When a Twin Cities buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI who to hire, the answer isn't pulled from your website alone. It's stitched together from places the AI trusts. If you don't know which places those are, you can't fix them.

Here is what the best available data says about where each engine looks, and what a Minnesota business owner should do about it.

What the data actually shows

Squarespace and Peec AI analyzed about 1.3 million citations across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity for service businesses in three categories: health and wellness, professional services, and training and education. It's the largest study of its kind we've found. Two caveats: it's national, not Minnesota-specific, and Squarespace sells website tools. The patterns are still useful, and they differ by engine:

  • ChatGPT: Wikipedia was the most-cited domain in every industry studied.
  • Google AI Mode: leaned heavily on social media. More than 90% of the Instagram citations in the study came from Google AI Mode.
  • Perplexity: favored list articles. In professional services, about one in three citations was a "best of" article.
  • Across all three: more than 20% of citations were "best of" articles. Yelp, niche directories and marketplaces were foundational. YouTube ranked in the top four domains in every industry, and Reddit was the top domain in training and education.

The same survey found that about 40% of the small business owners who had checked what AI says about them found incorrect information.

The takeaway: AI doesn't grade your homepage. It reads the web's opinion of you. Your job is to make that opinion easy to find, consistent and correct.

The 5 places to fix first

This is our recommendation based on the patterns above, not a finding of the study.

1. Make your basic facts identical everywhere

Name, address, phone, services, hours, founding year. Check your website, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn and the directories for your industry. When sources disagree, an AI has to guess, and a guess is a reason to leave you out. This is also the quickest way to catch the wrong information that 40% of owners found.

2. Get onto the "best of" lists that already exist

If a third of Perplexity's citations in professional services came from list articles, those lists are where recommendations are made. Search your category plus "Minneapolis" or "Twin Cities" and see which lists rank. Local examples worth pursuing are regional business publications, chamber and association directories, and local magazine "best of" and "top" lists. Then earn a place by being genuinely worth listing, and ask. Don't buy or fake it.

3. Show up on the platforms Google AI leans on

If Google AI Mode draws heavily on social content, an active, accurate Instagram, LinkedIn and Google Business Profile isn't optional decoration. Post real work, real people and real answers. Keep it current.

4. Put your experts on video

YouTube appeared among the top four cited domains in every industry in the study. A recorded interview with a clear title, a transcript and a short description gives AI something specific to cite, and gives buyers a reason to trust you. This is the part of the work we do at AXION.

5. Add a little earned press, especially if you're not in a giant market

One practitioner who tested about 500 prompts across six cities reported that a modest amount of local press seemed to help most in smaller markets. That's an opinion piece with a small sample, so treat it as a hypothesis. It's cheap to test: get one credible local mention and see whether your AI answers change.

What we'd skip

  • Promises of "ranking #1 in ChatGPT." Nobody controls that. AI answers vary from run to run.
  • Keyword stuffing for AI. It's the same mistake as in 2008, aimed at a different reader.
  • Buying fake reviews or list placements. The engines compare sources, and inconsistencies hurt you.

How to check where you stand today (15 minutes)

  1. Write five questions your buyers actually ask, such as "Who is the best [your category] in Minneapolis?"
  2. Ask each one in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI. Repeat each twice, because answers change.
  3. Note who's named and which sources are cited.
  4. Compare the cited sources to the five places above. Wherever you're missing, start there.

We wrote a step-by-step version here: How to check whether ChatGPT mentions your company.

Questions

Is this data about Minnesota? No. The large study is national. We haven't found a published Minnesota-specific study, and we'd rather say so than invent one. The mechanics (which sources each engine reads) apply anywhere, and the Twin Cities angle is where to look for local lists and press.

How long until it changes my AI answers? It varies. Fixing inconsistent business details can show up quickly, while earning mentions on other sites builds slowly. Anyone who gives you an exact date is guessing.

Can you guarantee we'll be recommended? No one can. AI engines decide for themselves. We can show you where you stand, fix what's fixable and report honestly.

Want us to run the check for you?

We'll run the buyer questions for your category across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI and email you who gets named and which sources are cited. It's free, with no sales call required: get your free AI visibility check.

Related: How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT? · The 7 signals that tell ChatGPT to cite you · AI search optimization in Minneapolis

Source: Squarespace, "AI search for business owners", with Peec AI citation data, 2026.