How we compile and measure

Recommend.cc publishes local business directories and reports on AI visibility. Both only work if they're honest. This page explains exactly how each is produced — and what we can't promise.

Directory pages

Our city directory pages (for example, listings of dentists or remodelers in a specific city) are compiled from public business records — business directories, state registries, and the businesses' own published information — supplemented by data that business owners verify with us directly.
  • Comprehensive: pages list every business we track in a category, whether or not they are a Recommend.cc member. Membership never affects inclusion.
  • Objective order: listings are alphabetical. Placement is never sold, and “Claimed” status changes what a listing shows (hours, services, offers verified by the business) — never where it ranks.
  • Freshness: each page shows when it was last updated. We remove businesses we can confirm have closed and correct records the owner disputes — email hello@recommend.cc and we'll fix errors or remove your listing within one business day.

AI visibility measurement

For member reports, we ask major AI engines (via their APIs, with web grounding enabled) a fixed panel of roughly twenty local-intent questions per category and city — the kinds of questions real customers ask, like “who's a good family dentist near me?”. We record every response verbatim, with a timestamp and the model version, and never edit stored outputs.
  • Variance is real: identical prompts can produce different answers run to run. We repeat headline prompts multiple times and report mentions as a share of runs with a range — never a single precision score.
  • API panels approximate consumer answers: we embed the city in every prompt, but API-based results can differ from what a signed-in consumer sees on their own device and location.
  • Leading vs. lagging: monthly reports separate what we did (listings corrected, profile published and indexed, data synced) from what changed in AI answers, which typically builds over months.
What we never do: guarantee that any AI assistant will mention or recommend any business. Nobody controls model output, and you should be skeptical of anyone who promises otherwise. See our Terms of Service for the full statement.