The AI Recommendation Report: New Zealand, October 2026
One in eight New Zealand businesses we checked is recommended when an AI assistant is asked for the best in their trade and town. Nearly all of them are recognised. The thing that most separated the recommended from the rest was a Google Business Profile the engine could find, which made a recommendation seven times more likely. Code on the business's own website made no measurable difference.
This is the first report from List-It's AI checks, published alongside the NZ AI-Findability Index. The numbers below are from 140 New Zealand businesses checked between 11 June and 6 October 2026, and from 112,573 NZ business websites read for the index. Journalists and researchers are welcome to the data: email info@list-it.nz.
Key findings
- 12.5% recommended. Of 128 businesses with a result, 16 were named when an AI search engine was asked for the best in their category and town. Over the last 90 days the figure is 12.2%.
- 96% recognised. 135 of the 140 were recognised as a real business by at least one of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. The engines know most NZ businesses exist. They recommend few of them.
- 4.4 competitors named instead. When a business was not in the answer, the engine named on average 4.4 others.
- A findable Google Business Profile: 23% recommended against 3%. Businesses whose Google profile the engine could find were recommended 22.6% of the time (12 of 53). Those without, 3.2% (2 of 62).
- Website code: no difference. Businesses with structured data on their website were recommended 11.4% of the time, those without 11.3%. Having a website at all made no measurable difference either (12.1% against 12.5%).
- Owner-verified listings: 19% against 11%. Businesses whose List-It listing had been claimed and verified by the owner were recommended 19.0% of the time (4 of 21) against 11.2% for unclaimed. A small group, so read it as a direction, not a measurement.
- Six in ten NZ business websites are findable. Of 112,573 websites read for the index, 60.8% expose at least three of the four facts an assistant needs. 23,525 could not be reached at all.
- Only 16% of registered businesses list a website. 120,669 of the 769,479 businesses on the NZBN register have a website on their record.
How an assistant answers "who should I call?"
When a person asks an AI assistant for a plumber in Tauranga or a cattery in Nelson, the answer is two to five business names with a sentence each. There is no second page. The names are chosen from what the engine can read on the public web in the seconds after the question: the business's website, its Google profile, directories, the companies register, and anywhere else the name appears.
List-It's check runs that question for real. It asks an AI search engine for the best business in the trade and town, records who it names, and asks four engines separately whether they recognise the business at all.
The numbers
| Measure | Result | Base |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended when asked for the best in their trade and town | 12.5% | 128 businesses with a result |
| Recognised by at least one engine | 96.4% | 140 businesses |
| Recognised by Gemini | 87.6% | 129 asked |
| Recognised by ChatGPT | 85.7% | 140 asked |
| Recognised by Claude | 80.5% | 133 asked |
| Recognised by Perplexity | 77.9% | 136 asked |
| Other businesses named when not recommended | 4.4 on average | 112 businesses |
What separates the recommended from the rest
| Factor | Recommended, with | Recommended, without |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile the engine could find | 22.6% (12 of 53) | 3.2% (2 of 62) |
| Listing claimed and verified by the owner | 19.0% (4 of 21) | 11.2% (12 of 107) |
| Structured data on the website | 11.4% (4 of 35) | 11.3% (7 of 62) |
| Has a website | 12.1% (12 of 99) | 12.5% (2 of 16) |
Two things stand out. The Google profile result is large enough to survive the small sample: a business the engine could place on Google was seven times more likely to be in the answer. And the website result cuts against what most SEO advice says. Structured data on a site may help an engine describe a business correctly, but in this sample it did not get the business named. The engines appear to recommend from the sources they already trust, and a Google profile with hours and a matching phone number is the clearest of those.
Where New Zealand stands
The NZ AI-Findability Index reads every NZ business website List-It can reach and counts a business as findable when its site exposes at least three of four facts an assistant needs: what it does, a phone number, a logo, and a profile somewhere else that says the same thing. Nothing List-It adds counts.
| NZ business websites read | 112,573 |
| Reachable | 89,048 |
| Findable | 60.8% of all, 76.9% of reachable |
| Best region | Southland, 66.8% |
| Lowest region | West Coast, 57.3% |
Among towns with at least 300 business websites, Sydenham (73.0%), Ashburton (72.9%) and Te Aro (69.5%) lead. Mt Roskill (49.5%), Browns Bay (50.9%), Māngere and Halswell (51.5%) trail. Of the five largest centres, Tauranga does best (67.0%) and Auckland City worst (58.2%), with Christchurch at 63.4%, Hamilton 62.2% and Lower Hutt 59.5%. Every region and 85 towns are on the index.
Method and caveats
- The 140 businesses are not a random sample. They are businesses that somebody chose to check, usually the owner or someone curious about them. That probably tilts the group toward businesses that already care about their online presence, which would make the true recommendation rate across all NZ businesses lower, not higher.
- The recommendation question goes to one engine, Perplexity, asked once per check: "best [category] in [town], New Zealand". Recognition is measured separately on four engines. Answers change from day to day.
- The category is List-It's classification of the business, which is occasionally the wrong trade. Where we have found that, the check is corrected before it is used.
- Small groups. Several splits rest on fewer than 30 businesses. Percentages are given with their counts so readers can judge.
- Google profile found means the engine's own lookup located a profile matching the business, not that the business has none.
- The index figures come from the 5 October 2026 computation. Each index edition is frozen on publication so a figure cited today reads the same later.
What a business can do
1. Make sure the engines can find your Google Business Profile, with hours and the same phone number as your website. In this data that is the single largest difference. 2. Claim your listing on List-It, free, so there is an owner-verified record of your name, place and trade. Every registered NZ business already has a page here. 3. Run the free check and see your own answer: who the engines name for your trade and town, and whether you are in it. Run it here. It takes about ten seconds.
List-It is New Zealand's business directory built to be read by AI assistants. It is made by Bay Web Co in the Bay of Plenty. Media enquiries: info@list-it.nz.
The free checker asks three live AI engines about your business and shows you their actual answers. Takes about 10 seconds, no card, no signup.