# Perth AI Search Study 2026: what four AI systems recommend > 2,400 AI answers recorded from Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Gemini across 20 Perth industries, and what separates the businesses that keep getting recommended. Source: https://aiseoperth.net.au/research/perth-ai-search-study-2026/ --- Research # Perth AI Search Study 2026 We asked four AI systems 200 commercial questions about 20 Perth industries, three times over three days, and recorded 2,400 AI answers. Most of the businesses they recommended were not the ones ranking at the top of Google Maps, and most recommendations changed between runs. Status Published Author Dorian Menard, founder of Search Scope Published 11 September 2026 Methodology [v2.0](https://aiseoperth.net.au/methodology/) Across 200 commercial questions about 20 Perth industries, asked three times over three days on four AI systems, between 60% and 78% of the businesses recommended did not appear in the Google Maps top 20 for the same question. Most recommendations also changed between runs. The characteristics most consistently associated with businesses that kept being recommended were presence in Google's conventional organic top 10 and a high Google review count, not star rating and not Maps position. ## Key findings 1. 01 Between 60% and 78% of AI-recommended businesses did not appear in the Google Maps top 20 for the same question. OBSERVED 2. 02 Only 8% to 31% of recommended businesses, depending on the platform, were recommended in all three rounds. OBSERVED 3. 03 Presence in Google's organic top 10 showed the strongest measured association with repeated cross-platform recommendation. OBSERVED 4. 04 Review count tracked AI recommendation within every Maps ranking band. Star rating did not. OBSERVED 5. 05 Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode named largely different businesses for the identical question. OBSERVED ## Scope and sample Scope and sample Platforms Google AI Overviews Google AI Mode ChatGPT Gemini Query classes recommendation, commercial, local, comparison, trust-validation Industries plumbers, electricians, dentists, mortgage-brokers, conveyancers, family-lawyers, accountants, financial-advisers, physiotherapists, chiropractors, veterinarians, mechanics, solar-installers, air-conditioning, builders, pest-control, removalists, buyers-agents, reticulation, seo-agencies Prompts in set 200 Runs per prompt 3 Observation records 2400 Observation dates 2026-09-08 to 2026-09-10 Methodology v2.0 Collected under [observation methodology v2.0](https://aiseoperth.net.au/methodology/). ## Results Cited domains, by number of observations citing them Domain Observations google.com 451 starworks.com.au 236 reddit.com 236 wordofmouth.com.au 197 productreview.com.au 175 hipages.com.au 126 reviews.birdeye.com 78 reticulationperth.com 63 facebook.com 57 solarquotes.com.au 55 bestconveyancersaustralia.com.au 54 bestfinancialplanners.com.au 49 agencies.semrush.com 48 wowhomes.com.au 47 bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au 42 autoguru.com.au 40 canstar.com.au 39 risingreturns.com.au 39 healthengine.com.au 39 whatsthedamage.com.au 37 whichrealestateagent.com.au 35 mortgagechoice.com.au 34 propertygo.com.au 34 sprinklerfixers.com.au 34 bluecollarbusiness.com.au 33 Brands recommended, by number of observations Brand Observations Bodysmart Physio Pilates & Chiro Perth 89 East Perth Chiropractic Health Centre 61 Strategic Settlements 61 Central City Physiotherapy 58 TOTAL AIR CONDITIONING PERTH 57 Fox Removals 57 Munro's 55 2 Easy Removals 55 Perth SEO Studio 55 Vicki Philipoff Settlements Perth 53 Air-Cond Installs WA 51 Central City Chiropractic 51 Sprinkler Fixers 51 West Perth Chiropractic 50 Plumbdog 50 Brilliance Removals 50 Perth Reticulation Experts 50 Perth Wellness 49 Perth Central Dental Centre 49 DPS Accounting Perth 48 HBF Physio Perth City 48 Perth Prime Dental 48 Orange Mortgage and Finance Brokers Perth 48 G.X.R Plumbing & Gas 48 Perth Solar Force 48 Observation records for Perth AI Search Study 2026. ID Date Platform Class Prompt Recommended Cited domains Run accountant-a1-ai-mode-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Google AI Mode recommendation best accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Teca Accounting, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Munro's, Westcourt Private Business Accountants, TK Accounting, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, Affluence Chartered Accountants, McKinley Plowman, DASperth, OBP, Susan O’Connor Accounting, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Aspect Accountants, Camden Professionals - Part of The Investax Group, SEER Financial Group, Cloud CA, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth, Flinders Tax Accountants & Business Advisors, Comprehensive Business & Tax