We pay for Angi leads already. Does that help here?

It gets you into the listing that assistants quote, which is worth something. It does not get your own site quoted, and it means your visibility is rented — if the platform changes what it shows, you have no page of your own in the answer.

Our customers are older. Are they really using AI for this?

Some are and most are not yet. The honest framing is that this is early and cheap now, and the work — claimed listings, real pricing pages, clear service areas — is the same work that pays off in ordinary search regardless.

Can you make the changes for us?

Not yet. Publishing to WordPress — as drafts, in an approval queue, with one-click undo — is what is being built next. Today, on every platform, the report gives you the change and the steps and you make it. We would rather say that than imply we can publish for you and have you find out otherwise.

They matter and we do not touch them. Soliciting reviews is your work, and a tool that offered to do it would be offering something you should not accept.

How many questions are about emergencies?

Several, and they behave differently — urgency questions get shorter answers with fewer names in them, which makes being one of those names worth more.

Yes. One site, three engines, no signup.

Plumbers, electricians & home services

When someone asks an assistant for a plumber, who does it name?

30 buyer questions across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, run against a real Austin home-services company. The answers cite directories far more often than they cite anybody's website.

Real report

We ran this on Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical, Austin, TX

Tested 30 buyer questions across ChatGPT (API), Perplexity, Gemini. 22 of them never name Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical — those are the ones a buyer who has not heard of them would ask.

Run on 2026-09-14 against ChatGPT (API) openai/gpt-5.4-mini, Perplexity perplexity/sonar-pro, Gemini google/gemini-3-flash. Engines answer differently over time — this is what they said that day.

7 of 22: questions that never name them, where they came up anyway
15: questions answered entirely without them

The questions, and who got recommended instead

Asked exactly as written below. The domains are the ones each engine actually cited.

“best plumber for Austin homeowners in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- angi.com
Perplexity
- statesman.com
- expertise.com
- siftpros.com
- reddit.com
- consumeraffairs.com
Gemini
- replacecastironpipe.com
- consumeraffairs.com
- expertise.com
- homeadvisor.com
- plumberranker.com
“who is the best plumber for commercial business properties in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- austinpu.com
- skplumbinginc.com
- magicplumbingatx.com
- fisher-services.com
- rotorooter.com
Perplexity
- fisher-services.com
- reliantplumbing.com
- yelp.com
- casamechanical.com
- crejunction.com
Gemini
- facebook.com
- albertoplumbing.com
- laloplumbing.com
- rotorooter.com
- downtobid.com
“best plumber for homeowners in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- bbb.org
- siftpros.com
- angi.com
- bestpickreports.com
Perplexity
- statesman.com
- reliantplumbing.com
- siftpros.com
- serviceagent.ai
- cityvetted.com
Gemini
- reddit.com
- plumberranker.com
- expertise.com
- facebook.com
- angi.com
“which plumber is better for Austin homeowners”
ChatGPT (API)
- bbb.org
- bestprosintown.com
- angi.com
Perplexity
- statesman.com
- reddit.com
- siftpros.com
- consumeraffairs.com
- serviceagent.ai
Gemini
- reddit.com
- angi.com
“compare plumber options in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- expertise.com
- reddit.com
- angi.com
- rotorooter.com
- tsbpe.texas.gov
Perplexity
- siftpros.com
- statesman.com
- prosgrade.com
- consumeraffairs.com
- angi.com
Gemini
- siftpros.com
- facebook.com
- abchomeandcommercial.com
- replacecastironpipe.com
- consumeraffairs.com
“how much does plumbing repairs cost in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- angi.com
Perplexity
- angi.com
- plumbingsniper.com
- ironcladtexas.com
- recommended.app
- consumeraffairs.com
Gemini
- abchomeandcommercial.com
- 365taskers.com
- ironcladtexas.com
- plumbingoutfitters.com
- siftpros.com

What the engines cited

Directories, threads and roundups — the pages holding the answer. The claimable ones are the fastest item on any report.

