Downtown Ithaca Alliance (Ithaca, NY) ChatGPT Visibility Research

Overview

This research examines how Downtown Ithaca Alliance businesses appeared in ChatGPT responses when consumers asked for local recommendations.

126 eligible businesses were tested across 781 questions. Each business received category-matched prompts designed to reflect the kinds of queries a consumer might actually ask.

This is a point-in-time benchmark collected on October 15, 2026. ChatGPT answers can change. This study measures which businesses entered the AI-generated shortlist at that moment — not future guaranteed mentions.

Key Findings

40% of Downtown Ithaca businesses (51 of 126) were mentioned at least once.

32% had strong visibility (appeared in multiple relevant responses), 9% had limited visibility (appeared once), and 60% were not named in any tested response.

Discovery questions (like "best florist in Ithaca") produced a 40% mention rate. Recommendation questions (like "Who should I see for a dentist?") produced a 28% mention rate.

Category Performance

Visibility varied by category. Arts & Entertainment performed best at 75%, while financial & professional services businesses had the lowest visibility at 22%.

These category rates show which types of Downtown Ithaca businesses entered ChatGPT's shortlist most consistently in this test.

Example Responses

Below are sample ChatGPT answers from the test. These examples show which Downtown Ithaca businesses were named — and which questions returned no Downtown Ithaca businesses at all.

• "I'm in Ithaca — restaurant near me" → Moosewood Restaurant, Ithaca Ale House, Collegetown Bagels, Le Café Cent-Dix
• "cafe that takes weekend bookings in Ithaca" → Collegetown Bagels, Moosewood Restaurant, The Rook, Cafe Dewitt
• "best spa in Ithaca" → August Moon Spa, Rasa Spa, The Spa at Gothic Eves, Healing Oasis, Serendipity Bodywork (no Downtown Ithaca business appeared)

Spotlight: "best spa in Ithaca"

When asked "best spa in Ithaca", ChatGPT named August Moon Spa, Rasa Spa, The Spa at Gothic Eves, Healing Oasis, Serendipity Bodywork.

No eligible spa in the benchmark appeared.

Methodology

Businesses were sourced from the Downtown Ithaca Alliance public directory. National chains, businesses without websites, and civic listings were excluded so the benchmark reflects local independent businesses.

This benchmark uses the 215 listings in the Downtown Ithaca Alliance directory extract on October 15, 2026.

781 ChatGPT questions were asked across 124 unique prompts. Questions were matched to each business's category and pinned to Ithaca at the city level.

Each business received approximately 6 questions. Questions were not averaged across multiple runs. This study used ChatGPT (OpenAI) on October 15, 2026.

Of the 215 listings, 58 had no usable website: 33 had no website listed, and 25 listed only Facebook, Instagram, Pixieset, Vagaro, Patreon, or WordPress.com. Another 26 were not eligible: 6 national or multi-location chains, 17 civic or institutional listings, and 3 duplicate listings. Of the 131 eligible members, 5 could not be matched to an Ithaca Google Business Profile and were not asked, leaving 126 scored. Each question was asked in one run, pinned to Ithaca at the city level. The Other row is two hotels, Argos Inn and Hotel Ithaca. Both were named, but hotels fall below the five-business minimum for their own category.

This is a point-in-time benchmark of the ChatGPT responses tested on October 15, 2026. This study uses the 215 listings in the Downtown Ithaca Alliance directory extract from that day. Scores are the share of scored members named in those answers. ChatGPT answers can change. This is not a guarantee of future mentions, and it does not mean an unnamed business can never appear.

What This Means for Downtown Ithaca Alliance Members

If a customer's shortlist is built in ChatGPT, neighborhood independents that never appear may never get considered.

This research does not claim that appearing in ChatGPT causes a purchase, nor does it prove that an unnamed business cannot succeed. It identifies an emerging layer of local discovery that Downtown Ithaca Alliance members may want to understand.

CLIXERA can walk Downtown Ithaca Alliance members through these findings in a short workshop or lunch-and-learn. This page is the leave-behind — contact CLIXERA if you want to schedule a community session.