Advisory google.com 1 accountant-a1-ai-mode-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Google AI Mode recommendation best accountant Perth McKinley Plowman, Munro's bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, google.com 2 accountant-a1-ai-mode-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Google AI Mode recommendation best accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Teca Accounting, Munro's, Westcourt Private Business Accountants, TK Accounting, McKinley Plowman, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Cloud CA, Aspect Accountants, Affluence Chartered Accountants, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, DASperth, Camden Professionals - Part of The Investax Group, ITP Accounting Professionals West Perth, OBP, Symmetry Accounting & Tax, SH Tax Accountants Pty Ltd, Flinders Tax Accountants & Business Advisors, CVW Accounting, Kennerlys Accounting, Royal Cornell Business Accountants, Susan O’Connor Accounting, SEER Financial Group google.com 3 accountant-a1-ai-overview-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Google AI Overviews recommendation best accountant Perth none named no citations 1 accountant-a1-ai-overview-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Google AI Overviews recommendation best accountant Perth none named no citations 2 accountant-a1-ai-overview-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Google AI Overviews recommendation best accountant Perth none named no citations 3 accountant-a1-chatgpt-scraper-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 ChatGPT recommendation best accountant Perth Munro's, DPS Accounting Perth, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, McKinley Plowman Property Accountants, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, wordofmouth.com.au 1 accountant-a1-chatgpt-scraper-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 ChatGPT recommendation best accountant Perth Munro's, DPS Accounting Perth, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, Porters CA - Chartered Accountants, Chartered Accountant bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, wordofmouth.com.au 2 accountant-a1-chatgpt-scraper-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 ChatGPT recommendation best accountant Perth Munro's, DPS Accounting Perth, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, Best Accountants Australia, Femia Accountants, Perth Tax Accounting Co, Affordable Accountants, Equitas Accounting Services, H&R Block, SS Accountants & Business Consultants, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, TidyTax Perth, SMSF, company tax and tax returns, ISM Tax Accountant Perth WA bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au 3 accountant-a1-gemini-scraper-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Gemini recommendation best accountant Perth Chartered Accountants ANZ bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, dpsaccounting.com.au, mavrick.com.au 1 accountant-a1-gemini-scraper-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Gemini recommendation best accountant Perth Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, drykirkness.com.au, williambuck.com 2 accountant-a1-gemini-scraper-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Gemini recommendation best accountant Perth Munro's, Armada Accountants & Advisors, Cooper Partners, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Mavrick Partners bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, munros.com.au, armada.com.au, tfptax.com.au, mavrick.com.au 3 accountant-a2-ai-mode-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Google AI Mode recommendation top accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Munro's, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Teca Accounting, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, McKinley Plowman, Westcourt Private Business Accountants, Affluence Chartered Accountants, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, OBP, DASperth, TK Accounting, Camden Professionals - Part of The Investax Group, Cloud CA, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Aspect Accountants, Accountant Perth | Accounting Services Perth | Accountant In Perth, Susan O’Connor Accounting, SEER Financial Group, Symmetry Accounting & Tax bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, google.com 1 accountant-a2-ai-mode-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Google AI Mode recommendation top accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Teca Accounting, Munro's, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, Westcourt Private Business Accountants, Cloud CA, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, TK Accounting, DASperth, Affluence Chartered Accountants, OBP, McKinley Plowman, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Susan