Marketing & SEO agencies
We asked four AI assistants which agency to hire.
They almost never agreed.
We put the same ten questions a business owner would ask when hiring an agency to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, then recorded every company they named and every website they cited.
Original research · 10 questions × 4 assistants
Data collected · Published
What these numbers mean
Our methodology: we asked 10 buyer-intent questions of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, recorded every business named and every website cited in each answer, and repeated the run to measure how much each assistant varies with itself. Nothing here is modelled or estimated. Every figure below is counted from those answers, and the raw dataset is published under CC BY so you can recount them.
- All four used the same website
- When an assistant answers, it reads websites and lists them as its sources. We checked whether all four assistants read at least one website in common. On 0 of the 10 questions, they did. On the rest, there was not a single website all four had looked at. If you see a 0 on a question below, that is what it means, not that they read nothing.
- Used by one assistant only
- We took every website the assistants used across all 10 questions. 74% were used by one assistant and by no other. In other words, most of what they read, they read alone.
- Different websites
- How many separate websites came up in total. Each one counts once, no matter how often it appears. 143 sites for 10 questions means they are pulling from a very wide, scattered set of places rather than a few trusted ones.
You can check all of this yourself. Every question we asked is further down, along with the businesses each assistant named and which of the four used each website. Nothing here is estimated.
Every assistant got exactly the same question. No follow-ups, nothing about who was asking. We wrote down which businesses each one named and which websites it read to get there.
There is no single “AI answer” for your category. Ask two assistants the same question and they agree on about 7% of the websites they read. Ask four and you get four different shortlists, built from four different sets of sources.
That matters if you are trying to get your business recommended. “Are we visible in AI search?” is really four questions, and the answers barely relate to each other. Doing well in Perplexity tells you almost nothing about whether ChatGPT knows you exist.
First, the obvious objection
Ask an AI assistant the same question twice and you can get two different answers. So before saying these four disagree with each other, we had to rule out that each one simply disagrees with itself.
So we asked 10 of the questions again, two from each of the five industries, 3 times on every assistant, and compared what they read each time. Two numbers came out of it:
Same assistant, different runs
51%How much an assistant agrees with itself when asked again
Different assistants, same run
7%How much two assistants agree with each other
So an assistant is 7.5× more likely to agree with itself than with the others. The randomness is real, but it is far too small to explain the gap. They disagree because they are different, not because we got unlucky.
The re-runs turned up something else: some assistants are far steadier than others. Ask Perplexity the same question twice and about 72% of the websites it reads are the same. Ask ChatGPT and only 32% are. Most of what it reads the second time is new.
So checking “what does AI say about us?” once tells you what happened that one time. It is not a measurement, especially on ChatGPT.
The websites they read most
Across all 10 questions. Anything marked directoryis a listing or review site rather than a business's own website.
clutch.co20agencies.semrush.com8designrush.com8goodfirms.co7themanifest.com6sortlist.com6reddit.com4semrush.com4nogood.io4digitalagencynetwork.com4About 31% of what they read was a directory rather than the website of a business they recommended. Take the exact figure loosely. It moves depending on where you draw the line between a directory and a publisher. The pattern is the point: when an assistant needs to work out who is good, it goes to a page listing lots of businesses, not to any one business's own site.
Question by question
Each colour is an assistant. A row with one dot lit is a website only that one assistant read.
Question 1 · Delhi
Best SEO agency in Delhi for a small business?
ChatGPT
- e intelligence
- PageTraffic
- Primal
- eSearch Logix
- JDM Web Technologies
- +5 more
read 9 websites
Claude
- eSearch Logix
- EZ Rankings
MyFirstAd
- Lead Experts
- PageTraffic
- +3 more
read 5 websites
Gemini
- PageTraffic
Brand Visage Communications
- Inklik
- eSearch Logix
- Touchstone Infotech
- +4 more
read 7 websites
Perplexity
- Digi Ustaad
read 8 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 25
agencies.semrush.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 2/4 | |
onecity.co.in | 2/4 | |
zeroado.com | 2/4 | |
360digitalidea.com | 1/4 | |
brandvisage.com | 1/4 | |
designrush.comdirectory | 1/4 | |
digiustad.com | 1/4 |
- 25 websites used
- 24 businesses named
- 32% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
Question 2 · Mumbai
Top digital marketing agency in Mumbai for e-commerce brands?
