How every number here is measured

The question

For each city and trade we ask the question a customer asks: who should I call? Two phrasings, for example "Who are the best plumbing companies in Murfreesboro, TN? Name specific local businesses you would recommend."

The sources

Google Maps (the first twenty results for the buyer's search, for example "plumber Murfreesboro, TN"), the Google AI Overview on that same search, and four AI assistants with web search on: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini and Claude. All on the same day, once a month.

What counts as named

A business counts as named by an assistant only when its own distinctive name appears in the answer. The trade word and the city never count, so "the best plumbers in Murfreesboro are..." names nobody by itself. Only businesses Google Maps returned can appear on a page; nothing is invented, and an assistant naming a business Maps did not list is recorded but not published.

The score

Recommended on N of 6: one point for a seat in the Google map pack (the top three), one point if the Google AI Overview on the buyer's search names the business, one point per assistant that named it. Ties break on how many assistants, then map position, then review weight. A source that fails to answer on measurement day is excluded and named on the page; it never counts as a miss.

What never happens

Rankings are not for sale. Claiming a listing, buying any service from the measurer, or advertising anywhere changes nothing about where a business appears. Clients of the measurer are labeled on every row they appear in. Raw assistant answers are kept privately for disputes and never published.

Disputes

Any business can dispute a measurement from its market page. We re-run the measurement and publish the outcome on the business profile, whichever way it goes.

Who measures

Who Gets Called is measured and operated by Tristar Marketing Solutions, Smyrna, Tennessee.