How we measure who AI recommends

These rankings aren't opinions, votes, or paid placements. They are a record of what AI actually answered when we asked it — the same way a real customer would — who to call.

The five steps, in plain language

1. 1

   We ask the questions real customers ask.

   In each metro we asked leading AI assistants for a security company 4 different ways — everyday phrasings like "Who is the best home security company in my city?", "I want a security system installed at my house. Who should I hire?", and "What is the most recommended local alarm company?". We asked separately about home security companies and, in most metros, fire alarm & fire protection companies. No trick prompts, no leading questions. Across 34 metros and both company types, that came to 240 checks for this edition.

2. 2

   We record every company it names.

   Each answer gets logged exactly as given. We then match every recommendation against the 2,463 U.S. security companies in our dataset. Each business the AI names is credited to exactly one company — and when we can't tell for certain which local company it meant, no one gets the credit. No company is ever double-counted.

3. 3

   Frequency sets the rank.

   A company recommended in 3 of 4 checks ranks above one recommended in 1. One mention is never treated as a rank on its own — asking the same question several ways is what makes the result dependable. Ties are shown as ties.

4. 4

   We publish the top of the list — and only the top.

   Each metro page shows the companies AI actually recommended, most-recommended first. We never publish a bottom list and never name who didn't make it. A company that isn't listed simply didn't come up in this edition's answers.

5. 5

   We re-run it quarterly.

   The same benchmark, the same way, every quarter. Companies that improve their AI visibility can appear in the next edition — and the run date is printed on every page. This edition: July 2026.

This edition

What this is — and what it isn't

Being on this list means AI recommended that company when we asked, in this edition, in that metro. It is a measurement of AI visibility — not a judgment of the quality of anyone's work, and not a claim that unlisted companies are worse at what they do. AI answers also change over time, which is exactly why we re-measure quarterly and date every edition.