ChatGPT
- ROI Minds
- Schbang
- WATConsult
- Interactive Avenues
- Gozoop
- +7 more
read 8 websites
Claude
Fruitbowl Digital
- Schbang
- 18th Digitech
- Rapid Growth Digital Marketing Agency
- Pixel Suba
- +3 more
read 6 websites
Gemini
BestoSEO Solutions
DigiChefs
- Growth Hackers Digital
Experience Commerce
- Infidigit
- +5 more
read 7 websites
Perplexity
- ROI Minds
- Schbang
read 11 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 21
clutch.codirectory | 3/4 | |
experiencecommerce.com | 3/4 | |
fruitbowldigital.com | 3/4 | |
agencies.semrush.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
digichefs.com | 2/4 | |
hirolainfotech.com | 2/4 | |
hivepulsemedia.com | 2/4 | |
linkedin.comdirectory | 2/4 |
- 21 websites used
- 24 businesses named
- 29% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
Question 3 · New York
Best performance marketing agency in New York City?
ChatGPT
- Delante
- Lilo Social
DiscoverMyBusiness
- Gatorworks
- Acadia
- +7 more
read 4 websites
Claude
LeadsuiteNow
- Directive
NoGood
- GALE
- Seer Interactive
- +2 more
read 6 websites
Gemini
- 9AM
M+C Saatchi Performance
- Tinuiti
- Power Digital
- +7 more
read 6 websites
Perplexity
Amsive
Thrive
read 3 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 15
improvado.io | 2/4 | |
newform.com | 2/4 | |
nine.am | 2/4 | |
sortlist.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
amsive.com | 1/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 1/4 | |
inbeat.agency | 1/4 | |
leadsuitenow.com | 1/4 |
- 15 websites used
- 28 businesses named
- 20% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
Question 4 · London
Recommend a social media marketing agency in London.
ChatGPT
- Prohibition
- Ninja Promo
- FFFACE.ME
- Blue Ring
- System Social
- +3 more
read 5 websites
Claude
- Social Chain
The Social Element
Flying V Group
- The Good Marketer
read 4 websites
Gemini
- Disrupt
- Social Chain
The Social Shepherd
- +1 more
read 3 websites
Perplexity
We Are Social
- Social Chain
- Spin
- Born Social
- +1 more
read 11 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 16
nogood.io | 3/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 2/4 | |
digitalagencynetwork.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
disruptmarketing.co | 2/4 | |
noisemediagroup.co.uk | 2/4 | |
thesocialelement.agency | 2/4 | |
agencies.semrush.comdirectory | 1/4 | |
bluelinks.agency | 1/4 |
- 16 websites used
- 18 businesses named
- 38% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
Question 5 · Dubai
Best PPC / Google Ads agency in Dubai?
ChatGPT
WebFX
- Disruptive Advertising
- PPC Force
- KlientBoost
- Ninja Promo
- +7 more
read 3 websites
Claude
BI Communications
- Bird Marketing
BrandStory
- Digital Gravity
- Prism Digital
- +7 more
read 7 websites
Gemini
Tenet
- Digital Gravity
Chain Reaction
Admoon
Nexa
- +7 more
read 9 websites
Perplexity
- Black Propeller
read 4 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 16
bicommunications.ae | 3/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 3/4 | |
admoon.agency | 2/4 | |
goodfirms.codirectory | 2/4 | |
wearetenet.com | 2/4 | |
agencies.semrush.comdirectory | 1/4 | |
brewmyidea.com | 1/4 | |
chainreaction.ae | 1/4 |
- 16 websites used
- 30 businesses named
- 25% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
Question 6 · Bangalore
Top branding agency in Bangalore for startups?
ChatGPT
- Probey Services
- SeekThem Design Agency
- Minute Creative
- Parentheses
- Yellowchalk Design
- +1 more
read 3 websites
Claude
- Lollypop Design Studio
- Wilson Wings
Palsa Design Studio
Mellow Designs
Brandemic
read 6 websites
Gemini
- Lollypop Design Studio
- Wilson Wings
Thynkk
- +3 more
read 6 websites
Perplexity
- Lollypop Design Studio
ThunderClap
- Wilson Wings
Everything Design
read 6 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 16
thethunderclap.com | 3/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 2/4 | |
mellowdesigns.co | 2/4 | |
wearetenet.com | 2/4 | |
1729digital.com | 1/4 | |
brandemic.in | 1/4 | |
brandstory.in | 1/4 | |
brewmyidea.com | 1/4 |
- 16 websites used
- 17 businesses named
- 25% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
Question 7 · Toronto
Best content marketing agency in Toronto?
ChatGPT
- Luminate Communications
Brafton
- Konstruct Digital
- Let's Get Optimized
- Fide Creative Inc.
- +7 more
read 4 websites
Claude
- Konstruct Digital
- Let's Get Optimized
- Origin Films
- SEO Team Toronto
- ProMerit
- +7 more
read 7 websites
Gemini
- Produktiv
- Content Workshop
- ProMerit
- Trailblazer Marketing
- +3 more
read 5 websites
Perplexity
Consultus Digital
- Brand & Mortar
read 2 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 12
clutch.codirectory | 3/4 | |
consultusdigital.com | 3/4 | |
brandandmortar.com | 2/4 | |
themanifest.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
brafton.ca | 1/4 | |
cw.semrush.comdirectory | 1/4 | |
designrush.comdirectory | 1/4 | |
digitalagencynetwork.comdirectory | 1/4 |
- 12 websites used
- 21 businesses named
- 67% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
Question 8
Which agency is best for AI search optimization (GEO)?
