Do AI assistants actually read directories?

The short answer

Partly. A claim doing the rounds among marketers this autumn says AI assistants take their local recommendations from directories, so a directory listing is now how a business gets recommended.

I measure what ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity tell people who are choosing a local business. When an assistant searches the web before it answers, directories are among the pages it reads most. When it answers from memory, it reads nothing at all, and a great many answers are given that way. A listing counts on the first kind of answer and has no say in the second.

When they search, directories are what they read

Only one of the four assistants, Perplexity, shows the pages it read before answering. That makes it the one place where this can be counted rather than guessed.

In my July study of wedding venues in the West of England, I asked it the kind of questions a couple asks before they have a venue in mind. It gave 174 answers to those questions, every one with its sources attached. Guides for Brides was among the sources in 72 of them, about two answers in five. Across my three venue studies this summer, the figure was 211 answers out of 522.

Across all the venue questions in the July study, these were the wedding and events sources it cited most:

One caution I attach to every figure like this. A citation shows what the assistant read alongside its answer. It is not proof that the assistant took a name from that page.

When they answer from memory, they read nothing

Search happens less often than people assume, for four reasons.

• An assistant may search on one question and answer the next from memory. The later questions in a conversation are where a shortlist gets settled.
• Questions that ask for advice, such as which venue suits a small winter wedding, are often answered from memory even when search is switched on.
• Many apps and tools built on these assistants have no web search at all.
• When an assistant does search, what it already knows shapes which names it picks out of the results.

So memory is the layer underneath, and search sits on top of it. A directory listing can only reach the top layer.

The proof: a venue that closed in 2024

Tracy Park, near Bath, ceased trading in September 2024. In July 2026, all four assistants were still recommending it, in 98 answers. None of those questions mentioned Tracy Park; the assistants volunteered it every time. Thirty-three were wedding questions and 65 were about golf days.

Perplexity named it too, even though it searches the web before every answer. Searching did not catch the closure. I wrote that finding up in full here: Why does ChatGPT recommend a business that closed?

What this means if you run a business

Keep your directory listings accurate and complete. They are in front of the assistants when they search, and on those answers they count.

A listing will not change what an assistant already believes about you, because many answers never reach it. Finding out what the assistants say from memory is a separate job. The only reliable way is to ask them the questions your customers ask, many times over, and count what comes back.