How we check this
One measurement on this site is ours, and it is the only thing here we ask you to take on our word. This page is the whole method, including what it cannot tell you.
What we asked
On July 28, 2026 we put 4 differently-worded versions of the same question to ChatGPT — the question a person in Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater types when they are looking for a security company — and recorded every company name that came back. Four phrasings rather than one, because these systems answer the wording as much as the question, and a single phrasing measures the phrasing.
The pool we checked those answers against started as 76 rows, assembled from business listings rather than from anyone's recommendation. 10 of those rows turned out to be names produced by the assistant that resolve to no findable business, so they are removed from every figure below. That leaves 66 verifiable local companies, which is the number the rest of this page uses.
What came back
ChatGPT returned 25 distinct company names. Of those:
- 9 we could verify as real, independently owned businesses with a Google listing in this area.
- 10 had no Google Business listing we could find at all. The measurement proves the assistant said the words; it does not prove the business exists here.
- 3 were national brands or authorized-dealer resellers rather than local companies.
- The rest either resolved to no company in the pool, or matched a real company on too little to trust the match.
Those are counts of names, not a tidy partition — a couple of names point at the same business, and some point at nothing. They are listed here so the arithmetic can be argued with rather than taken on faith.
What it showed
57 of the 66 verifiable local companies — 86.4% — were never named once, in any of the 4 phrasings. That is the headline figure, and it is a statement about visibility, not about quality.
Not one Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater company was named by all 4 phrasings. One was named by three. Across the 9 verified local companies, the average was 1.444 of 4.
The same run covered 34 metros. That 1.444 average is the lowest of all of them — for comparison, the strongest metro in the run, Seattle, WA, averaged 3 of 4. In plain terms: in most cities a handful of local companies have become the answer, and in this one, nobody has.
What this does not tell you
- It is not a quality ranking. Being named by an AI assistant says something about how visible a company is online. It says nothing about whether the install was any good.
- It is one assistant, on one day. These systems change their answers. The run key is alarm-2026-07-28 and the date is on it for that reason; we re-run rather than quietly edit.
- It is not a complete census. 66 companies is what we could assemble from listings. A company with no listing was never in the pool.
- A company can be excellent and invisible. That is most of the point.
How this site is paid for
Nothing on this site is currently sponsored and no company is featured on it. When that changes, the arrangement will be labelled on every page it appears on, and it will still have no bearing on what any guide says. No company can pay to change the measurement above, or to appear in it.
Questions about any of this, including “your number is wrong”: report a correction. It reaches the people who write this site, and nobody will call you about it.