Mindflow research: what we measured, and how to read it
In October 2026 we collected Google Maps, Google search and ChatGPT results for 5,991 home-service business listings across 8 trades in 50 US metros, plus a smaller check of 7 more trades in 5 metros. Every study below comes from that collection. Four rules apply to all of it: we report counts as "N of D", not percentages; "ChatGPT" means the OpenAI API with web search, not the app; no business is named; and every pattern is an association, not a cause.
- 1
A homeowner has a job to do
roof repair near me - 2
They look in three places
Google resultsThe mapAn AI answer - 3
They check before they call
Reviews, photos of real work and a page that answers their question.
- 4
They request an estimate
Your form or phone number, working on their phone.
Not an actual ranking, listing or result.
What have we studied?
Four studies come from the same October 2026 collection. Two have their own pages. The other two feed the figures on our city, trade and service pages, and their method is on the methodology page. Each entry gives the question, the sample and the date, and each study page has its data files and a suggested citation.
- Does ChatGPT name the contractors at the top of Google Maps?ChatGPT named 352 of 1,183 businesses in the Google Maps top three, across 8 trades in 50 metros, with counts for every trade and city. Collected October 3–17, 2026.
- What ChatGPT checks before it recommends a contractorIn 11,982 answers about named contractors, BBB was cited in 10,582 and a government or licensing site in 10,288, with a checklist for each trade. Collected October 3–17, 2026.
- Google reviews of the businesses in each check.Review totals and recent reviews for every business we collected. The figures appear on our city and trade pages, for example plumbing.
- What contractor websites include.Site structure for 5,072 crawled contractor websites and 4,433 saved homepages. The figures appear on our website design and conversion pages.
Search-demand figures on our trade and city pages are Google Ads estimates, not our own collection; where they come from is on the methodology page.
How should you read our numbers?
Our figures are counts, and medians where a count doesn't fit, from a set sample on set dates, so read them as observations, not rules or targets. Four habits keep them honest, and each one is explained in full on the methodology page.
- Counts with their base."352 of 1,183" shows what was counted. A percentage would hide that some bases changed when a listing was removed.
- The API, not the app."ChatGPT" in our research means the OpenAI API with web search. The ChatGPT app may answer differently.
- No names.We publish totals only. No business in the sample is identified.
- Association, not cause.A pattern in the counts doesn't show why a business ranked or was named, and it doesn't promise a result.
Who did this research?
Mindflow Marketing collected and paid for it, and Youssef Hodaigui, Mindflow's founder, is accountable for it. He has done SEO since 2004. Our own clients and prospects were left out of the sample by name, and AI tools were part of the method, as our AI disclosure explains.
Read more about Youssef Hodaigui.
Found an error?
Email youssef@mindflowmarketing.com with the page and the figure. If we confirm an error, we fix it within 5 business days of confirming it and add a dated correction note to the page. Our editorial standards explain how we source, check and correct everything we publish.
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