AI visibility in Columbus, OH
Google Maps returns 581 Columbus businesses across these six categories. Four AI assistants, asked the same buyer questions, named 67 of them: 11.5%.
Collected 2026-08-15/16 · All cities
of Columbus businesses were named by at least one assistant
businesses no assistant named even once
categories measured, same three questions in each
By category in Columbus
The city average hides the spread. Open a category to see which businesses each engine named.
| Category | Google returns | Named by an AI | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| coffee shops | 94 | 13 | 13.8% |
| plumbers | 96 | 13 | 13.5% |
| gyms | 96 | 13 | 13.5% |
| dentists | 99 | 10 | 10.1% |
| law firms | 99 | 10 | 10.1% |
| hair salons | 97 | 8 | 8.2% |
Which engine names the most Columbus businesses
Counted across all 6 categories. A business named by two engines is counted by both, so these do not sum to 67.
| Engine | Businesses named | Share of 581 |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | 49 | 8.4% |
| ChatGPT | 25 | 4.3% |
| Gemini | 19 | 3.3% |
| Claude | 13 | 2.2% |
In Columbus the widest net is Google AI Overviews at 49 businesses and the narrowest is Claude at 13. Tracking one assistant and calling it AI visibility misses most of the picture.
How this was measured
For each category, Google Maps was queried once at the Columbus city coordinate with a depth of 100 rows, and the returned businesses became the denominator. Then each of the four assistants was asked these three questions, with the category and city filled in:
- best {category} in {city}
- which {category} in {city} would you recommend
- I just moved to {city}, which {category} should I go to
A business counts as named when its Maps listing name appears as a whole phrase in an answer. Being named once in any sample is enough. The rules were frozen before any data was collected and the full data set is published as a file.
Two limits worth stating here rather than in a footnote. The denominator is capped at 100 rows, so in the larger categories the real market is bigger than what we counted. And AI answers move: this is one snapshot from 2026-08-15/16, not a standing ranking.
Full method and every market