O’Connor Accounting, Camden Professionals - Part of The Investax Group, Aspect Accountants, CVW Accounting, Royal Cornell Business Accountants, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth, Comprehensive & SMSF Specialists, Small Business & Property Tax Specialists, Pine Tax Accounting Perth bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, google.com 2 accountant-a2-ai-mode-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Google AI Mode recommendation top accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Teca Accounting, Munro's, Westcourt Private Business Accountants, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, TK Accounting, Affluence Chartered Accountants, OBP, McKinley Plowman, DASperth, Cloud CA, Susan O’Connor Accounting, Camden Professionals - Part of The Investax Group, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Aspect Accountants, CVW Accounting, Royal Cornell Business Accountants, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, google.com 3 accountant-a2-ai-overview-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Google AI Overviews recommendation top accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Pine Tax Accounting Perth, RBizz Corporate Accountants bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, rbizz.com.au 1 accountant-a2-ai-overview-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Google AI Overviews recommendation top accountant Perth none named no citations 2 accountant-a2-ai-overview-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Google AI Overviews recommendation top accountant Perth none named no citations 3 accountant-a2-chatgpt-scraper-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 ChatGPT recommendation top accountant Perth Munro's, DPS Accounting Perth, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Affluence Chartered Accountants, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth, SH Tax Accountants Pty Ltd, Teca Accounting bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, wordofmouth.com.au, theaccountingnetwork.com.au, yably.co.uk, datagemba.com, starworks.com.au, productreview.com.au 1 accountant-a2-chatgpt-scraper-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 ChatGPT recommendation top accountant Perth Munro's, DPS Accounting Perth, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Aspect Accountants, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, Symmetry Accounting & Tax, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, wordofmouth.com.au, revenuebase.ai, starworks.com.au, avenueperth.com, localbusinessguide.com.au, payroller.com.au, glassdoor.com.au, search4accountants.com.au, perthsites.com.au 2 accountant-a2-chatgpt-scraper-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 ChatGPT recommendation top accountant Perth none named no citations 3 accountant-a2-gemini-scraper-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Gemini recommendation top accountant Perth Munro's, Cooper Partners, Letizia Palmer Chartered Accountants bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, letiziapalmer.com.au 1 accountant-a2-gemini-scraper-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Gemini recommendation top accountant Perth Munro's, Cooper Partners bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, cooperpartners.com.au, drykirkness.com.au 2 accountant-a2-gemini-scraper-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Gemini recommendation top accountant Perth Armada Accountants & Advisors, DPS Accounting Solutions, Mavrick Partners, RBizz Corporate Accountants rbizz.com.au, armada.com.au, dpsaccounting.com.au, mavrick.com.au 3 accountant-a3-ai-mode-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Google AI Mode recommendation recommended accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Teca Accounting, Munro's, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Westcourt Private Business Accountants, TK Accounting, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, McKinley Plowman, Affluence Chartered Accountants, Susan O’Connor Accounting, OBP, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Aspect Accountants, DASperth, Camden Professionals - Part of The Investax Group, SEER Financial Group, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth, Symmetry Accounting & Tax, Cloud CA, Comprehensive Business & Tax Advisory, Property & Specialist Tax google.com 1 accountant-a3-ai-mode-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Google AI Mode recommendation recommended accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Teca Accounting, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Munro's, Westcourt Private Business Accountants, TK Accounting, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, McKinley