Evidence
Every study that found Starworks in AI answers.
7 independent studies, 3 published tests, 7 articles and 3 public posts, including the critical ones. Every page was opened and checked on 11 October 2026, and every figure below is the source’s own.
- 7independent studies
- 3published tests
- 7articles
- 3public posts
#1 The most-cited website in Australian AI answers.
| Site | Share of answers |
|---|---|
| Starworks | 17.6% |
| Time Out | 7.2% |
| Word of Mouth | 6.5% |
| Finder | 5.2% |
| ProductReview | 4.6% |
| 2% | |
| Wikipedia | 0% |
153 Australian answers, October 2026. In practice ChatGPT: Claude read it in none of its 680 answers. Across all 3,260 answers in 20 countries it ranks #48. Data under CC BY 4.0.
Four different things get called “AI visibility”.
Studies measure the first three. Read a number with its step in mind: a page being read is not a business being hired. We report each one separately.
Read
An AI system fetched the page while building an answer, or crawled it beforehand.
Cited
The answer linked the page or named it as a source.
Named
The answer recommended a business by name.
Hired
A customer chose the business. Only the business can count this.
Independent studies
Run by agencies and researchers who do not work for us. Different questions, places and engines, so the numbers do not add up to one figure, and we do not pretend they do.
199 observations of Starworks, the most cited domain after Google and Reddit.
What it does not show. A count of how often a domain appeared in the answers collected, not of customers won.
AI Search for Franchises: How Locations Get Recommended (opens in a new tab)Most cited Australian domains, Perth studySearch Scope, Sep 2026 (opens the study in a new tab) Most cited Australian domains, Perth study, from Search Scope Site Count Starworks 199 Word of Mouth 94 ProductReview 79 hipages 74 ~330 answers across 12 trades. On ChatGPT, Starworks appears in nearly every recommendation query.
What it does not show. ChatGPT only. The other three engines leaned on different sources, and in every engine a business’s own website was the most-cited source.
How AI Picks Local Businesses in Australia: 2026 Study (opens in a new tab)#2 outside site linked in the 269 of 390 ChatGPT answers that named a business, after hipages.
When ChatGPT named a local business, about four times in five the answer had no link to that business's own website.
What it does not show. Counts links in answers that named a business, not where the name came from. Selected directory and review sites shown.
What AI says when Australians ask who to hire: October 2026 (opens in a new tab)Outside sites linked most often, answers that named a businessTyso, 2 Oct 2026 (opens the study in a new tab) Outside sites linked most often, answers that named a business, from Tyso Site Count hipages 52 Starworks 20 Word of Mouth 8 Product Review 7 Localsearch 6 #1 most-cited website in Australian AI answers. 18% of them gave Starworks as the source of a recommendation, more than twice the next site.
Australia’s third most-read site in AI answers, after Reddit and Wikipedia: 30% of answers read it. Of the answers that read it, 59% also gave it as the source of a recommendation.
What it does not show. 153 Australian answers, October 2026. In practice ChatGPT: Claude read it in none of its 680 answers. Across all 3,260 answers in 20 countries it ranks #48.
AI Source Map, October 2026: starworks.com.au (opens in a new tab)Given as the source of a recommendation, Australian answersAIGROW.GG, Oct 2026 (opens the study in a new tab) Given as the source of a recommendation, Australian answers, from AIGROW.GG Site Share of answers Starworks 17.6% Time Out 7.2% Word of Mouth 6.5% Finder 5.2% ProductReview 4.6% Reddit 2% Wikipedia 0% 15 of 102 electrician answers cited Starworks, third after WA Government and hipages.
What it does not show. One industry in one area.
Who AI recommends in Perth: 2026 study (opens in a new tab)21.6% of ChatGPT’s physiotherapist answers cited Starworks, tied third among its sources.
What it does not show. One category in one city. Top of Prompt describes Starworks as a paid-listing directory that markets AI visibility services, and notes it recurs across unrelated categories.
Who does AI cite for physiotherapists in Sydney? (opens in a new tab)15% of ChatGPT answers cited Starworks (28 links), seventh of 133 domains.
What it does not show. Software questions, not local trades.
Best healthcare and clinic software in Australia, according to AI (opens in a new tab)
Published tests
Smaller than studies: a handful of questions run by an agency and shown on its own pages. Useful, and weaker evidence, so they are listed apart.
In its Brisbane tests, ChatGPT cited aggregators like Word of Mouth and Starworks for home services.
What it does not show. A handful of test questions on an agency’s location page; named as a source, without a count.
AI SEO Agency Brisbane: Get Cited by AI (opens in a new tab)In its Gold Coast test, ChatGPT cited realestate.com.au, Localsearch, Word of Mouth, Starworks and Reddit.
What it does not show. A handful of test questions on an agency’s location page, mostly about real estate; named as a source, without a count.
AI SEO Agency Gold Coast (opens in a new tab)Starworks is among the domains Google AI Mode cited most for accountants.
What it does not show. An automatically generated ranking page: one category, one engine.
AEO for Accountants in South West Sydney (opens in a new tab)
Different firms, different methods, one pattern.
None of them works for us. Read side by side, they point the same way: when AI recommends an Australian business, Starworks keeps turning up in the answers.
#1
Most-cited website in Australian AI answers, more than twice the next site.
AIGROW.GG · Australia, details aboveNearly every
ChatGPT recommendation query featured Starworks, across 12 trades and every capital.
Dossis Digital · Every capital, details above#2
Outside site linked in ChatGPT answers that named a business, after hipages.
Tyso · Four capitals, details above#3
Most-cited domain in its Perth answers, after Google and Reddit.
Search Scope · Perth, details above
What has been written
The coverage, including the article that asks hard questions of us. We answer those in public.
“offers clues about how businesses get recommended by AI”
A six-month-old directory now beats hipages in AI answers (opens in a new tab)
Asks four questions of any AI visibility claim, starting with ours, and says the headline result comes from the founder’s own testing while he sells the service. We answer all four.
How a 17 year old in Melbourne cracked AI recommendations (opens in a new tab)
SEO Web Design for AI Agents: Your Agent-Ready Checklist (opens in a new tab)
ChatGPT for SEO Is Not Perplexity: Why One AI Number Fails (opens in a new tab)
Australian Directory Tests AI Recommendations vs SEO (opens in a new tab)
People who checked for themselves
Public posts by people outside the company. Individual observations, not client endorsements.
Left out on purpose: pages that did not name Starworks when we opened them, pages about the review software Starworks used to sell, our own profiles, one tracker whose Perth turned out to be in Scotland, and one news brief that rolled off its page. Our own measurements are on the record page.
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