When a customer asks ChatGPT for a removal company, the answer is built from other websites. We counted which ones.
We ran the same six searches for 41 UK movers across five AI engines, 1,195 answers in all. Here is which sites the engines lean on, which directories they ignore, and what to do about it this month.
{ THE SHORT VERSION }
Checkatrade is the most cited site for movers: 274 citations, across 37 of the 41 movers we tested. reallymoving is next with 241.
Every name on the list is somebody else's website, so your visibility in an AI answer depends on places you do not own.
Each engine has its favourites. ChatGPT reads Checkatrade, Trustpilot and Yell. Perplexity reads reallymoving and Compare My Move. Claude reads 3 Best Rated.
Nine directories were not cited once in 1,195 answers, including Hotfrog, 192.com, Brownbook and Yelp UK.
Where AI looks, you have to be: get onto the platforms, complete every profile and keep the reviews coming.
What did we test?
We took 41 UK removal companies and ran the same six searches for each one, the kind a customer would type: removals in the home town and two nearby towns, best removal company, house removals and storage. Every search went through five AI engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity.
That came to 1,195 answers, run between late July and early September 2026 and tallied in September. We counted every website each answer cited, once per answer per site. A citation means the engine used that site as a source. It does not mean the engine recommended the site, or named any particular mover on it.
One limit to be upfront about. Gemini's answers link out through a Google redirect, so its citations could not be counted site by site in the same way, and the totals here come from the other four engines. Gemini does label its sources by name, and the same names lead there: Checkatrade, Sirelo, reallymoving and 3 Best Rated.
Which websites do AI engines cite most for movers?
Checkatrade, with reallymoving close behind. Trustpilot, Compare My Move and Reddit come next. The chart above has the counts, and this table shows how far each site reaches.
Site | Movers cited for, of 41 |
|---|---|
Checkatrade | 37 |
reallymoving | 38 |
Trustpilot | 32 |
Compare My Move | 33 |
26 | |
3 Best Rated | 26 |
Removal Reviews | 32 |
Yell | 33 |
TrustATrader | 25 |
Sirelo | 25 |
Which? Trusted Traders | 26 |
Two things stand out.
First, every name on the list is somebody else's website. Review platforms, comparison sites and directories are what the engines lean on, so your visibility in an AI answer depends heavily on places you do not own.
Second, the reach. reallymoving was cited for 38 of the 41 movers and Checkatrade for 37, in towns all over the country. Whichever town a customer asks about, the engines are likely to be reading those two.
Does every AI engine read the same websites?
No, which is why one good profile is not enough.
ChatGPT leans on Checkatrade (116), Trustpilot (86), Yell (79) and Reddit (50). Yell is the surprise: 79 of its 98 citations came from ChatGPT alone.
Perplexity leans on reallymoving (127), Checkatrade (86), Compare My Move (80) and Removal Reviews (62).
Claude leans on 3 Best Rated (45), reallymoving (43) and Compare My Move (39).
Google AI Mode leans on Checkatrade (66) and reallymoving (42), alongside Google's own pages in most answers.
Which directories did the engines ignore?
Nine were not cited once in 1,195 answers: Hotfrog, 192.com, Brownbook, Tupalo, Misterwhat, Europages, Nextdoor, Foursquare and Yelp UK.
Three more barely registered. Cylex appeared in 8 answers, 6 of them for storage searches rather than removals. FreeIndex appeared once, on Gemini. Scoot appeared once, for a storage search.
If someone is selling you a listings package, check it against this. That does not make those listings harmful. A correct name, address and phone number on a handful of directories is still basic housekeeping for local search. It means they are not what the AI engines read, so nobody should charge you extra on the promise that they are.
Why do the engines lean on these sites?
Because they hold what a careful customer would look for: dated reviews from real people, who covers which town, and the same business appearing in several places, so one source can be checked against another.
Some of them also do part of the work. reallymoving, Compare My Move, Checkatrade and Removal Reviews ask for a review after a job booked through them, so listed movers gather fresh reviews without chasing. A mover who is not listed is missing from those sources, however good its Google reviews are.
We go through how the engines decide who to name in getting your removals company into ChatGPT and AI search.
What should a mover do this month?
Where AI looks, you have to be. In order:
Check your own town first. Ask ChatGPT and Perplexity for the best removal company in your town and note which sites they cite. Do it before you change anything, so you have something to compare against.
Start with Checkatrade and reallymoving. Claim or complete your profile: services, towns covered, photos, and the same name, phone number and address you use everywhere else.
Work down the list: Trustpilot, Compare My Move, Removal Reviews, 3 Best Rated. Some charge a fee or charge per lead, so judge that cost on its own merits before you sign up.
Keep the reviews coming. Ask every customer on the day of the move. A profile with no reviews this year reads as a business that has gone quiet.
Fix your Yell listing. ChatGPT reads it heavily and it costs little to get right.
Stop paying for what is not read. Go through any listings package or directory subscription and check it against the list above.
Leave Reddit until last, and never advertise there. If a thread comes up about movers in your area, answer it honestly under your own name.
Run the same check again in three months, so you can see whether any of it moved.
None of this guarantees a mention. But get onto those platforms, complete every profile and keep the reviews coming, and you will begin to be visible. The work sits alongside the rest of your search visibility, which is what SEO for removal companies covers.
How much weight should you put on these numbers?
Treat them as a dated snapshot rather than a law. It is 41 movers, in 2026, and the engines change their sources without notice, so a platform that leads today may not lead next year.
A citation is also a source, not a customer. We counted what the engines read, not how many enquiries came from it. And one search in six was for storage, which gives platforms that list storage a small lift. Even so, the gap between Checkatrade at 274 and Hotfrog at zero is not something a different sample would close.
Frequently asked questions
Which websites do AI engines cite most for removal companies?
Checkatrade, with 274 citations across 37 of the 41 movers we tested in 2026, then reallymoving with 241. Trustpilot, Compare My Move, Reddit, 3 Best Rated, Removal Reviews and Yell follow.
Does ChatGPT read Yell and Checkatrade?
Yes. Checkatrade was ChatGPT's most cited site for movers, with 116 citations, followed by Trustpilot with 86 and Yell with 79. Most of Yell's citations came from ChatGPT alone.
Are paid directory listings worth it for AI search?
Check them against the sites the engines actually cite. Hotfrog, 192.com, Brownbook, Tupalo, Misterwhat, Europages, Nextdoor, Foursquare and Yelp UK were not cited once in 1,195 answers.
Does Reddit matter for removal companies?
It was cited 117 times, for 26 of the 41 movers, mostly by ChatGPT and Perplexity. You cannot buy your way in. Answer local threads honestly under your own name when they come up.
Does being on these sites guarantee an AI engine will name my business?
No. A citation means the engine used that site as a source. It does not promise your name in the answer, and the engines change their sources without notice. Being absent from the sites they read makes it far less likely.