Plowman, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, Affluence Chartered Accountants, OBP, Susan O’Connor Accounting, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, SEER Financial Group, Aspect Accountants, DASperth, Camden Professionals - Part of The Investax Group, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth, Symmetry Accounting & Tax, Elevate Accounting google.com 2 accountant-a3-ai-mode-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Google AI Mode recommendation recommended accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Teca Accounting, Munro's, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Westcourt Private Business Accountants, TK Accounting, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, OBP, Affluence Chartered Accountants, McKinley Plowman, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Susan O’Connor Accounting, Camden Professionals - Part of The Investax Group, SEER Financial Group, DASperth, Aspect Accountants, CVW Accounting, Cloud CA, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth, Highly Recommended Perth Accounting Firms google.com 3 accountant-a3-ai-overview-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Google AI Overviews recommendation recommended accountant Perth none named no citations 1 accountant-a3-ai-overview-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Google AI Overviews recommendation recommended accountant Perth none named no citations 2 accountant-a3-ai-overview-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Google AI Overviews recommendation recommended accountant Perth none named no citations 3 accountant-a3-chatgpt-scraper-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 ChatGPT recommendation recommended accountant Perth ABS TAX ACCOUNTANT 1 - OSBORNE PARK, Munro's, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Symmetry Accounting & Tax, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth, Highly rated Perth accountants, ABS TAX ACCOUNTANT 1 wordofmouth.com.au, bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, theaccountingnetwork.com.au, starworks.com.au, productreview.com.au, datagemba.com, airtasker.com, publicleads.com, trustindex.io 1 accountant-a3-chatgpt-scraper-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 ChatGPT recommendation recommended accountant Perth Munro's, Teca Accounting, DPS Accounting Perth, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Affluence Chartered Accountants, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, Best Accountants Australia, Equitas Accounting Services, Evolve Accountants & Business Advisors, Perth Tax Accounting Co, Affordable Accountants, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, TaxAssist Accountants, H&R Block, TidyTax Perth, ISM Tax Accountant Perth WA bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, wordofmouth.com.au 2 accountant-a3-chatgpt-scraper-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 ChatGPT recommendation recommended accountant Perth Munro's, DPS Accounting Perth, ABS TAX ACCOUNTANT 1 - OSBORNE PARK, Aspect Accountants, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, Femia Accountants, Best Accountants Australia, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Affordable Accountants, Perth Tax Accounting Co, Equitas Accounting Services, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, SS Accountants & Business Consultants, Affluence Chartered Accountants, Evolve Accountants & Business Advisors, ABS Tax Accountant, ABS TAX ACCOUNTANT 1, ISM Tax Accountant Perth WA bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, wordofmouth.com.au 3 accountant-a3-gemini-scraper-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Gemini recommendation recommended accountant Perth Munro's, Specialises in small business advisory, DPS Accounting Perth, Mavrick Partners, Provides tailored solutions spanning full-service bookkeeping no citations 1 accountant-a3-gemini-scraper-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Gemini recommendation recommended accountant Perth Munro's no citations 2 accountant-a3-gemini-scraper-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Gemini recommendation recommended accountant Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Cloud CA, Teca Accounting, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA no citations 3 accountant-a4-ai-mode-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Google AI Mode recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth DPS Accounting Perth, Teca Accounting, Munro's, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Westcourt Private Business Accountants, TK Accounting, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, OBP, Susan O’Connor Accounting, Affluence Chartered Accountants, McKinley Plowman, Camden Professionals - Part of The Investax