# A homeowner asks an AI assistant for a garage door pro in your town. Are you named?

Source: https://garagedoorscience.com/academy/show-homeowners-what-you-see/does-an-ai-assistant-name-you · part of [Show homeowners what you see, keep your crew sharp, and get found](https://garagedoorscience.com/academy/show-homeowners-what-you-see) · 5 min

A spring breaks on a Saturday. Say the homeowner doesn't search for a list of links. They ask an AI assistant who can fix it near them, and the answer names a few companies. You will never see that answer unless you ask the same question yourself.

This lesson is about asking it, and about what one answer can and cannot tell you.

## Each assistant reads the web for itself

An assistant can only name you from what it reads. Each one reads the web with its own crawler, under its own name:

- **ChatGPT.** OpenAI says OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in search results in ChatGPT's search features, and that when users ask ChatGPT or a CustomGPT a question, it may visit a web page with a ChatGPT-User agent.
- **Claude.** Anthropic says that when individuals ask questions to Claude, it may access websites using a Claude-User agent, and that Claude-SearchBot navigates the web to improve search result quality for users.
- **Perplexity.** Perplexity lists two crawlers, PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User.
- **Google.** Google says Google-Extended doesn't have a separate HTTP request user agent string, and crawling is done with existing Google user agent strings.

How each one picks which companies to name is not something this lesson can tell you, so it does not guess. What you can control is whether they can read you. Anthropic's page, for one, explains how to set your site preferences to enable those you want to access your content and limit those you don't. Ask whoever runs your website whether it turns any of these away.

## What the Radar does

AI Visibility Radar asks one assistant, Claude, searching the web from your city, five questions homeowners ask: who the best repair companies are, who can replace a broken spring, who installs openers, who to call for an emergency, and who installs new doors. You set the city and state, and up to five competitors who trade near you.

A sweep takes about a minute. For each question it shows:

- **Whether Claude named you,** and the names in the order the answer gave them, among you and the competitors you track.
- **The pages the answer cited,** with your own website or your Garage Door Science profile marked as your page.
- **Claude's answer itself,** with its sources.

Finding your name is plain matching of the words in the answer, not a model's opinion. If Claude does not answer every question, the sweep stops and says so, and nothing is made up to fill the gap.

## What it cannot tell you

It shows how Claude answers, not what every homeowner sees in every AI app. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google may answer the same question differently, and one sweep is one day's answer. Run it again next month and compare.

Radar is a Beta. It is included in the Technician and Team plans until January 31, 2027. After that a sweep is refused, and your settings and past sweeps are kept. Each sweep uses one from your company's monthly allowance, and the owner or a manager runs it. It looks for your company's name, so save your company name on the Branding page first; the next lesson walks through that page.

## Try this

Open [AI Visibility Radar](/developers/team/radar), turn Radar on, save your city, state and two or three competitors, and run one sweep. Then look at which pages the answers cited. The app needs you signed in as the owner or a manager, on a company team whose plan includes it. If you are signed out, the link opens the sign in page, and once you are in it takes you straight to AI Visibility Radar.

## Go further

- Article: [Garage Door Science is Now in ChatGPT](https://garagedoorscience.com/blog/garage-door-science-in-chatgpt)

## Sources

- [Overview of OpenAI Crawlers](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots)
- [Does Anthropic crawl data from the web, and how can site owners block the crawler?](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8896518-does-anthropic-crawl-data-from-the-web-and-how-can-site-owners-block-the-crawler)
- [Perplexity Crawlers](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/perplexity-crawlers)
- [Google's common crawlers](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/google-common-crawlers)