A monthly SiteBoosting study into how AI assistants recommend local businesses
Anyone considering cavity wall insulation today increasingly skips Google — they ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Mistral instead. But who do those AIs recommend, and where do they get their information? SiteBoosting measures it every month with the AI Findability Barometer. In October the spotlight was on one sector: insulation companies. We asked four AI assistants the questions real consumers ask 45 times each, across five cities, and analysed 1,506 cited sources — for the first time with Mistral as a fourth AI alongside ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.
The key findings
- Claude differs sharply from the other three AIs. Claude cites the company’s own website in 96% of cases — far higher than the other three (45-70%). Where ChatGPT, Gemini and Mistral regularly cite a platform or another source, Claude barely does so for insulation companies.
- Sources are often missing with ChatGPT and Claude. ChatGPT gives no source at all in 47% of its answers, Claude in 33%. Gemini and Mistral always cite at least one source for insulation questions.
- The amount of backing differs by up to a factor of 3.5. Gemini backs every answer with 14 sources on average, Mistral with 11 — ChatGPT and Claude stay at 4.
- Naming a company is common, but not always with a source. On average the AIs name a specific company in 65% of answers (from 49% for ChatGPT to 73% for Mistral) — comparable to last month.
How we measured
The barometer asks each AI fifteen realistic consumer questions about insulation companies — from short search queries (“insulation company Amsterdam”) to full advice questions — spread across Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven and Groningen. Each question was asked three times to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Mistral, always with live web search enabled: 180 measurements in total. For every answer we record which sources are cited and what type they belong to. We deliberately record no company names — only counts and source types. We repeat the same measurement every month, building a trend line; this is the first edition with Mistral as the fourth AI. The full methodology is documented on our dedicated page: How the AI Findability Barometer works (in Dutch).
Where AI gets its recommendations
The breakdown of the 1,506 cited sources shows each AI has a very distinct character:
| Source type | ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | Mistral |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company’s own website | 49% | 96% | 70% | 45% |
| Trade portal | 18% | 3% | 13% | 20% |
| Google Business | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Review platform | 8% | 1% | 5% | 13% |
| News media | 0% | 0% | 1% | 3% |
| Other | 25% | 1% | 12% | 19% |
Percentages per AI, all insulation questions of October 2026 combined.
The company’s own website is the largest category for three of the four AIs — and with Claude it is almost the only one. With ChatGPT and Mistral, around one in five references goes through a platform; with Claude it is just 3%. An insulation company that relies only on its own website is therefore highly visible in Claude, but misses part of the traffic that flows through platforms in ChatGPT and Mistral.
The platforms that make the difference
Five platforms were cited most often for insulation questions in October (all AIs combined): Trustoo (80×), Werkspot (62×), Isolatie.website (45×), Slimster (22×) and Solvari (21×). These are the same kind of large, generic comparison platforms that keep appearing in other sectors too — a well-maintained profile with recent reviews on these platforms therefore remains direct fuel for AI recommendations, whatever sector you are in.
Four AIs, four characters
Gemini behaves like a reference work: many sources per answer, always at least one. Mistral is close in style — also always a source, slightly less extensive, and with the highest share of platforms and review sites (13% + 20%) of the four. ChatGPT and Claude behave more like a compact adviser: fewer sources, and regularly no citation at all. The biggest difference is between Claude and the rest: for insulation companies Claude names almost exclusively the company’s own website, rarely a platform or other source. For consumers this means: it pays to ask for the source of a recommendation, especially with ChatGPT and Claude. For insulation companies it means visibility differs strongly per AI — and that Claude is reached mainly via your own website, the other three via platforms too.
What does this mean for insulation companies?
- Keep your own website in order. It remains an important source for all four AIs — with Claude virtually the only one. Provide clear service areas, up-to-date information and local pages per city or region.
- Claim and complete your profiles on the major platforms. Trustoo, Werkspot, Isolatie.website, Slimster and Solvari are actively used as sources by AIs; recent reviews carry weight.
- Don’t count on a single AI. What Claude recommends differs strongly from what ChatGPT, Gemini or Mistral recommend — in choice of sources, in number of sources, and in whether there is a source at all.
- Measure it. AI findability can be measured and improved, just like classic SEO. Those who start now build a head start while everyone else is still thinking about Google.
About the AI Findability Barometer
The AI Findability Barometer is a monthly study by SiteBoosting. Each month we measure one sector in depth, alongside a fixed control set that tracks the trend across months. Next month: a new sector. Want to know how visible your business is in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Mistral? Request the AI findability scan.
More about the method: How the AI Findability Barometer works (in Dutch)