Group, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, SEER Financial Group, DASperth, Cloud CA, Aspect Accountants, Fortuna Advisory Group West Perth, CVW Accounting google.com 1 accountant-a4-ai-mode-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Google AI Mode recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth none named bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, app.squareup.com 2 accountant-a4-ai-mode-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Google AI Mode recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth Munro's, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, Teca Accounting, DPS Accounting Perth google.com 3 accountant-a4-ai-overview-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Google AI Overviews recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth none named no citations 1 accountant-a4-ai-overview-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Google AI Overviews recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth Munro's, McKinley Plowman Property Accountants, Carbon Group, BDO Australia reddit.com, mckinleyplowman.com.au, carbongroup.com.au, bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, munros.com.au, bdo.com.au 2 accountant-a4-ai-overview-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Google AI Overviews recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth Best Accountants Australia nexustas.com.au, accountantinperth.com.au, mckinleyplowman.com.au, bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, m.yelp.com, munros.com.au, pkf.com.au 3 accountant-a4-chatgpt-scraper-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 ChatGPT recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth Munro's, Nexus Tax & Accounting Solutions, DPS Accounting Perth, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, Affluence Chartered Accountants, SH Tax Accountants Pty Ltd, Pine Tax Accounting Perth wordofmouth.com.au, bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, theaccountingnetwork.com.au, productreview.com.au, datagemba.com, starworks.com.au, service.com.au, clutch.co 1 accountant-a4-chatgpt-scraper-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 ChatGPT recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth Munro's, DPS Accounting Perth, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Best Accountants Australia, Susan O’Connor Accounting, Perth Tax Accounting Co, Palladium Financial Group, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Prime Accounting AU, H&R Block, ISM Tax Accountant Perth WA bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, wordofmouth.com.au 2 accountant-a4-chatgpt-scraper-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 ChatGPT recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth Munro's, DPS Accounting Perth, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns, CapitalQ Business Advisers & Chartered Accountants, McKinley Plowman Property Accountants, Best Accountants Australia, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Perth Tax Accounting Co, Susan O’Connor Accounting, TidyTax Perth, Perth Mobile Tax and Business Services, Femia Accountants, ISM Tax Accountant Perth WA bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, starworks.com.au 3 accountant-a4-gemini-scraper-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Gemini recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth none named drykirkness.com.au, bestaccountantsaustralia.com.au, munros.com.au, cooperpartners.com.au, williambuck.com 1 accountant-a4-gemini-scraper-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Gemini recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth none named no citations 2 accountant-a4-gemini-scraper-20260910-r03 2026-09-10 Gemini recommendation who is the best accountant in Perth Munro's, Cooper Partners, Horizon Nexus Partners Perth, Carbon Group no citations 3 accountant-a5-ai-mode-20260908-r01 2026-09-08 Google AI Mode recommendation recommend a good accountant in Perth Munro's, TFP Tax Accountants Perth WA, Pine Tax Accounting Perth - SMSF Accountant | Tax Agent | Company Tax | Tax Returns google.com 1 accountant-a5-ai-mode-20260909-r02 2026-09-09 Google AI Mode recommendation recommend a good accountant in Perth none named munros.com.au, m.yelp.com, reddit.com 2 Observation records for Perth AI Search Study 2026. Showing 50 of 2400 rows. ## What we did We asked four AI systems 200 commercial questions covering 20 Perth industries, from “best plumber Perth” to “best buyers agent in Perth for first home buyers”. We asked every question three times, on three separate days, and recorded every answer. That is 2,400 AI answers, collected between 8 and 10 September 2026, at a total data cost of USD $4.68. For each answer we recorded which businesses were named, which were actually recommended rather than