OperStackWho ChatGPT recommends · October 2026
Who ChatGPT recommends: SEO agencies in 10 US cities
- 137different businesses namedin 60 usable answers across 10 US cities
- 16named in every answernamed in all 6 answers for their city
- 79%named again in run 2of the businesses ChatGPT named in the first run
- 58 of 60answers cited clutch.cothe source ChatGPT cited most
How we measured: 3 buyer questions in each of 10 US cities, asked in ChatGPT on chatgpt.com with web search on, the way a person asks it, through an automated browser session (Bright Data), 2 runs, 3 October 2026. All 60 answers were usable.
What the data shows
- 10 of 10
In 10 of 10 cities at least one business was named in all 6 answers.
City counts where some business appears in every one of the 6 answers (3 questions × 2 runs); cities with fewer than 6 usable answers are not counted. - 47 of 137
47 of 137 named SEO agencies were mentioned without any link to their own website.
A business counts as linked if its own website appears in a map card, in a link next to its name, or among the cited sources.
City by city
New York, NY
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| Mimvi SEO | 6 of 6 | 3 |
| Digital Drew SEM | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| SearchX | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| Chauncey Agency | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| SEO Tech Experts | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| Top New York SEO | 2 of 6 | 1 |
| Rein Group SEO & Development | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| SmartSites | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| SEO Circular | 1 of 6 | 1 |
| WebFX | 1 of 6 | 1 |
Plus 7 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (6), goodfirms.co (1), lseo.com (1)
Chicago, IL
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| Sixth City Marketing | 6 of 6 | 1 |
| Straight North | 4 of 6 | 3 |
| EM Search Consulting, LLC | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| Loud Interactive, LLC | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| SEO Design Chicago | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| RedShark SEO | 2 of 6 | 2 |
| Comrade Digital Marketing Agency | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Dabaran | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Chicago Website Design SEO Company | 1 of 6 | 0 |
| Digital Third Coast | 1 of 6 | 0 |
Plus 4 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (5), chicagowebsitedesignseocompany.com (1), designrush.com (1), silvercrestusa.com (1)
Los Angeles, CA
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| Coalition | 6 of 6 | 4 |
| The Los Angeles SEO Company | 5 of 6 | 2 |
| Loopex Digital | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| Outpace SEO | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| Eclipse Marketing | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| Searchbloom | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| SEO Optimizers | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| SEOBerg | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| HawkSEM | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| SmartSites | 2 of 6 | 0 |
Plus 5 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (6), goodfirms.co (2), designrush.com (1), expertise.com (1), seo.com (1), seos.co (1), wanderlog.com (1)
Houston, TX
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| Red Houston SEO Company | 6 of 6 | 1 |
| ASTOUNDZ SEO | 5 of 6 | 3 |
| EWR Digital | 4 of 6 | 1 |
| Actual SEO Media, Inc | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| Ascendly Marketing and Website Design | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| Funnel Boost Media | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| INFINI Marketing | 2 of 6 | 1 |
| Illumination Marketing & SEO Company | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| TopSpot Internet Marketing | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Regex SEO | 1 of 6 | 0 |
Plus 5 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (6), expertise.com (4), seo.com (2), bbb.org (1), thriveagency.com (1), topspot.com (1)
Dallas, TX
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| The Dallas SEO Company | 6 of 6 | 5 |
| Rise Local | 6 of 6 | 1 |
| Funnel Boost Media | 6 of 6 | 0 |
| Outpace SEO | 5 of 6 | 0 |
| Search Pros | 5 of 6 | 0 |
| Iconier Digital Marketing Agency | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Razor Rank | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| SmartSites | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Strive Enterprise | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| 12AM Agency | 1 of 6 | 0 |
Plus 2 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (6), expertise.com (1), ottawaseo.com (1), seo.com (1), smartsites.com (1)
Atlanta, GA
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| M16 Marketing | 6 of 6 | 1 |
| YEAH! Local | 6 of 6 | 0 |
