I kept watching small businesses in my own town quietly disappear from AI answers while the big chains got named every single time. Same searches, same city, and the local spot just was not there. So I started measuring it and that turned into ARO Index. AI recommendations are becoming a new layer of local discovery. Big brands already have the teams, tools, budgets, and agencies making sure they show up in AI answers. Most small businesses do not even know this shift is happening yet. ARO Index tracks which businesses AI actually recommends, not just mentions, across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. Then it turns that into plain-language reports small businesses and the agencies serving them can actually use. Not another vague AI score. Not "you need more content" dressed up in a dashboard. The goal is simple. Show a local business where they stand, which competitors are getting recommended instead, and what they can fix without an enterprise budget or a 40-slide SEO lecture. We were early to multi-model AI recommendation audits, and the space is moving fast. That is a good thing. It means the problem is real. The part I care about most is keeping small local businesses visible, understandable, and recommendable in the eyes of AI. So here is my question, especially if you run a local business or an agency: does the model recommend you right now, or someone else? Go find out, then tell me what you think, the index, the reports, where this should go next.

ARO Index

The research index for AI business recommendations

The research index for AI business recommendations