merely mentioned, and which web pages the system cited. We recorded Google’s ordinary organic results and Google Maps results for the same questions, so we could compare. The Google Maps baseline is a fifth surface, captured once per question per round, which is another 600 records. The full collection is 3,000 observation records: 2,400 AI answers across four systems, and 600 Maps baseline captures. This report is published by AI SEO Perth, a research publication operated by Search Scope. Search Scope is an SEO agency in Perth, and “SEO agency” is one of the 20 industries we measured. Search Scope does not appear in the top 40 most-recommended businesses on any of the four platforms. We are stating that at the top rather than the bottom. **This page exists as evidence, not because anyone searches for it.** We did not choose this topic from keyword demand and we are not claiming it has any. ## Most recommended businesses were not the Maps winners Between 60% and 78% of the businesses these systems recommended did not appear in the Google Maps top 20 for the same question. That was the first result that surprised us. The assumption going in was that an AI assistant asked for a local plumber would mostly reheat the local pack. It did not. System Recommendations not in the Maps top 20 Google AI Overview 77.6% Gemini 72.1% ChatGPT 64.7% Google AI Mode 60.1% Maps position still mattered. Businesses ranking 1 to 3 in Maps were recommended more often than those ranking 11 to 20 on every platform. It simply did not decide the outcome, and a large majority of what these systems named came from outside that list. ## The answers kept changing We asked each question three times over three days. Most recommendations did not survive. System Businesses recommended in all three rounds Google AI Mode 31% ChatGPT 17% Google AI Overview 11% Gemini 8% This matters before any discussion of mechanism. A business owner checking whether ChatGPT recommends them is taking a single reading of a number that moves. One check is not a measurement. Some of the AI Overview instability is a different thing again. An AI Overview did not always appear. Of the 200 questions, 91 produced one in all three rounds, 71 produced one in some rounds and not others, and 38 never produced one at all. So roughly a third of questions were unstable at the level of whether an AI answer appeared, before anyone looks at what was inside it. ## No business owned a platform Instability in single answers does not say whether one or two businesses were quietly winning most of the time, so we measured concentration as well. For each business and each system we counted the questions on which it was recommended in at least one of the three rounds, and divided by the questions on which that system produced usable recommendation data. We also counted it per run, recommended answers over usable answers, because that is how Search Scope defines its Recommendation Share metric in client reporting. System Questions with usable data Highest share of questions Highest share of runs Google AI Mode 197 10.2% 8.9% ChatGPT 200 5.5% 4.9% Google AI Overview 152 3.9% 3.0% Gemini 184 3.8% 4.1% The ceiling was Bodysmart Physio Pilates & Chiro Perth on Google AI Mode, recommended on 20 of 197 questions. On the other three systems no business reached 6% by either count. Platforms, directories and utilities are excluded from this table, along with the six candidates our manual check could not tie to a Google business identifier and a Perth street address. The exclusions are flags in the dataset, not deletions. ## Underneath the noise, two things persisted This is the part we think matters most, and it only becomes visible once you accept the instability above rather than averaging it away. We sorted every business into five levels, from never recommended, through recommended once, up to recommended repeatedly across three or four different AI systems. Then we looked at what changed as businesses moved up. Never Once Repeated, one system Two systems Three or four systems Businesses 2,542 586 425 770 217 In Google organic top 10 1.5% 8.2% 9.4% 26.9% 52.1% Median Google reviews 21 62 78 135 234 Median star rating 4.90 4.90 4.90 4.90 4.90 Median Maps position 12 9 9 7 5 Two columns climb steadily. Organic presence goes from 1.5% to 52.1%. Median reviews go from 21 to 234. Star rating does not move at all. Holding Maps position and star rating constant and comparing businesses within the same question, the half with more reviews was recommended 68.5% of the time against 37.3% for the half with fewer. That held inside every Maps ranking band. ## Getting in is not the same as staying in Presence on the third-party pages these systems cite, the directories and review sites, was associated with being recommended once. It was not associated with being recommended