Mentioned vs Featured: AI Visibility for Trade Contractors
Your customers are using AI. When they ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, or Gemini for a plumber, electrician, or HVAC company, are you in the answer? Most contractors don't know. This page explains how Mentioned and Featured approach visibility differently—and which one solves your real problem.
What Featured Does Well
Featured focuses on traditional search visibility: Google Business Profile ranking, Yelp reviews, local directory placement, and standard SEO signals. If your main concern is showing up in Google Maps or Yelp, Featured helps you measure and improve those metrics.
For contractors who've been relying on Google local pack rankings and review sites for the last 5+ years, Featured is familiar territory. It works with the playbook you already know.
Where Mentioned Is Different
AI visibility is a new problem
87% of trade contractors we audited are invisible in AI search results. When someone asks an AI for recommendations, they don't get Google rankings or Yelp reviews—they get an LLM answer sourced from web data. If you're not cited in those sources, the AI can't mention you.
Traditional SEO tools weren't designed to measure this. Featured measures what Google sees. Mentioned measures what ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini see. Different layer entirely.
Open dataset, open methodology
We've run 137 audits on the CC-BY-4.0 license. Our dataset is public. You can see exactly how we measure, where the data comes from, what the benchmark is (median 32/100, top score 79). No mystery box. No proprietary algorithm you have to trust blindly.
This matters because AI visibility is new enough that contractors need to learn why it matters, not just buy a score. Our open approach lets you verify the findings yourself.
Built for trades, not generalists
Mentioned started with a simple insight: HVAC companies, plumbers, electricians, and roofers have a specific visibility problem in AI that other industries don't. Our audit focuses on the signals that matter to trade contractor discovery (service areas, certifications, local authority, review aggregation).
Featured is horizontal—it works for any business. Mentioned is vertical. We know your industry's problem because we measured it.
Founder-operator posture
Mentioned is built by someone who runs a trade contracting business and understands your P&L. Not a SaaS company selling a tool about your industry. This shapes how we position the problem and what we actually measure.
47-point gap between median contractor (32/100) and top performer (79/100) in our dataset
Best For: Quick Comparison
| Tool | Measures | Best For | You Should Use It If... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Featured | Google Business Profile, Yelp, local directories, traditional SEO | Improving local pack rankings and review site visibility | Your leads mostly come from Google Maps or you're trying to move up in local search |
| Mentioned | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini visibility | Understanding if AI refers customers to you | You want to know if AI search is a visible lead channel and what to fix |
Use Both (If You Want the Full Picture)
These tools answer different questions. Featured tells you if you rank in traditional search. Mentioned tells you if you're visible in AI search.
Ideally, you're visible in both. Some contractors find they rank well on Google but are completely invisible in AI—which means they're missing an emerging lead channel. Others are mentioned in AI but haven't optimized their Google Business Profile. Both gaps cost money.
Start with Mentioned if your current lead sources are slowing down or you want to understand an entirely new channel. Start with Featured if you already run ads and want to improve organic velocity in your existing funnel.
Honest take: Featured and Mentioned serve different purposes. This isn't a "one or the other" decision. But if you only have 90 minutes and want to find a quick revenue leak, Mentioned's AI visibility audit surfaces gaps that traditional tools miss completely.
The Bottom Line
AI search is here. Contractors are already getting referred by large language models. The question isn't whether it matters—it's whether you're in those answers.
Featured solves the Google problem. Mentioned solves the AI problem. If your team is already locked into Google optimization, Featured fits your workflow. If you want to see what an entirely new lead source looks like, Mentioned shows you the gap in 90 seconds.
Get Your AI Visibility Score
Free 90-second audit at mentionedinai.com. See exactly what ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini see about your business.
Lock in Founder Pricing before July 4: $297/mo or $1,497 lifetime.
See your Featured 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 Featured contractors in
Google ranks pages. AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity name specific businesses in answers. A Featured 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 Featured 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.