SEO in Utah Meets AI: Draper Study Finds No Local Business Owns AI Answers Yet

Novarte AI's Utah AI Visibility Study asked ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity the questions Utah customers type. The most-cited local business showed up in only 15 of 288 answers. 

SEO in Utah now has two scoreboards: the Google results page, and the answers AI assistants give when a customer asks who to hire. Novarte AI, a Draper-based SEO and AI search firm, measured the second one. In July 2026 it asked four AI engines — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity — 72 real customer questions about 12 local trades, and recorded every business and website the answers named. The questions were written the way people ask, across six Wasatch Front cities. Examples: "I need a plumber in Draper, Utah. Who should I call?" and "What are the top rated dentists near Sandy, Utah?" The 12 trades included plumbers, HVAC companies, electricians, roofers, dentists, chiropractors, auto repair shops, house cleaners, landscapers, med spas, garage door repair and pest control. 

What the study found 

• No one owns AI search yet. The 288 answers cited 478 different Utah businesses. The most-cited one appeared in only 15 answers
• The engines differ a lot. Perplexity cited 291 different local businesses across its 72 answers. ChatGPT cited 49. 
• Directories take a big share. Of 2,060 sources cited, 35.8% were directories such as Angi, Yelp, Expertise.com and the BBB.
• Business websites still matter most. Local business websites were the largest group of sources, at 45.6% of all citations.

• Draper: asked "I need a [trade] in Draper, Utah. Who should I call?", the engines named 166 different local businesses. No single business appeared in more than 4 of the 48 answers.
• Sandy: asked for the "top rated" businesses near Sandy, the engines leaned on review sites. Directories such as Yelp, Angi and Expertise.com made up 40% of the sources, and ChatGPT named no local business at all in 8 of its 12 Sandy answers. 

For a South Valley business, that means the spot is open, and the review sites AI reads are part of being found. 

What is AI SEO? AI SEO is the work of getting a business named and cited inside the answers that AI assistants give, in addition to ranking in Google. For a Salt Lake City or South Valley business, it means two checks: where the business ranks on Google, and whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity name it when a customer asks.
"A good SEO is a great AEO," said Angelo Melcarne of Novarte AI. AEO, or answer engine optimization, is the work of getting a business named in AI answers. The study supports his point: local business websites were the largest group of sources the AI engines cited. 

A free AI SEO audit. Utah business owners can see where they stand with Novarte AI's free audit at novarteai.com/audit. It checks a website's technical SEO, its Google rankings, and whether AI engines name the business for the search a new customer would type.

About Novarte AI Novarte AI
Is an SEO and AI search firm in Draper, Utah. It helps local service businesses across Salt Lake County and the Wasatch Front rank on Google and get named by AI assistants. Services include technical and local SEO, AI SEO (answer engine optimization), and websites built to rank.

Novarte AI is a member of the South Valley Chamber.

Learn more at novarteai.com. Media contact: Angelo Melcarne · angelo@novarteai.com · novarteai.com