repeatedly. Stage Third-party page presence Organic top 10 Never recommended, to recommended at all 1.88 6.93 Recommended once, to recommended repeatedly 1.35 2.89 One system, to more than one 1.33, not significant 3.54 Two systems, to three or four 0.76, not significant 3.00 Those figures are odds ratios. Above 1 means more likely, below 1 means less likely. The pattern worth noticing is that directory presence fades as you climb and organic presence does not. We tried to break this result before accepting it. The obvious explanation would be that the sample thins out at the top and the statistics simply lose power. It is not that: at the final stage, third-party presence had more businesses behind it than organic presence did, and it still showed no association while organic held. Maps position and star rating also stopped being associated at that final stage. Only organic presence and review count carried through. ## What did not work Three things we expected to matter, and did not. **A perfect five-star rating.** Businesses rated 4.7 to 4.9 were recommended 59.5% of the time. Businesses rated 4.9 to 5.0 were recommended 49.6% of the time. The likely reason is not a penalty on perfection: five-star businesses in our sample had roughly half as many reviews, a median of 38 against 89. Volume appears to be doing the work, and a perfect score usually signals a small number of reviews. **Position on a directory listing.** Among businesses appearing on the cited pages we fetched, those listed in positions 4 to 10 were recommended slightly more often than those in positions 1 to 3. There was no clean relationship in either direction. **“Best of” and “top rated” badges.** Businesses carrying one on a cited page were recommended 28.9% of the time. Businesses without one, 27.9%. Effectively no difference. ## The four systems are not one thing Google’s two AI products disagreed with each other more than we expected. Seven in ten businesses named by an AI Overview appeared nowhere in Google’s AI Mode answer to the identical question, even though AI Mode typically named around twenty businesses and had ample room to include them. They also appear to draw on different material. Of the businesses each recommended, restricted to those we could match to a website: In Google organic top 10 In Maps top 20 Google AI Overview 66.8% 37.5% Google AI Mode 22.7% 78.6% That pattern held in all 20 industries. It survived our attempts to explain it away as an artefact of list length, of AI Overviews appearing less often, or of directories sitting inside organic results. The citation behaviour splits the same way. ChatGPT cited Google zero times across 4,456 citations. Google’s AI Mode cited little else, at 85.8%, almost entirely Google-hosted business panels. AI Overviews leaned on businesses’ own websites at 38.2%. Gemini leaned on business websites too, at 42.0%. ## Asking a question worked better than typing keywords For 100 of our 200 questions we used five fixed phrasings per industry, changing only the wording and keeping the service and the location identical. The proportion that produced an AI Overview: Phrasing Produced an AI Overview “best \[service\] Perth” 30% “top \[service\] Perth” 50% “recommended \[service\] Perth” 60% “who is the best \[service\] in Perth” 95% “recommend a good \[service\] in Perth” 100% Keyword-style phrasings produced an AI Overview for 46.7% of questions. Question-style phrasings, 97.5%. Across every industry, there was not one case where a keyword phrasing produced an AI Overview and its matching question phrasing did not. One honest caveat: the question phrasings are also longer, and we cannot fully separate length from grammar. We can say length alone does not explain it, because “best \[service\] Perth” and “top \[service\] Perth” are the same length and 20 percentage points apart. ## What we cannot tell you The characteristics we measured explain roughly a quarter of the variation between businesses. Put plainly, around three-quarters of what decides whether a particular AI system recommends a particular business on a particular day was not captured by review count, star rating, Maps position, organic ranking or directory presence. We did not measure website structure, schema markup, llms.txt files, page speed, Google Business Profile completeness, brand mentions or anything about the content of business websites. We have nothing to say about them, in either direction. Nothing here is causal. Every result is an association observed at one point in time. A business with more reviews was more likely to be recommended in this sample. That is not the same as saying more reviews would cause an AI system to recommend it. ## Provenance ``` Published by: AI SEO Perth Research conducted: Search Scope Lead researcher: Dorian Menard Dataset: Perth AI Search Study 2026 Collection