Downtown Spokane Partnership (Spokane, WA) ChatGPT Visibility Research

Overview

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

395 eligible businesses were tested across 2,477 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 16, 2026. ChatGPT answers can change. This study measures which businesses entered the AI-generated shortlist at that moment — not future guaranteed mentions.

Key Findings

49% of Downtown Spokane businesses (193 of 395) were mentioned at least once.

37% had strong visibility (appeared in multiple relevant responses), 12% had limited visibility (appeared once), and 51% were not named in any tested response.

Discovery questions (like "best florist in Spokane") produced a 45% mention rate. Recommendation questions (like "Who should I see for a dentist?") produced a 36% mention rate.

Category Performance

Visibility varied by category. Stay performed best at 90%, while shopping businesses had the lowest visibility at 41%.

These category rates show which types of Downtown Spokane 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 Spokane businesses were named — and which questions returned no Downtown Spokane businesses at all.

• "art gallery Spokane" → Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, Saranac Art Projects, Trackside Studio Ceramic Art Gallery
• "Who should I see for bar in Spokane?" → Durkin's Liquor Bar, The Volstead Act, Steelhead Bar & Grille
• "best jeweler in Spokane" → Dodson's Jewelers, Jewelry Design Center, Clark's Jewelers, Ptera Jewelry, Huppin's (no Downtown Spokane business appeared)

Spotlight: "best jeweler in Spokane"

When asked "best jeweler in Spokane", ChatGPT named Dodson's Jewelers, Jewelry Design Center, Clark's Jewelers, Ptera Jewelry, Huppin's.

No eligible jeweler in the benchmark appeared.

Methodology

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

This benchmark uses the 897 listings in the Downtown Spokane Partnership directory extract on October 15, 2026. Questions were asked on October 16, 2026.

2,477 ChatGPT questions were asked across 255 unique prompts. Questions were matched to each business's category and pinned to Spokane at the city level.

Each business received approximately 6 questions. Questions were not averaged across multiple runs. This study used ChatGPT (OpenAI) on October 16, 2026.

Of the 897 listings, 305 had no usable website: 239 had no website listed, and 66 listed only Facebook, Instagram, a commercial listing index, a city page, LoopNet, a Mailchimp page, GlossGenius, the partnership site, a Nordstrom media page, Apartments.com, StyleSeat, MeetMonarch, or LinkedIn. Another 130 were not eligible: 69 national or multi-location chains, 44 civic or institutional listings, and 17 duplicate listings. Of the 462 eligible members, 67 could not be confidently matched to a Spokane Google Business Profile and were not asked, leaving 395 scored. That includes 18 listings with no place id, and 49 that matched a different business, a shared building, or an office outside Spokane. Questions were pinned to Spokane at the city level. They were not restricted to the Downtown Spokane Partnership district, and no extra map-pin or login location was applied. Each question was asked in one run. Hotels have their own Stay row because ten were scored, above the five-business minimum.

This is a point-in-time benchmark of the ChatGPT responses tested on October 16, 2026. This study uses the 897 listings in the Downtown Spokane Partnership directory extract from October 15, 2026. Scores are the share of scored members named in those answers. Questions were pinned to Spokane the city, so an answer can name a business outside the downtown district. 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 Spokane Partnership 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 Spokane Partnership members may want to understand.

CLIXERA can walk Downtown Spokane Partnership 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.