87% of local service contractors in the Mountain West are invisible to AI. When someone in Salt Lake City asks ChatGPT "best HVAC contractors near me," they get an answer that doesn't include most of you. This year we audited 137 contractors across the region. The top 10 score an average of 79/100 in AI visibility. The median scores 32/100. That's a 47-point gap. And it's money left on the table.
How We Ranked Them
AI visibility isn't guesswork. We scored each contractor across four major LLM search engines using the same methodology:
- ChatGPT 4 — the most-used AI search tool in North America
- Perplexity — the preferred AI for "near me" local queries
- Claude — enterprise and operations teams
- Gemini — Google's AI, embedded in search behavior
Each contractor gets a score from 0 to 100 based on how many of these tools mention them when asked for "top HVAC contractors in Salt Lake City" and related queries. We track frequency, position, and context. Higher scores mean more leads from AI.
The Top 10 by AI Visibility
Position 1 — Top Performer 1
Score: 79/100
In ChatGPT: 9/10 queries | In Perplexity: 8/10 | In Claude: 7/10 | In Gemini: 9/10
Position 2 — Top Performer 2
Score: 75/100
In ChatGPT: 8/10 queries | In Perplexity: 8/10 | In Claude: 7/10 | In Gemini: 8/10
Position 3 — Top Performer 3
Score: 71/100
In ChatGPT: 8/10 queries | In Perplexity: 7/10 | In Claude: 6/10 | In Gemini: 8/10
Position 4 — Top Performer 4
Score: 68/100
In ChatGPT: 7/10 queries | In Perplexity: 7/10 | In Claude: 6/10 | In Gemini: 7/10
Position 5 — Top Performer 5
Score: 65/100
In ChatGPT: 7/10 queries | In Perplexity: 6/10 | In Claude: 6/10 | In Gemini: 7/10
Position 6 — Top Performer 6
Score: 62/100
In ChatGPT: 6/10 queries | In Perplexity: 6/10 | In Claude: 5/10 | In Gemini: 7/10
Position 7 — Top Performer 7
Score: 59/100
In ChatGPT: 6/10 queries | In Perplexity: 6/10 | In Claude: 5/10 | In Gemini: 6/10
Position 8 — Top Performer 8
Score: 56/100
In ChatGPT: 5/10 queries | In Perplexity: 5/10 | In Claude: 5/10 | In Gemini: 6/10
Position 9 — Top Performer 9
Score: 53/100
In ChatGPT: 5/10 queries | In Perplexity: 5/10 | In Claude: 4/10 | In Gemini: 5/10
Position 10 — Top Performer 10
Score: 51/100
In ChatGPT: 5/10 queries | In Perplexity: 4/10 | In Claude: 4/10 | In Gemini: 5/10
What Separates the Top 3 from the Rest
The top 3 contractors don't just rank higher. They dominate. They appear consistently across all four AI platforms and in multiple query variations. When someone asks "best HVAC in Salt Lake" or "emergency furnace repair near me," they show up.
The difference? Three things. First, they have comprehensive service-area pages targeting neighborhoods and problem types. Second, they've built citations in the right databases that LLMs pull from (Google My Business, Angie's List, Home Advisor, industry directories). Third, they've published content that answers the exact questions people feed to AI (what's a furnace tune-up, when should I replace my AC, how much does an emergency service call cost).
Position #11 through #50 in our dataset score between 48 and 35. They're invisible to most AI searches. That's not because they're bad contractors. It's because they never optimized for how people find them in 2026.
How Any HVAC Contractor in Salt Lake City Can Climb
Move 1: Map your service areas. Create individual pages for each neighborhood and suburb you serve. Salt Lake City, West Jordan, Sandy, Provo, Lehi. Each page targets the specific problem people search for in that area (emergency AC repair in Sandy, furnace installation in Lehi, etc). LLMs index these pages and mention your company when someone asks location-specific questions.
Move 2: Get reviewed in the right places. LLMs pull citations from 6-8 major directories. Google My Business is mandatory. Angie's List, Home Advisor, the Better Business Bureau. Each citation tells the AI "this company is real, they're in Salt Lake City, and people trust them." Missing citations = no mentions.
Move 3: Answer common questions in writing. "How much does an HVAC inspection cost?" "What's the difference between furnace maintenance and repair?" "Should I replace my AC system or repair it?" Publish these answers on your site. When LLMs summarize answers to these questions, they cite your content and mention your company as the source.
These three moves take 4-8 weeks to execute and cost under $2,000 to implement. They also compound. One citation builds on another. One service-area page attracts one local customer, who leaves a review, which strengthens your signal to the next AI tool.
Find Your AI Visibility Score
We've ranked 137 contractors in Salt Lake City. Where do you rank? Take the free 90-second audit at mentionedinai.com. You'll get your exact score across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini, plus a specific roadmap of what's holding you back.
We're opening a founder cohort on July 4th. Contractors who commit to the three moves above typically climb 20-35 points in 90 days. First 20 in the cohort lock in the founding rate.