period: 8 to 10 September 2026 Methodology version: 2.0 ``` The full method, including the frozen question set and its checksum, every API endpoint and parameter, the entity matching rules, the exclusions and the statistical tests, is on the [methodology page](https://aiseoperth.net.au/research/perth-ai-search-study-2026/methodology/). The complete observation dataset is published alongside it. ## Limitations - This is an observational study. Nothing here shows that any characteristic causes an AI system to recommend a business. - The measured characteristics explain roughly a quarter of the variation between businesses. Most of what decides an individual recommendation was not captured. - The ChatGPT interface used supports country-level location targeting only, so Perth intent was carried in the question text. The other three were targeted at Perth. - Three rounds over three days measure short-term stability, not long-run platform behaviour. - This is a structured sample of 200 commercial Perth questions, not every possible Perth search. - The publisher of this site, Search Scope, is an SEO agency in Perth and SEO agency is one of the 20 industries measured. The conflict is stated on this page and the results are reported exactly as collected. ## Data Dataset 2400 rows ### Perth AI Search Study 2026: observations Every observation record behind this report, one row per prompt run. - [Download CSV](https://aiseoperth.net.au/data/perth-ai-search-study-2026.csv) - [View JSON](https://aiseoperth.net.au/data/perth-ai-search-study-2026.json) Updated 2026-09-11 ## Cite this research Citation AI SEO Perth (2026). Perth AI Search Study 2026. Published by Search Scope, Perth, Western Australia. Methodology v2.0. https://aiseoperth.net.au/research/perth-ai-search-study-2026/ Title Perth AI Search Study 2026 Publication AI SEO Perth Publisher [Search Scope](https://searchscope.com.au/), Perth, Western Australia Research lead Dorian Menard Published 11 September 2026 Last updated 11 September 2026 Methodology [v2.0](https://aiseoperth.net.au/methodology/) Canonical URL [https://aiseoperth.net.au/research/perth-ai-search-study-2026/](https://aiseoperth.net.au/research/perth-ai-search-study-2026/) Dataset [CSV](https://aiseoperth.net.au/data/perth-ai-search-study-2026.csv) and [JSON](https://aiseoperth.net.au/data/perth-ai-search-study-2026.json) Quoting the findings, reproducing a table or a chart, and reusing the dataset are all allowed with attribution to AI SEO Perth and a link to this page. The full terms are under [reusing content and data](https://aiseoperth.net.au/terms-of-use/#reuse). ## Update history - 2026-09-11 First publication. 2,400 AI answers across four platforms, collected 8 to 10 September 2026 under methodology v2.0. - 2026-09-11 Added the concentration results: highest share of questions and highest share of runs, per platform. - 2026-09-11 Corrected the answer count in the summary and page metadata from 3,000 to 2,400. 2,400 is the number of AI answers; 3,000 is the full collection of observation records across five surfaces, the fifth being 600 Google Maps baseline captures. Both figures were already stated on the methodology page. ## Definitions used in this report - [ Methodology Perth AI Search Study 2026 methodology ](https://aiseoperth.net.au/research/perth-ai-search-study-2026/methodology/) - [ Reference What is AI SEO? ](https://aiseoperth.net.au/what-is-ai-seo/) - [ Reference AI search optimisation ](https://aiseoperth.net.au/ai-search-optimisation/) On this page - [Executive answer](#executive-answer) - [Key findings](#key-findings) - [Scope and sample](#scope) - [Results](#results) - [What we did](#what-we-did) - [Most recommended businesses were not the Maps winners](#most-recommended-businesses-were-not-the-maps-winners) - [The answers kept changing](#the-answers-kept-changing) - [No business owned a platform](#no-business-owned-a-platform) - [Underneath the noise, two things persisted](#underneath-the-noise-two-things-persisted) - [Getting in is not the same as staying in](#getting-in-is-not-the-same-as-staying-in) - [What did not work](#what-did-not-work) - [The four systems are not one thing](#the-four-systems-are-not-one-thing) - [Asking a question worked better than typing keywords](#asking-a-question-worked-better-than-typing-keywords) - [What we cannot tell you](#what-we-cannot-tell-you) - [Provenance](#provenance) - [Limitations](#limitations) - [Data](#downloads) - [Cite this research](#cite) - [Update history](#history) Published by Search Scope AI SEO Perth is published by Search Scope, a Perth SEO consultancy founded by Dorian Menard. Search Scope provides commercial SEO and AI search optimisation services; this website is maintained as its specialist Perth AI search research and reference publication. [Search Scope](https://searchscope.com.au/)