Frequently asked questions

Can I just ask ChatGPT myself?

You can, and it is worth doing once.

Ask an AI assistant the same question twice and the answer changes. Measured across 1,622 answers collected on 18 and 19 Aug 2026: when one answer names a business, asking again names it again about four times in five on Perplexity and about half the time on ChatGPT. That is why every question is asked three times and every answer is counted. One answer on its own can mislead; three make the count reflect what each AI assistant does.

Is this the same as what I would see asking directly?

Close, but not identical.

We ask each AI assistant the same questions a customer would, through an API, so the same question asked next week is comparable to this week's. That repeatability is what makes a trend line mean something. An API answer is usually more concise than the one someone sees in the app, and cites fewer sources, so read a count here as the pattern across many answers rather than a record of one person's screen.

Which AI assistants do you measure?

We measure ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.

Every question we ask names the city you're tracking, on all five AI assistants. Google also tailors its results to where the person searching is located, so for Google we run the search from that city as well, and read the AI Overview it returns.

Google shows an AI Overview for some searches and not others. A search without one is recorded as its own outcome and kept out of your denominator, so only searches that had an answer count toward your results.

How often do you check?

Every question is asked three times, every week, because one answer on its own can mislead, and weekly is often enough to see a real change. ChatGPT and Claude are asked the four questions where someone is choosing who to call, rather than all twenty. Measuring all five AI assistants on the same schedule matters more than asking each of them every question.

We measure weekly rather than daily. Answers vary enough between identical questions that a daily chart would mostly show the AI assistant changing its mind rather than a change in your visibility.

What does “named” mean, and what is the number out of?

We track 20 questions for each business. The 10 that ask for a recommendation are the ones your figure is built from. The rest ask how to choose and what things cost — and where those name a company, it is as an example rather than a recommendation. Counting them would change your figure without changing how often you are recommended.

The figure Spruce reports, "named in 2 of 4 answers that recommended a business", counts only those answers. When an answer recommends no business, there was nothing to be named in, so it is reported on its own rather than counted against your results.

How do you know a mention is my business?

You give us the business name, and that is what every answer is matched against. Legal suffixes, punctuation, casing and spacing are set aside, and a longer or shorter form of the same name still counts — so "Radiance Med Spa, LLC", "Radiance MedSpa" and "Radiance" are all read as the same business. If customers know you by another name as well, you can add it at any time, and an answer naming any of them counts.

Do I need a website?

No.

Many local businesses do not have a website, and one isn't needed — the questions are about your business name rather than your website.

Add a website and we can also measure whether pages on it are being used as sources for the answers. That is a different finding from being named, with its own denominator: a business can be named without being cited (an AI assistant recommends you from a directory rather than from your own pages), and cited without being named (an answer draws on one of your pages without naming you). Without a website, that measurement reads as unknown rather than as a zero.

Can I choose the questions?

We write them for you. Each business gets 20 questions for its industry, covering the four ways customers search — who to call, who is reputable, how options compare, and what things cost — with your city substituted in.

The set stays the same from week to week, which is what makes the trend readable: the same questions every time, so a change that holds across several readings reflects a change in how AI assistants describe you.

If one doesn’t fit your business, tell us, and it helps us improve the questions for your industry.

Can I track more than one business or location?

Yes — the number of businesses you track is the only thing the price depends on. A second location and a second client cost the same to track, so a three-location company and a three-client marketing agency buy the same plan. Starter covers 1 business or location, Growth 6 and Agency 15.

Each business is tracked on its own questions, in its own city, because a different city is a different market.

What does it cost, and do I need a credit card to try it?

$79, $299 or $699 a month for 1, 6 or 15 businesses. Every plan runs all five AI assistants on the same schedule. The trial runs 14 days and takes no credit card — when it ends, you choose whether to start a plan.

An annual plan is billed once a year, up front: twelve months for the price of ten, so the last two months are free. Cancel early and you are refunded what you paid, less the months you used at the monthly price; after month ten there is nothing left to refund.

What happens if I cancel?

Canceling stops collection. Everything already collected stays here and stays readable — your answers, your questions, and every finding built from them.

Collected answers are kept while your plan runs, and for twelve months after it ends. After that we remove them. Your businesses and their questions stay, so coming back picks up where you left off rather than starting again.