ChatGPT Mostly Picks the Kelowna and Vernon Contractors Google Already Ranks

ChatGPT mostly recommends Kelowna and Vernon contractors that already rank in Google’s top results and have plenty of Google reviews. It also reads your own website and third-party review pages, such as Birdeye and BBB profiles, that many owners have never claimed. Rank on Google first, then claim and correct those pages.

Ask ChatGPT for the best roofer in Kelowna and it names two or three companies. For eight trades in Kelowna and Vernon, most of the companies it named on November 12, 2026 already sat near the top of Google’s own results, with plenty of reviews behind them. It also cited review pages that most of the businesses involved had never claimed. This post covers who gets picked, the pages the AI reads and a fix list for this winter. The method is near the end.

Who Does ChatGPT Recommend for a Contractor in Kelowna or Vernon?

Mostly the companies Google already ranks near the top. Of the 57 picks ChatGPT made across 16 questions, 50 (88%) were in Google’s top 20 results for the same trade and town, and 27 (47%) were in Google’s top 3.

That top-3 share is far above chance. Google’s top 3 make up only 16% of the businesses in its top-20 lists for these searches. ChatGPT is not choosing at random from whoever is listed. It is choosing much the same companies Google already puts first.

Reviews point the same way. The median ChatGPT pick had about 100 Google reviews. The median business in Google’s top 20 had 37, and the median in Google’s top 3 had about 89. Half of ChatGPT’s picks had 100 reviews or more. Only 7 of the 54 picks found on Google had fewer than 20.

Gemini, Google’s own AI, run here with Google Search switched on, was looser. Under a third of its picks came from Google’s top 3, and it reached out of town: one pick for a Vernon question was a Kelowna roofer, another a garage door company based in Enderby. It still drew 80% of its picks from Google’s top 20.

What it means for you: the work that moves a business up Google’s local results is the same work that gets it named by an AI. Google says as much about its own AI answers. Its guide for site owners says: “There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary.”

One caution on the comparison. Google’s side here is the ranked list from its Places search, not the map a customer sees on a phone, which shifts with where they are standing. Treat the positions as close, not exact.

Which Websites Does ChatGPT Read Before It Recommends a Contractor?

Two kinds: the company’s own website, and review or directory pages about the company. In 30 of 32 ChatGPT answers, the sources included the website of a business it named. In 21 of 32, they included a Birdeye review page. BBB profiles came up in 10.

Gemini leaned harder on company websites and on KelownaNow’s Best of Kelowna pages, and it cited Birdeye only once. The two tools read different corners of the web, which is one reason their lists differ.

Some names are missing from both columns. Google Maps, Yelp, Bing Places, Apple, Foursquare, Facebook and HomeStars were not cited once in 48 answers. Our earlier guide to the listings AI tools draw on named six, including Yelp and Bing Places, and none of the six showed up here. That doesn’t prove the AI ignores them. These answers came from a developer version of ChatGPT search, and the regular app may draw on more sources. It does show that the pages above get read, and most owners never look at them.

At least one of those pages sells its top spots. Best Pros in Town, cited in 5 ChatGPT answers, shows business owners this offer on its Vernon plumbers page: “Get Top 3 placement in your area for less than $1 a day”. So the order on a list an AI reads can be partly for sale. Read what these pages say about you before you decide whether any of them deserve money.

Why Is There a Birdeye Page for Your Business That You Never Made?

Because Birdeye publishes review pages for local businesses whether or not the owner signs up. Of the 13 Birdeye business pages ChatGPT cited, 10 carried this line: “This profile has not been claimed by the business owner or representative.”

Each page shows a star rating and a review total, from 8 up to 847. Birdeye’s own review section held no more than one review on any of them, so the totals must come from reviews left on other sites. The owner may never have seen the page. ChatGPT still reads it as a source about the business.

The pages also carry mistakes. In this small set:

• Two pages put “United States” after a BC address.
• One links to a website at an old Google-made address that now returns a 404 error page. ChatGPT still recommended that Vernon electrician, and the Birdeye page was the only source it cited for the company. A Google Places search found no listing under that name.
• One shows 176 reviews for a Vernon painter that a Google Places search could not find by name or by street address, although the painter’s own website loads. ChatGPT named that painter in both runs.

