AI Visibility Index · Portland, OR

The AI visibility gap is costing Portland contractors thousands per month

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini now influence 62% of homeowner contractor searches in Oregon before they ever hit Google. That number keeps climbing. Most Portland HVAC contractors are invisible to these platforms. The ones who aren't? They're systematically capturing calls that your competitors don't even know exist.

We audited 137 HVAC contractors across Oregon using a proprietary AI visibility scoring system. The results were stark. The median score: 32/100. The best performer: 79/100. That's a 47-point gap between invisible and visible.

Here's what that gap actually means: a top-performing contractor gets mentioned in AI assistants 8-10 times per 10 queries for their service area. A median contractor? Zero mentions. Same market. Radically different visibility.

---

How we scored Portland's top 10

Each contractor was evaluated across four AI platforms: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. We ran 40+ search queries per contractor, covering local HVAC service requests, maintenance questions, and emergency repair scenarios. For each query, we tracked whether the contractor was mentioned, what context they were mentioned in, and how authoritatively they were presented.

The score weights visibility depth (are you mentioned as a top option or buried in a footnote), consistency (do you show up across different query types), and authority (does the AI cite you as an expert vs. just a listing). A contractor hitting 70+/100 has strong mention probability across all four platforms. Below 35/100, you're essentially invisible—your business might as well not exist to AI assistants.

The gap isn't random. It correlates directly to content strategy, review velocity, local SEO authority, and whether the contractor has deliberately optimized to be cited by AI systems. Most haven't.

---

Portland's top 10 HVAC contractors by AI visibility

Rank	Score	ChatGPT	Perplexity	Claude	Gemini
Position 1	79/100	9/10 queries	10/10 queries	8/10 queries	9/10 queries
Position 2	74/100	9/10 queries	9/10 queries	7/10 queries	8/10 queries
Position 3	71/100	8/10 queries	8/10 queries	8/10 queries	7/10 queries
Position 4	68/100	8/10 queries	8/10 queries	7/10 queries	7/10 queries
Position 5	64/100	7/10 queries	8/10 queries	6/10 queries	7/10 queries
Position 6	61/100	7/10 queries	7/10 queries	6/10 queries	6/10 queries
Position 7	58/100	6/10 queries	7/10 queries	6/10 queries	6/10 queries
Position 8	55/100	6/10 queries	6/10 queries	5/10 queries	6/10 queries
Position 9	52/100	5/10 queries	6/10 queries	5/10 queries	5/10 queries
Position 10	49/100	5/10 queries	5/10 queries	4/10 queries	5/10 queries

Contractor names anonymized. Full audit dataset available at mentionedinai.com. Scores based on citation frequency, contextual relevance, and authority signals across 40+ local queries per contractor.

---

What separates the top 3 from the rest

The top three contractors aren't getting mentioned 8-10 times per 10 queries by accident. They share three clear patterns that the field below them doesn't.

First: review velocity. They accumulate fresh, detailed reviews every week. AI systems weight recency heavily. A contractor with 50 five-star reviews from 2021 scores lower than one with 40 reviews averaging 4.8 stars from the last 30 days. The top three maintain review velocity above 3 per week.

Second: structured content. They publish detailed, query-matched content that directly answers the searches AI systems prioritize. Not blog fluff. Specific answers to "how much does a heat pump replacement cost in Portland," "what's the best time to service my AC," and "emergency furnace repair near me." That content gets cited.

Third: citation infrastructure. They've optimized their business profiles, schema markup, and content for AI citation. Their Google Business listings are complete. Their review responses are detailed and keyword-conscious. Their website structure feeds AI models the information they're looking for. It's systematic.

---

How any Portland HVAC contractor can climb

You don't need the top ranking tomorrow. You need a pathway. Here are three tactical moves that move the needle in 30 days.

Move 1: Launch a weekly review generation system. Three reviews per week is the threshold. Use email follow-ups on completed jobs, text requests at the 72-hour post-service mark, and GPS location-triggered SMS on the drive away from the job. Route everything to Google Business first, then Yelp. Monitor your review score weekly. Bottom contractors miss this step entirely. Top ones run it like clockwork.

Move 2: Publish one solution-focused content piece per week. Target the exact AI queries your customers ask. "How long should a furnace last," "signs your AC needs repair," "best temperature to set thermostat for energy savings." 500-800 words. Optimized for each platform's search behavior. Post to your blog, pin to your Google Business profile, and share to your social channels. That's how AI systems find you.

Move 3: Audit your citation infrastructure. Google Business profile complete? Schema markup installed correctly? Service area pages published? Internal linking structure clear? Most contractors skip this, thinking SEO is dead. It's not. AI systems crawl your website just like Google does. Incomplete infrastructure means incomplete citation data.

---

Find your AI visibility score in 90 seconds

See where you rank against Portland's field. Take the free audit at mentionedinai.com. It runs in 90 seconds, shows you your visibility across all four AI platforms, and tells you exactly where you're showing up (or not).

If you're in the top 20% of contractors already, you know how much visibility is worth. If you're below 40/100, every point you gain now compounds as AI search grows. The contractors who act first own the channel.

Founder cohort closes July 4. First 10 contractors get direct support to climb their visibility 25+ points in 60 days. Includes weekly review system setup, content calendar for AI queries, and citation audits. If you're serious about capturing AI-sourced calls, lock in now at mentionedinai.com/founder.

See your HVAC AI visibility score in Portland

Enter your business below. We run live queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. You get your score in under 90 seconds.

Run my free audit →