Study
AI Named None of 20 Businesses Without Web Search, Six With It
In a sample of 20 businesses across 10 industries in German-speaking countries, none of three AI engines named a single business without web search (0 of 960 queries); with web search, 6 of the 20 businesses were named, in 28 of 240 queries (11.7 percent).
- 0 of 960 queries without web search produced a mention.
- 6 of 20 businesses were named at least once with web search.
- 11.7 percent mention rate with web search (28 of 240 queries).
Method
Sample. 20 real, independent businesses, no chains, no directories. They cover 10 industries (dentist, hairdresser, tax advisor, restaurant, carpenter, estate agent, physiotherapy, vet, driving school, bakery/confectionery) and 10 cities (Munich, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Cologne, Berlin, Stuttgart, Vienna, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Dresden). Business names stay anonymous for fairness.
Engines. GPT-4o mini (gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18), Claude Sonnet 5.5 (claude-sonnet-5-5) and Gemini 2.5 Flash (gemini-2.5-flash), each queried through the provider's API. Model names as reported by the providers; these are not the web apps of ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
Queries. Without web search: eight purchase-intent prompts (for example "Best dentist in Munich", in German) in two runs, which makes 48 queries per business and 960 in total. With web search: the same engines with the first four prompts in one run, 12 queries per business and 240 in total. A fixed instruction asked only for a list of 3 to 5 recommended providers, with no explanation. With web search, the instruction added a task to research the web before answering; in all 240 queries the model demonstrably searched. All prompts were in German.
Period. Measured on 5 October 2026.
Match rule. A match counts only if the distinguishing part of the business name appears in full in the answer. A similar-sounding name does not count.
Limits
- With 20 businesses and 2 per industry, no industry pattern can be derived. The study shows an order of magnitude, not a market statistic.
- We measured only whether the AI names the business, not how well its website ranks on Google.
- Three models were queried through their APIs, not the consumer apps. Answers there may differ.
- With web search there was one run and four prompts only.
Results
Without web search: no mention. From the models' trained knowledge, not one of the 20 businesses was named: 0 of 960 queries, for all three engines (0 of 320 each).
With web search: some appear. 6 of 20 businesses were named at least once, in 28 of 240 queries (11.7 percent). 14 of 20 businesses stayed unnamed in all 12 queries even with web search. An estate agent in Stuttgart appeared most often, in 9 of 12 queries.
Engines differ. With web search, Claude and Gemini each named one of the businesses in 11 of 80 queries, ChatGPT in 6 of 80.
Queries with a mention, by industry
| Industry | Businesses | without web search | with web search |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dentist | 2 | 0/96 | 0/24 |
| Hairdresser | 2 | 0/96 | 4/24 |
| Tax advisor | 2 | 0/96 | 1/24 |
| Restaurant | 2 | 0/96 | 0/24 |
| Carpenter | 2 | 0/96 | 3/24 |
| Estate agent | 2 | 0/96 | 9/24 |
| Physiotherapy | 2 | 0/96 | 7/24 |
| Vet | 2 | 0/96 | 4/24 |
| Driving school | 2 | 0/96 | 0/24 |
| Bakery/confectionery | 2 | 0/96 | 0/24 |
| Total | 20 | 0/960 | 28/240 |
The columns show in how many queries one of the businesses of an industry was named. With two businesses per industry, no industry pattern can be derived.
What this means for your business
If you ask an AI for "the best dentist in Munich" and do not switch on web search, none of the tested businesses was named in this sample. With web search some appear, but most stay unnamed. Whether your business is named therefore depends heavily on what can be found about it online.
Three steps that follow from the study (a derivation, not a measured result of the study):
- Check whether AI bots such as OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and ClaudeBot can reach your website at all. Many sites block them by accident.
- Sharpen the structure: Schema.org data, FAQ blocks with real questions, answers in the first two sentences.
- Build independent presence: a complete Google Business Profile, consistent listings in industry directories, reviews, trade articles. This works over weeks; the technical basis takes days.
The free namedly check shows in about 30 seconds whether your business is named today: Check now →
Date and author
First published by bytebrise: 14 July 2026. Re-measurement: 5 October 2026. Data as of: 5 October 2026. This page on namedly: published 20 October 2026.
Author: Jakob Serfözö, bytebrise.
Full report and raw data
The full report with prompts verbatim, FAQ and suggested citation is on bytebrise.com. The anonymised results of all 1,200 queries (one row per query) are available as CSV.
Suggested citation
bytebrise (October 2026): AI visibility of local businesses in German-speaking countries. Queried via API with GPT-4o mini, Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemini 2.5 Flash: without web search, none of the three models named any of 20 tested businesses (0 of 960 queries); with web search, 6 of 20 were named (28 of 240 queries, 11.7 %).
Note on origin: The measurement used a script built on namedly.