Two in three UK small businesses are invisible to ChatGPT and other AI assistants, Newport study finds

By Zalan Khan, founder of Get AI Picked · Updated 29 October 2026

NEWPORT, South Wales, 29 October 2026 - A live test of 414 independent UK businesses across 40 towns found that 65% were not recommended by any of ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity or Claude when asked "Who are the best [trade] in [town]?". Only 11 businesses (2.7%) were named by all four assistants.

Perplexity named the business in 32% of tests, Gemini in 8%, ChatGPT in 5% and Claude in 5%. Opticians, physiotherapists, florists, dog groomers, dentists, bakeries and cafes were among the trades tested.

"More customers now ask an AI assistant who to call instead of scrolling Google, and the assistant names two or three firms," said Zalan Khan, founder of Get AI Picked. "Most independents simply aren't in that answer, usually for fixable reasons: missing structured data, inconsistent listings, or a website Bing hasn't indexed."

Full data and method: UK Small Business AI Visibility Study 2026 (free to quote with a link, CC BY 4.0). Any business can run the same test free at getaipicked.co.uk/check.

Media contact

Zalan Khan, [email protected], 07805 471620