Do Reviews Affect AI Recommendations? ChatGPT Picked 1.2% of Brand Locations
Published by SOCi, which sells localized marketing and reputation management software. Not an endorsement by Healthcare Growth Strategies, Paul Gruensfelder or his employer. Sample/method: 2026 Local Visibility Index (brand and location counts not stated) and a survey of 1,000+ U.S. consumers. Figures are the vendor’s and were not independently verified. Editorial standards
AI assistants recommend only a small share of multi-location brand locations, and reviews appear to work more as an inclusion threshold than a ranking factor, according to SOCi. In its 2026 Local Visibility Index, ChatGPT recommended 1.2% of brand locations, Perplexity 7.4% and Gemini 11.0%, while the same brands appeared in Google’s 3-Pack 35.9% of the time. Recommended locations averaged roughly 4.2 to 4.3 stars on ChatGPT and Perplexity. SOCi’s survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers found 52% had used an AI tool to research a local business in the last 30 days, and 81% took an extra verification step afterward. SOCi does not state how many brands or locations the index covered.
For a multi-location group, a brand-wide average rating hides the individual locations that fall below the bar AI assistants appear to use. Review volume and response become a visibility issue, not only a reputation one.
Use it for: building the case for a location-level review response standard across a DSO or multi-site medical group.
Watch out for: the index’s brand and location counts are not stated, the case example is a sandwich chain, and SOCi sells reputation software. Asking only happy patients for reviews (review gating) violates Google policy; request reviews from every patient instead.
Try this: pull average rating and response rate by location, flag the locations furthest below your group average, and give each one a named owner. The healthcare marketing strategies hub shows where reviews fit in patient trust.
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