Does ChatGPT recommend the businesses Google Maps ranks first?
Only 13.8% of the 261 businesses ChatGPT named appeared in Google Maps’ top three for the same search. Across 60 questions in 20 cities, recommendations and Maps rankings often differed. This snapshot covers dentists, chiropractors and med spas; it does not predict the answer a particular customer will see.
You rank on Maps. Does ChatGPT recommend you?
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You rank on Maps. Does ChatGPT recommend you?
13.8% of ChatGPT’s named business observations were in Maps’ top three for the same search.
261 named business observations · 60 searches
Antidote research · 26 October 2026
Your Maps ranking does not tell you what an AI answer shows.
Ask the questions your customers ask. Check Maps and AI answers separately.
One ChatGPT run per question. One day. Selected cities and industries.
Read the study and its limitations.
meetantidote.com/research-studies/chatgpt-vs-google-maps/
What we found
Overlap depends on which list you start with
The first two bars start with ChatGPT’s named businesses. The last starts with Maps’ top-three businesses.
Chart values as text
- ChatGPT names in Maps’ top 3
- 13.8%
- ChatGPT names in Maps’ top 10
- 29.1%
- Maps’ top 3 named by ChatGPT
- 21.7%
Which ChatGPT names were in Maps’ top three?
Within each industry, the denominator is the businesses named by ChatGPT.
Chart values as text
- Chiropractors
- 24.4%
- Dentists
- 12.5%
- Med spas
- 5.3%
Which Maps top-three businesses did ChatGPT name?
Within each industry, the denominator is Maps’ top-three businesses.
Chart values as text
- Chiropractors
- 36.7%
- Dentists
- 20.0%
- Med spas
- 8.3%
Directories and review sites appeared among the cited sources
ChatGPT leaned on directories and review sites in this snapshot. The leading cited domains and their recorded counts are below. A citation is an observed source, not proof of what caused a recommendation.
- reviews.birdeye.com
- 12
- www.practo.com
- 7
- www.starworks.com.au
- 6
- www.yelp.com
- 6
- healthfinder.in
- 6
- www.healthgrades.com
- 5
- www.bestinhood.com
- 5
- www.gcc-uk.org
- 4
- doctor.webmd.com
- 4
- www.dentistsranked.com
- 4
- medspascout.com
- 4
- www.discovermedspa.com
- 4
How we did it
Collected on 2026-10-26 from ChatGPT answers and Google Maps results. We asked 60 questions using “best <dentist|chiropractor|med spa> in <city>”, across 20 cities in the US, UK, India, Australia, Canada and Ireland. Each industry had 20 questions.
There was one ChatGPT run per question. All 60 answers named businesses, producing 261 named-business observations. We compared those names with the top 10 Google Maps results for the same search. These are search-level observations, not a count of unique businesses across the whole study.
Names were compared on the business-name part of the listing title. A match means identical names, or a name of two or more words fully contained in the other. This name-based rule can miss name variants or confuse similarly named businesses; it is not an address-verified identity match.
We report overlap in both directions. The share of ChatGPT names found in Maps uses ChatGPT’s named businesses as its denominator. The share of Maps’ top-three businesses named by ChatGPT uses Maps’ top-three businesses as its denominator. These measures answer different questions.
Download the aggregate dataset (JSON). Research by the Antidote team; collected . Only aggregates are published; no individual clinics are named.
Limits
- This was one ChatGPT run per question on one day. Answers vary between runs and users; this is a snapshot rather than a stable recommendation list.
- Google Maps results depend on location and time. A city-based query does not reproduce every searcher’s location or personalised results.
- Only the top 10 Maps results were compared. Businesses outside that window can still be recommended by ChatGPT. The selected cities and industries do not represent every local market.
- Cited domains describe the sources surfaced in these answers. Their presence does not establish why a business was recommended or that obtaining a directory listing will cause an AI mention.
What this means for you
Check Maps visibility and AI recommendations separately. Keep your Google profile accurate, then inspect the answers and sources a customer might encounter. The overlap shows why Local SEO and AEO/GEO both matter; it does not establish a formula for winning either channel.
Cite this study
The Antidote team. “Does ChatGPT recommend the businesses Google Maps ranks first?” Antidote, 31 Oct 2026. https://meetantidote.com/research-studies/chatgpt-vs-google-maps/
Data collected by the Antidote team on 2026-10-26. Please link to this study so readers can inspect its method and limits.
Read the other Antidote research studies