We Asked ChatGPT to Recommend a Security Company. 92% of the Industry Never Showed Up.

Watch the 40-second breakdown above.

More homeowners than ever are skipping the search bar and just asking. They open Google or ChatGPT and type something like "who's a good home security company near me" — and whatever answer comes back is the one they trust. No scrolling through ten blue links. No comparing five different websites. Just an answer.

So we decided to find out who actually gets that answer.

What We Did

We took a list of 1,882 U.S. security and alarm companies — a broad mix of independent dealers, regional players, and national brands — and asked ChatGPT to recommend a home security company by name. We ran this consistently across the list and simply counted who came up and who didn't.

This wasn't a trick question or a leading prompt. It was the same kind of plain, everyday question a homeowner would type in on their phone.

What We Found

Out of 1,882 companies, only 151 ever got recommended by name. That's 8%.

The other 92% never came up at all. Not once, not in any variation of the question. As far as ChatGPT was concerned, they didn't exist.

That's a strange kind of vanishing act. These are real companies. Many have been trusted names in their local markets for decades — good crews, loyal customers, solid reputations built the old-fashioned way. But when a homeowner asks an AI who to trust, none of that history matters if the AI has never learned your name.

Why This Is Happening

AI tools like ChatGPT build their answers from patterns in publicly available information — reviews, articles, structured business listings, mentions across the web. If a company's online presence is thin, outdated, or inconsistent, the AI has nothing solid to point to. It's not that the AI is against smaller dealers. It's that it can only recommend what it can actually find and verify.

Meanwhile, the big national brands with more digital footprint — more reviews, more articles written about them, more consistent listings — are far more likely to get mentioned by default. Not because they're better installers or better neighbors. Just because they're easier for the AI to see.

Why This Matters for Dealers

Think about the shift that's already happened with search engines. Fifteen years ago, dealers learned that showing up on Google mattered — get on the map, get the reviews, get the website right. That fight is basically won or lost for most companies at this point.

Now there's a new front door to your business, and it's conversational. Someone asks ChatGPT a question, gets one or two names back, and calls them. There's no page two. There's no scrolling. You're either in the answer or you're not.

If 92% of the industry is invisible right now, that also means there's a real opportunity for the dealers who fix it early. Being one of the 8% today is a lot easier than trying to catch up once everyone else has gotten wise to this.

Where You Stand

We built a public leaderboard so dealers can see how the industry stacks up — check it out at mostrecommendedhomesecurity.com to see who's currently showing up and who isn't.

If you want to know specifically where your own company stands, AI Security Edge offers a free AI visibility check at /audit. It takes a few minutes and tells you plainly whether ChatGPT currently knows who you are — and what that could mean for the calls you're not getting.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did you test which companies ChatGPT recommends?

We asked ChatGPT plain, everyday questions a homeowner might type when looking for a home security company, then recorded which of the 1,882 companies in our list were named in the responses. We ran this consistently to get a fair read across the full list.

Why do only 8% of security companies get recommended by ChatGPT?

Mostly because of visibility, not quality. AI tools generate recommendations based on what they can find and verify online — reviews, articles, consistent business information. Companies with thin or inconsistent online presence are much less likely to be surfaced, regardless of how good their actual service is.

Does this mean my company is doing something wrong?

Not necessarily. Many strong, well-run companies fell into the 92% simply because their online footprint hasn't caught up with how people are now searching. It's a visibility gap, not a reflection of the quality of your work.

How can I check if my company shows up in AI recommendations?

AI Security Edge offers a free AI visibility check that tells you whether ChatGPT currently recommends your company and what factors are affecting that. You can also browse the public leaderboard at mostrecommendedhomesecurity.com to see how your company compares to others in the industry.