angi.comDirectory you can claim28 questions
3 engines
reddit.comCommunity thread21 questions
3 engines
bbb.orgDirectory you can claim14 questions
3 engines
bestpickreports.comRoundup / aggregator14 questions
3 engines
expertise.comRoundup / aggregator14 questions
3 engines

Other domains the engines cited

Every other domain the answers named — competitors, directories and publishers alike. Cited by more than one engine on more than one question.

rotorooter.com13 questions
3 engines
mrrooter.com8 questions
3 engines
rootermanofaustin.com4 questions
3 engines
homeguide.com9 questions
2 engines
reliantplumbing.com9 questions
2 engines
trustanalytica.org9 questions
2 engines

What the site never says

For each question, what the model needed to find on the site and did not — in its own words.

“best plumber for Austin homeowners in Austin, TX”
The site would need to plainly say it is the best plumber for Austin homeowners, not just call itself award-winning or trusted.
“who is the best plumber for commercial business properties in Austin, TX”
The site would need to directly state that it is the best plumber for commercial business properties in Austin.
“best plumber for homeowners in Austin, TX”
The site would need to explicitly claim it is the best plumber for homeowners in Austin, TX.
“which plumber is better for Austin homeowners”
The site would need a direct comparison showing why this plumber is better than another named or implied option for Austin homeowners.

The prescription

What the report told them to do

Generated from the questions they lost, not from a checklist. Each one names the questions it is meant to win back.

Own your listings on angi.com, bbb.org, yelp.com
change12 questions
On 12 of the questions you lose, the assistants cite a directory rather than any business's own site. Those listings are the answer buyers are being shown.
Answer "best plumber for homeowners in Austin, TX" on /about-us/
change5 questions
The site would need to explicitly claim it is the best plumber for homeowners in Austin, TX.
New comparison page answering "compare plumber options in Austin, TX"
new page5 questions
The site would need to compare Abacus against other Austin plumbers with concrete criteria or differences.
Answer "best plumber for Austin homeowners in Austin, TX" on /
change3 questions
The site would need to plainly say it is the best plumber for Austin homeowners, not just call itself award-winning or trusted.

Get this for your own client

Directories win because they answer the comparative question

Almost every question a buyer asks is comparative — best, cheapest that is still good, which one for my situation. A contractor's website cannot answer it, because answering it means talking about competitors. A directory does nothing else. That is the whole mechanism, and it is why the answer is Angi rather than the company that has served the city for twenty years. Two things change it: own the listings being quoted, and publish the honest comparison the directory is faking.

What to do about it

This is the shape of every report we produce, split two ways: the changes we will make for you on WordPress once the plugin ships (as drafts, behind approval), and the ones only you can do — claiming a listing, fixing a profile, answering the questions a page has been avoiding. We mark which is which rather than pretending the second column does not exist.

01
Own the listings that are being cited
The report names the exact domains. Angi, BBB, the Google Business Profile, the regional directories. Claimed, complete, with real service areas and hours.
02
Publish real pricing, even as a range
'How much does plumbing repairs cost in Austin, TX' was one of the questions in this run, and one the company did not come up for. Price questions are among the least answered by contractors; whoever answers them gets quoted.
03
Make the service area explicit in the markup
Not just in the header. A local business block with a full address is what lets an assistant conclude you serve the suburb someone named.

FAQ

Questions

Run the same questions on your own home-services company

One client website. You get the questions they lose, who won them, and what the site never answers. Free, and there is no signup.

Get your free reportOne client website, no signup. Paid plans will ask the same questions 2.5× deeper.

When someone asks an assistant for a plumber, who does it name?

We ran this on Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical, Austin, TX

The questions, and who got recommended instead

What the engines cited

Other domains the engines cited

What the site never says

What the report told them to do

Own your listings on angi.com, bbb.org, yelp.com

Answer "best plumber for homeowners in Austin, TX" on /about-us/

New comparison page answering "compare plumber options in Austin, TX"

Answer "best plumber for Austin homeowners in Austin, TX" on /

Directories win because they answer the comparative question

What to do about it

Own the listings that are being cited

Publish real pricing, even as a range

Make the service area explicit in the markup