Does Gemini recommend the same businesses as ChatGPT?

Your customer asks ChatGPT for a renovation contractor in KL. Her husband asks Gemini the same thing on his Android phone. They may well see different names: in our Malaysian test through each company's API, Gemini and ChatGPT rarely recommended the same businesses for the same question.

Across every answer we collected, only about one business in ten was named by both tools. Being on one AI's shortlist tells you little about the other.

How often do Gemini and ChatGPT recommend the same businesses?

Gemini and ChatGPT recommended the same local businesses only occasionally in our study. We asked both tools 45 Malaysian buying questions in English, Malay and Chinese, three times each, on the same day. A Gemini answer and a ChatGPT answer to the same question shared just 6% of the businesses they named (per-question data, CSV).

On average, the two tools agreed with each other less than each agreed with itself. Two ChatGPT answers to the same question shared 12% of their businesses. Two Gemini answers shared 49%.

Penang hotels overlapped most between the tools, perhaps because well-known hotels come up in both. For company secretary questions, only 2 of the 132 firms named were named by both tools.

BrightEdge's study of Gemini and ChatGPT recommendations, tracking brands rather than local businesses, also found the two tools disagree: "Across every category we tracked, ChatGPT and Google's Gemini agree on only about 2 of their top 5 brands"¹. They found the tools agree more where both are anchored by the same few household names.

Neither tool was simply better for finding a Malaysian business in our test. Gemini named businesses more often, while ChatGPT searched more and cited more official sites.

Why does Gemini recommend different businesses from ChatGPT?

Gemini recommends different businesses from ChatGPT mainly because the two tools often aren't reading the same pages, or any pages at all:

1. Gemini often answers from memory. It skipped the web search in 63 of 135 answers and still named businesses in most of them. Asked in Chinese, it searched in only a third of answers. ChatGPT searched almost every time.
2. They cite different websites. Across all their answers, only about one cited site in nine was cited by both tools. Google describes Gemini's search as connecting "the Gemini model to real-time web content"² through Google Search.
3. ChatGPT gives more "how to choose" answers. For company secretary questions, ChatGPT named a firm in only 9 of 27 answers. Gemini named one every time.
4. ChatGPT leans on official sites. Government, regulator and utility sites such as SSM, SEDA and TNB were about a fifth of the sites ChatGPT cited, against a sliver for Gemini (what ChatGPT cites, by question).

Outside the hotel questions, the two lists barely overlapped whether or not Gemini searched.

Does Gemini use Google Maps to recommend businesses?

Gemini can use Google Maps in the Gemini app, but in our test through Google's API, with Google Search alone, it cited no Google Maps pages. The API also has a separate Google Maps tool, which we didn't turn on. Asked our title question, Gemini answered, summarising SEO blogs it found, that it "leans heavily on Google Business Profiles (GBP), Google Maps, and Google Reviews."

Google's help page confirms the app side: "Gemini uses public information from Google Maps to help you" find places such as businesses³. In our test, businesses' own websites made up nearly three quarters of the sites Gemini cited.

One Malaysian detail stood out. Gemini cited Facebook posts, mostly in community groups, in 15 answers, and ChatGPT in none. Our reading: your own website is the common ground between the two tools. Your Google Business Profile matters for the Gemini app's Maps answers, which our test didn't measure.

What can't our test tell me about Gemini and ChatGPT recommendations?

Our test compared two tools on one day, so three things stay open:

• The apps and Maps. We used each company's API with web search only, not the ChatGPT or Gemini apps, which can add your location, your history and, for Gemini, Google Maps.
• Location. ChatGPT was set to Malaysia. Gemini's search tool has no country setting, and we didn't set its optional user coordinates, so we ran it from a Malaysian connection.
• The other AI tools. Perplexity, Claude and Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode may keep their own lists, and weren't part of this test.

How do I check whether both Gemini and ChatGPT recommend my business?

Check Gemini and ChatGPT separately, because a place on one shortlist rarely carried over to the other in our test. The upside: missing from ChatGPT's list doesn't mean you're missing from Gemini's, and each gap can be worked on.

1. Request EasyFound's free check. See what ChatGPT says about your business, then go through it with us on a free call.
2. Ask each tool your customers' questions, in English, Malay and Chinese, three times each. One answer is only a draw.
3. Keep the results apart. A ChatGPT result says little about Gemini. Ask any tracking tool which AI tools it checks.
4. Put your key facts on your own website in plain text: services, areas, prices and hours. Write each page so AI can quote it.
5. Keep your Google Business Profile current, since the Gemini app draws on Google Maps.

Since AI tools keep different shortlists, EasyFound, an AI SEO service for Malaysian businesses, checks six AI tools, Gemini and ChatGPT included, in English, Malay and Chinese, and works on the pages behind their answers. Your first step is the free check below.