DenisOmerovic
Member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2026
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
On October 24 we asked each of the 3 AIs 6 questions a business owner might ask when looking for an SEO agency, in each of the 50 largest US cities (New York on October 19). Web search on, official APIs, 18 answers per city, 900 in total. We counted which agencies each answer named.
What stood out:
- The top count was 17 of 18 answers, for one agency in Dallas. Five more agencies reached 16 of 18 in their city.
- 229 different agencies filled the 250 top 5 spots, so most names showed up in one city only.
- In 49 of 50 cities the most named agency was named by all 3 AIs. Further down the lists they agreed much less.
- Some cities had no clear pick: in Mesa and Tampa the top agency was in only 8 of 18 answers, and 4 cities had a tie at the top.
- In Nashville the 18 answers named 62 different businesses.
We read every answer for 5 of the cities by hand afterwards: 21 of 25 counts matched, 4 were 1 lower than the hand count (a passing mention or a second spelling), none were higher.
Two questions for the group:
1. If you run an agency, have you checked what the AIs say when someone asks for an SEO agency in your own city? Does it match who actually wins clients there?
2. For those doing this for clients, are you seeing the same concentration on a few names, or does it vary a lot by category?
Happy to share the questions and the per-city counts if useful.
What stood out:
- The top count was 17 of 18 answers, for one agency in Dallas. Five more agencies reached 16 of 18 in their city.
- 229 different agencies filled the 250 top 5 spots, so most names showed up in one city only.
- In 49 of 50 cities the most named agency was named by all 3 AIs. Further down the lists they agreed much less.
- Some cities had no clear pick: in Mesa and Tampa the top agency was in only 8 of 18 answers, and 4 cities had a tie at the top.
- In Nashville the 18 answers named 62 different businesses.
We read every answer for 5 of the cities by hand afterwards: 21 of 25 counts matched, 4 were 1 lower than the hand count (a passing mention or a second spelling), none were higher.
Two questions for the group:
1. If you run an agency, have you checked what the AIs say when someone asks for an SEO agency in your own city? Does it match who actually wins clients there?
2. For those doing this for clients, are you seeing the same concentration on a few names, or does it vary a lot by category?
Happy to share the questions and the per-city counts if useful.
