How our guides are measured.

The questions

For each trade and city we ask the same fixed questions, the way a customer would: who's best, who to call in an emergency, and what a common job costs. The wording never changes without a new version of the question.

The assistants and the schedule

We ask every AI assistant we have live access to. Cities are measured in rotation, the least recently measured first, within a fixed weekly budget, so a city is re-measured every few weeks rather than every week. Each guide shows the dates its answers were collected. Demo or simulated answers are never stored or published.

What we read

We count a business as listed only when an answer to a recommendation question (who's best, who to call in an emergency) names it as a list entry. Mentions in passing, and the cost question's breakdowns, don't count. A guide shows the businesses listed in at least two answers, up to ten, and the ten websites cited most often. The themes (reviews, licensing, emergency service, prices, years in business, directories) are read only from answers to "who's best", because the other questions would put them there themselves.

When a guide is published

Only when we have at least 6 answers from at least 2 assistants and 2 different questions in the last 90 days. Otherwise there is no page for that city.

What we don't publish

We don't quote the answers themselves. An assistant can get details about a business wrong, and we won't repeat that. Only answers from the last 90 days count.

What it isn't

It's not a ranking, a review, or a recommendation from us. Businesses can't pay to appear, and we don't edit what the assistants said.

Corrections and removal

If your business is listed and you want it corrected or removed, contact us from your business's email address and we'll take it off.

The exact questions

For plumbers in Fremont, for example:

1. Who are the best plumbers in Fremont, CA?
2. I have a burst pipe in Fremont, CA. Which plumber should I call?
3. How much does replacing a water heater cost in Fremont, CA, and who do you recommend for it?