Your license record is one of the pages ChatGPT reads
When ChatGPT cited a government site in a new test, it was usually a license look-up. Read your own record first.
Co-Founder, Vyzz
One ChatGPT answer in four cited a government page
One ChatGPT answer in four cited a government website in a large test of local trade picks run this September. Most of those answers pointed to license look-ups and lists of approved contractors. That makes the license record you filed and forgot one of the pages ChatGPT reads when a customer asks who to hire. If you run a roofing company, an HVAC shop or a plumbing business, give that record five minutes this week: search your business name on your state's license look-up and read what comes back.
The test comes from 8ight.AI, a Canadian company that sells services for showing up in AI answers. It's open about that, writing that "we have an interest in this subject." PPC Land wrote up the study on October 6, and the numbers below come from that write-up.
The researchers covered 39 trades in 49 places, in the US and Canada. For each one they asked the same plain question: who is the best business for this trade in this town, naming specific businesses. They used the version of ChatGPT that software developers connect to, with web search turned on. That version can answer a little differently from the ChatGPT app on your phone.
ChatGPT gave 1,412 answers between September 10 and 30. Under each answer, ChatGPT lists the pages it links to as sources, and the researchers sorted those pages by type. In the study's test, 25.1% of ChatGPT's answers cited a government website.
What those pages were, and what else the test found
Of those 1,412 answers, 355 cited a government address, and the researchers read every one. PPC Land reports that in "about 7 of 10 (250 of 355) the page was a licensing board, a licence look-up or a list of registered or approved" contractors. That is the page a careful customer opens to see whether you hold a license. A license look-up was the last page I'd have guessed ChatGPT cites.
The share of answers citing a government page probably runs low. The study counted .gov web addresses plus a few named regulators. Licensing sites on other web addresses were left out, so the authors treat the 25.1% as a floor.
A smaller test points the same way. In May, Skyforge Lab ran 40 contractor searches and found that the two things ChatGPT called out most clearly were "licensing credentials and Reddit community mentions." That was a small sample over five days, so I treat it as backing for the bigger study.
In the 8ight.AI test, shops with fewer than 25 Google reviews got named 3.4% of the time, 15 times out of 435. Building reviews takes months (and yes, I know, everyone says get more reviews), so for this week I'd start with the license record, which you can read tonight.
How a license record goes stale
A license record is short. It usually shows the business name the board has on file, an address, a license number, and whether the license is active. Some boards also list the qualifying person, meaning the owner or manager whose exam or experience the license rests on.
Few owners look at that page again after the day it was issued or renewed. The business keeps changing anyway. Here are four ways the record can drift away from the shop you run today.
The first is a name change: you started under your own name and now trade under a brand name, but the board still shows the first one. An old address is another, whether it's a shop you left or the home address you used in year one. A partner who left may still be listed as the qualifying person. And if a renewal slid and you fixed it late, the status may not read the way you expect.
Per PPC Land, 8ight.AI puts the risk in one line: "a lapsed licence or an old business name in a public registry would sit on the kind of page ChatGPT cites." If your record shows an old name or a lapsed date, that may be the page ChatGPT is reading when a customer asks about your trade.
This also reaches past the trades. The study didn't sort the license pages by trade, and its health care checks covered only medspas. Dental, medical, law and vet boards publish look-ups too. If you own one of those practices, I'd run the same check. That part is my own call, since the study stops at the trades and medspas.
Check your own record this week
This takes about five minutes. Maybe ten, if your board's site is slow. Write down what you find as you go, and take a screenshot of the record.
- Find the look-up. Search for the licensing board for your trade in your state, and open its license look-up page. Use the board's own site, since copycat look-up sites can show old data.
- Search by business name. Type the name on your trucks and your website. Note whether you come up at all, and under what name. If your business is missing from the results, step 3 can still find it.
- Search by license number. The number is on your license or your last renewal notice. This finds your record even if the name on file is old.
- Compare every field. Check the name, address, status, expiration date and any listed people against the business as it runs today.
- Read it like a stranger. Ask what a homeowner would think if this page were the only thing they saw about you.
If everything matches, you're done until the next renewal. Put a reminder on your calendar for that date, and look again when it comes. If something is off, write down each field that differs and what it should say.
Fix what you find, then check again
Corrections go through the board. Most boards have a form or a phone line for changes to your record. Call and ask what they need from you, since some changes may take a fee or a signed form. Keep a copy of whatever you send.
Then put your license number on your own website, on the contact page and in the footer (a small line near the business address works). The number and the business name should read the same on your site as they do on the board's page. A customer who checks both should find the same business twice.
The study counted which pages ChatGPT cited. Nobody has shown that fixing a record gets a business named more often, or how fast ChatGPT would pick up a correction. I'd check anyway, because about 1 ChatGPT answer in 4 cited a government page in the study's test, most of them license pages, and you may not have looked at yours since your last renewal.
Read it this week and fix what is wrong. If you sent a correction, look again in a few weeks and compare the record with the screenshot you took today.
Frequently asked questions
- Does ChatGPT look at my contractor license record?
- In a September 2026 test by 8ight.AI, about one ChatGPT answer in four cited a government website. In about 7 of 10 of those answers, the government page was a licensing board, a license look-up or a list of approved contractors. How much that page counts toward who gets named was outside what the study measured.
- Will fixing my license record get my business named by ChatGPT?
- Nobody has tested that. The study counted which pages ChatGPT cited and stopped there. Keep your record current because customers can read it too, then run the same check again in a few weeks.
- How do I correct the business name on my license record?
- Contact the licensing board that issued your license. Most boards have a form or a phone line for changes to your record. Ask what they need and keep a copy of what you send.