| Webstuffguy | 5 of 6 | 0 |
| 20North Marketing | 4 of 6 | 2 |
| Blueprint Digital | 4 of 6 | 1 |
| RedBrick Web Solutions | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| StudioHawk | 3 of 6 | 2 |
| Loopex Digital | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| Outpace SEO | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| Find Local Company | 1 of 6 | 0 |
Plus 2 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (6), expertise.com (2), seo.com (2), semrush.com (1), seos.co (1)
Miami, FL
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| Sky SEO Digital | 6 of 6 | 3 |
| IvisionX SEO, Online Advertising & Marketing | 4 of 6 | 1 |
| Breakline | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| Headquarters Digital Marketing LLC | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| SmartSites | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| Rocket Marketing and Design | 3 of 6 | 1 |
| Web Design Miami Company | 2 of 6 | 1 |
| Dharma Digital Marketing Agency | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Funnel Boost Media | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Jives Media | 2 of 6 | 0 |
Plus 5 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (6), designrush.com (1)
Philadelphia, PA
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| 1DIGITAL AGENCY | 6 of 6 | 2 |
| BCC Interactive | 4 of 6 | 2 |
| Momentum Digital | 4 of 6 | 1 |
| Sagapixel | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| WebFX | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| SEO Locale | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| SEO Brand | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Sure Oak | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| REK Marketing and Design | 1 of 6 | 1 |
| Brolik | 1 of 6 | 0 |
Plus 3 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (6), goodfirms.co (1)
Phoenix, AZ
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| Phoenix SEO | 6 of 6 | 5 |
| Digitaleer SEO & Web Design | 6 of 6 | 1 |
| DMD DIGITAL SEO MARKETING AGENCY | 6 of 6 | 0 |
| Breakline | 4 of 6 | 0 |
| Funnel Boost Media | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| Konstruct Digital | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| Alien Leads | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Get Visible Digital Marketing Agency | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| SmartSites | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Ad Genius | 1 of 6 | 0 |
Plus 1 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (5), expertise.com (1), phoenixseo-company.com (1)
San Diego, CA
| Business | Named | First |
|---|---|---|
| Map Ranks | 6 of 6 | 4 |
| JetRank Agency | 6 of 6 | 1 |
| Rank Harvest Digital Marketing | 3 of 6 | 1 |
| Breakline | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| Inseev Interactive | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| San Diego SEO Company | 3 of 6 | 0 |
| Beehive Web Solutions | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Power Digital | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| Searchific SEO Company | 2 of 6 | 0 |
| WISE Digital Partners | 2 of 6 | 0 |
Plus 3 more named less often.
Sources cited: clutch.co (6), expertise.com (4)
"Named" is how many of the city's answers mentioned the business, "First" how often it came first. Up to the 10 most named per city.
Where ChatGPT gets its picks
- clutch.co 58 of 60
- expertise.com 13 of 60
- seo.com 6 of 60
- goodfirms.co 4 of 60
- designrush.com 3 of 60
How stable are the answers
Across all 10 US cities, 79% of the SEO agencies ChatGPT named in the first run were named again in run 2. 16 of 137 were named in every answer in their city.
- Phoenix 90%
- Chicago 89%
- Los Angeles 83%
- Houston 80%
- Dallas 80%
- San Diego 77%
- New York 75%
- Atlanta 75%
- Miami 75%
- Philadelphia 70%
Method and limitations
- Questions, word for word.
- What are the best SEO agencies in [city]?
- Can you recommend a good SEO agency in [city]? I need to rank my company website higher on Google.
- Which SEO agency in [city] has the best reviews?
- Where and when. 10 US cities: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego. Asked from the US, 3 October 2026.
- How the questions were asked. Asked in ChatGPT on chatgpt.com with web search on, the way a person asks it, through an automated browser session (Bright Data).
- 2 runs. Every question was asked 2 times in every city. Every figure on this page counts from the 60 usable answers.
- Answers change. ChatGPT can answer the same question differently from one run to the next. This is a snapshot of 3 October 2026, not a fixed ranking.
- A sample of cities. 10 US cities, not the whole country.
- Not a quality rating. The lists show whom ChatGPT named, not how good a business is. OperStack does not rate or endorse any business here.
How to cite
Source: OperStack, Who ChatGPT recommends: SEO agencies, October 2026, https://oper-stack.com/who-ai-recommends/seo-agencies/