/month subscription. You get weekly audits, competitor benchmarking (see how your score stacks up against local competitors), and alerts when you drop.
Founder tier opens July 4. Early subscribers who join before then lock in 50% off lifetime.
But the free audit is completely standalone. Use it once, never subscribe, and you still get the score and the fix steps. That's the goal: make AI visibility transparent, so contractors stop being invisible by accident.
Get Your Free Score
Run Free Audit at mentionedinai.com
90 seconds. One business. Your visibility score across four AI engines. No signup required.
See your HVAC AI visibility score in
Enter your business below. We run live queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. You get your score in under 90 seconds.
Common questions about AI visibility for HVAC contractors in
Google ranks pages. AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity name specific businesses in answers. A HVAC contractor in can rank #1 on Google and still be invisible in ChatGPT, because the signals are different (schema, citations, structured data, training-data presence).
Most HVAC contractors see meaningful score lift within 30-60 days of implementing the three core fixes: Google Business Profile completion, consistent industry directory listings, and schema markup. The 47-point gap between median (32) and top performers (79) is closeable.
Yes. Roughly 40% of homeowner searches now start in ChatGPT or Perplexity instead of Google. Even with strong Google rankings, you can be completely invisible in AI answers, which means losing calls you don't even know about.
Your AI visibility score across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. Specific gap analysis against top performers in . Three highest-leverage fixes prioritized by impact. Takes 90 seconds, no card required.