What AI read when we asked about AC repair in Mesa

October 21, 2026 · Ryland Tiedeman, Founder of TDM Search

In October we asked ChatGPT and Perplexity the eight questions people in Mesa ask when their air conditioning stops working. Each question three times, on each tool. That gave us 48 answers.

Every answer listed its sources. About seven each. We counted which pages came up most.

A national HVAC company's website19 of 48

A local competitor's own website18 of 48

The state contractor licence lookup12 of 48

Another national brand's website12 of 48

Manufacturer, review and directory pages9 or fewer each

So the answer about who to call was built mostly from pages the local business does not control. The state licence lookup was read in a quarter of the answers. That is a page every licensed contractor already has. Most never look at it.

What to do with that

Look yourself up on the licence lookup for your state. Check the name matches the name on your website and your trucks. Then do the same on the two or three directories and review sites that come up when you search your trade and your city.

That is an afternoon. It is also the part of this you can actually control.

What one scan cannot tell you

It cannot tell you why a page was picked. It cannot tell you that fixing a listing gets you named. This is one market and one month. Another city or another trade could look different.

See what AI says about your businessFree. No calls. No contract.

More notes

October 21, 2026

Why AI names your competitor instead of you