Network disclosure
All ten sites in this network are published by Bay Area AEO. They cover answer engine optimization in the Bay Area from ten angles and link to one another so readers can move between related topics.
PLATFORMS
6
In every panel
2
Gemini and AI Overviews
BING-LED
1
Microsoft Copilot
VOICE
+
Siri and others on the same data
The six platforms
Bay Area AEO optimizes for ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Microsoft Copilot and Google AI Overviews, plus the voice assistants that draw on the same data, like Siri. The observatory runs every panel question on all six text platforms. The table summarizes what each one relies on when it names a local business and what the observation looks for in its answers.
| Platform | Maker | Draws on | Recorded from its answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | OpenAI | Pages it retrieves when it searches the web | Named businesses, the reasons given, linked sources |
| Google Gemini | Google's index and Google Business Profile data | Profile facts repeated in the answer | |
| Google AI Overviews | A summary above Google's regular results, with links | Whether the business is named in the summary, and the linked sources | |
| Perplexity | Perplexity | A web search for every question, with numbered citations | Each numbered citation and the claim it supports |
| Claude | Anthropic | Retrieved pages when web search is enabled | Named businesses and the pages behind them |
| Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft | Bing's index and Bing Places data | Bing listing facts in the answer |
The two Google surfaces
Gemini and AI Overviews are separate columns even though both come from Google. AI Overviews appears above ordinary search results, so it reaches people who never opened a chatbot; the published estimates put AI Overview readers at 60 percent of Bay Area adults. Gemini is a conversational assistant. Both draw on Google's index and Business Profiles, which makes the Google Business Profile one of the first places the observatory checks when either column changes.
Copilot and the Bing layer
Copilot leans on Bing's index and Bing Places. A business whose Google listing is spotless but whose Bing listing has old hours can look very different in the Copilot column. Bay Area AEO's listing work covers Google, Bing, Apple Maps and Yelp for this reason, and the observation shows when the Bing layer catches up.
Perplexity's citations
Perplexity searches the web for every question and prints numbered citations beside its answer. That makes it the clearest window into which sources an AI system trusts for a given Bay Area question. A local guide or directory that Perplexity cites repeatedly for a niche is a strong candidate for the trusted-mentions work.
ChatGPT and Claude
ChatGPT and Claude compose answers from the pages they retrieve when they search. Their answers tend to explain each pick in a sentence, which gives the description-accuracy reading the most material. When a reason in the answer echoes the business's own FAQ or a phrase from its reviews, the observation records the match.
Voice assistants
Voice assistants such as Siri draw on the same listing data the text platforms use, especially map listings. Consistent listings therefore reach spoken answers too. The panel covers voice through the listing layer: when the listing readings are clean on Google and Bing as well as Apple Maps, the facts a voice assistant reads aloud are the right ones.
Reading the six columns together
| Pattern in a row | What it usually points to |
|---|---|
| Named on all six | Listings, site and mentions agree; the business is well understood |
| Named by Gemini and AI Overviews only | A strong Google profile; Bing and other sources worth checking |
| Named by Copilot only | Bing data ahead of Google data; review the Google Business Profile |
| Named by Perplexity with the business's own page cited | Answer-ready content is being read directly |
| Named everywhere with different hours | A listing out of step on one platform |
Patterns like these turn six columns into a short list of next steps. The observation never needs to guess at an algorithm: the sources each platform shows, and the facts it repeats, identify which data it was reading.
RelatedRun parameters · Sources cited · Listing consistency index · Bay Area overview