ChatGPT
- Distilled
- Brainlabs
- SEOmoz
- BrightLocal
- Conductor
- +1 more
named these, read no websites
Claude
Searchbloom
- The SEO Works
- Tinuiti
- Digital Authority Partners
- Omniscient Digital
- +3 more
read 9 websites
Gemini
Optimist
- Siege Media
SeoProfy
- Victorious
- +6 more
read 9 websites
Perplexity
- iPullRank
read 8 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 20
yesoptimist.com | 3/4 | |
mintcopywritingstudios.com | 2/4 | |
nutshell.com | 2/4 | |
searchbloom.com | 2/4 | |
teamai.com | 2/4 | |
20northmarketing.com | 1/4 | |
agencyjet.com | 1/4 | |
fieldtrip.agency | 1/4 |
- 20 websites used
- 23 businesses named
- 10% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
Question 9 · Singapore
Best web design and SEO agency in Singapore?
ChatGPT
Best Web Design Singapore
- WDSG Digital
- Web Tonic
Hub Solutions Web Design Marketing Firm
- iCreationsLAB
- +3 more
read 6 websites
Claude
Verz Design
- TD Creatives
- Redot Global
read 6 websites
Gemini
- OOm
2Stallions
- Orfeostory Pte Ltd
- Awebstar Technologies Pte Ltd
- +7 more
read 15 websites
Perplexity
- OOm
MediaPlus
read 4 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 25
mediaplus.com.sg | 3/4 | |
bestwebdesign.sg | 2/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 2/4 | |
oom.com.sg | 2/4 | |
verzdesign.com | 2/4 | |
2stallions.com | 1/4 | |
agencies.semrush.comdirectory | 1/4 | |
bestseo.sg | 1/4 |
- 25 websites used
- 22 businesses named
- 36% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
Question 10 · Los Angeles
Recommend a B2B lead-generation agency in Los Angeles.
ChatGPT
Single Grain
LevelUp Leads
Martal Group
- Cleverly
Pearl Lemon Leads USA
- +4 more
read 4 websites
Claude
- Cleverly
Callbox
read 6 websites
Gemini
Growth Rhino Inc.
Olive Group
- ThinkAlike Media
- +1 more
read 6 websites
Perplexity
- Cleverly
Echo-Factory
- Salted Stone
read 15 websites
Which websites they used, and who used them · top 8 of 26
callboxinc.com | 2/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 2/4 | |
designrush.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
singlegrain.com | 2/4 | |
sortlist.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
agencies.semrush.comdirectory | 1/4 | |
axelomarketing.com | 1/4 | |
b2bprospectrleads.com | 1/4 |
- 26 websites used
- 17 businesses named
- 23% of them were directories
- 0 used by all four
What we'd take from this
Treat each assistant separately. They agree on 7% of their sources. That is not four windows onto one ranking. It is four audiences who have read different things. Getting named by one tells you nothing about the other three.
Checking once proves nothing, especially on ChatGPT. When we asked again, only 32% of the websites ChatGPT read were the same. One screenshot of a good answer, or a bad one, is normal variation. If you want to know whether something is really changing, you have to check repeatedly.
The pages that list you may matter more than your own. Assistants read directories far more than they read the websites of the businesses they went on to recommend. Missing from those directories is a different problem from having a weak website, and usually an easier one to fix.
None of this is a ranking. An assistant naming a business tells you what that assistant read, not whether the business is any good. Plenty of excellent firms appear nowhere here. That absence is the finding, not a verdict on them.
Is your site one of the ones being read?
Greater Than Services runs this same test on your website, across every assistant, and shows you which questions you are missing from and what to fix.
Download the raw data (CSV), every question, what each assistant named, and every website it read. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, so quote it, chart it, or check our arithmetic. Credit Greater Than Services and link back.
Method.Each question was sent to GPT-4o with web search, Claude Haiku 4.5 with web search, Gemini 2.5 Flash with Google Search grounding, and Perplexity Sonar. One question per request. No follow-ups, and nothing about who was asking or where they were, only the wording of the question itself. The websites come from each assistant's own list of sources; the business names were pulled out of the answer text. We kept every raw answer. 10 of the questions were asked again, 3 times each, to check how much answers move on their own (see above). All of this is a snapshot: ask these questions today and you will not get the same results. Nothing here is a ranking or a recommendation, and naming a business is not an endorsement of it.