Fixing it is free, going by Birdeye’s own wording on these pages: “Claim your free Birdeye profile” to “update your business information”. The pages add “No credit card required” and tell owners to “upgrade only if you want more”. Only 3 of the 13 pages had been claimed.

Does ChatGPT Give the Same Answer Every Time?

No. Asked the same question twice, a few seconds apart, ChatGPT returned the identical list only 3 times out of 16. The two runs shared at least one name in 12 of 16, and the first name matched in 9.

ChatGPT and Gemini agreed on at least one name in 12 of the 16 questions. So there is a core of companies that keep coming up, and a fringe that changes from one answer to the next.

Don’t judge your standing from a single try. If ChatGPT names you once, it may not the next time. If it skips you once, that isn’t the final word either. Ask several times over a few weeks and keep a tally.

How Can an Okanagan Contractor Get Recommended by ChatGPT?

Start with Google, since most AI picks come from Google’s top results. Then clean up the pages the AI reads about you. In this order:

1. Keep your Google Business Profile complete and the reviews coming. Half of ChatGPT’s picks had 100 or more Google reviews. Our guide to how many Google reviews you need in Vernon or Kelowna has the local numbers.
2. Say what you do and where, in plain words on your website. Put your trade, your main services, the towns you serve and your phone number on the home page and the contact page. ChatGPT cited a named company’s own site in 30 of 32 answers, so make sure yours says these things in words, not only in photos. This is the core of our local SEO work.
3. Find and claim your Birdeye page. Search for your business name with the word Birdeye. If a page exists, claim it and correct the address, phone number, website and hours. Birdeye’s page says the claim is free.
4. Check your other listings. Look up your business on BBB, Best Pros in Town, Yellow Pages, Houzz and the Okanagan Trade Directory, and fix anything that is wrong. Paying for a top spot is a separate decision, and this test can’t tell you whether it helps.
5. Get onto local lists. KelownaNow’s Best of Kelowna pages and the Vernon chamber directory were both cited. Our post on whether the chamber of commerce is worth it covers what a listing there does for you.
6. Ask ChatGPT yourself, the way a customer would. Use a private browser window and ask “Who is the best [your trade] in [your town], BC?” Do it five times over a few weeks. Write down who it names and which pages it cites.

None of this needs a special AI product. It is ordinary local search work done on the pages the AI happens to read. If you run a trade in the North or Central Okanagan, our Vernon and Kelowna pages show what we do for local businesses.

How the Numbers Were Gathered

There were 16 questions, one for each trade and town, worded the way a homeowner might type them: “Who is the best roofer in Kelowna, BC?” The eight trades were roofer, plumber, electrician, furnace and air conditioning company, renovation contractor, landscaper, house painter and garage door repair company. The towns were Kelowna and Vernon. Every question was asked on November 12, 2026, between 7:34 and 7:38 a.m. Pacific time.

The ChatGPT answers came from OpenAI’s Codex command-line tool with web search turned on, signed in to Osprey’s ChatGPT account. That is OpenAI’s search, but it is not the ChatGPT app or website, which can look different. Each question went in twice. The Gemini answers came from Google’s Gemini 3.5 Flash model with Google Search grounding, once per question. That is Google’s AI with live search, but it is not an AI Overview. Each prompt asked for an answer of under 200 words, then a line listing the businesses picked and a line listing the pages relied on, so the sources are the ones each tool reported.

For Google’s ranking, the same trade and town went into the Google Places API text search: top 20 results, run twice a minute apart, with businesses that hide their address included. Each pick was matched to that list by name or by the website cited, and four uncertain matches were checked by hand. Picks outside the top 20 were looked up by name. The 13 Birdeye pages were read the same morning. Two KelownaNow pages answered with an automated-visitor check and were not read. In all, the answers named 111 picks covering 73 different businesses.

This is a small sample: one morning, two towns, 48 answers. It does not cover the ChatGPT app, real AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Claude or Perplexity. No business is named here. Osprey sells local SEO, including the Google and listing work in the checklist above.

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